BLOODY UNICORN

     This is just a brief glimpse at what it's like working with kids.
     In the high school library where I work, kids were dressed up for "Pajama Day," and one very slight and childlike 9th grade boy was also clutching a stuffed panda that doubles as a pillow. Here's the gist of our conversation:

ME: Nice panda pillow!
KID: Thanks. My little sister wanted to borrow it, but I was like, "You have your own!"
ME: She has a panda pillow, too?
KID: Well, hers is a unicorn.
ME (distracted, trying to work): Mm-hm...
KID: But she always wants to take mine...
ME: ...
KID: Because a couple of years ago I accidentally knocked into her when we were playing around, and my elbow hit her head and her head cracked open a little and bled all over the unicorn pillow.
ME: Wh-- Yikes! So... there's not STILL blood all over her unicorn pillow, right? I mean, your parents must have cleaned it?
KID: Well, they tried, but it didn't really come out, so it's still covered in dried blood stains.
ME: And your sister still uses it.
KID: Yeah, she still uses it.
ME: Huh.
KID: Well, I guess I'll go find my friends outside. See you later!

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