God Smith

I instinctively covered my ears when the fire alarm started buzzing. Then I remembered that I was now one of the teachers, aka adults, at the middle school and adults don't cover their ears. I luckily had no students and unluckily had no idea what to do. I peeked out my door just in time to see a short authoritative lady waving people out.

"Everybody outside! Move! Move! Get outside!"

I filed into line behind some giggling sixth graders and made my way out.

Standing in the bright, warm sun was a relief from the overly air conditioned school. Even though I was an adult in a sea of scraggily-lined students, I felt awkward standing alone. I was inspecting the grass stuck to my shoes when I noticed a girl standing about 5 feet in front of me, staring. I looked at her and smiled. She just kept staring.

"Hi." I smiled again and gave a little wave.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"My name's Mamie. What's your name?"

"Sarah," She stared at me a little more. "What's your last name?"

"Knight."

She laughed. I didn't really get the joke. "Is your boyfriend's last name Princess? Get it? Knight and Princess?"

I got it, but I didn't think it was all that funny, just quirky. I cocked my head to the side just said, "I don't think my boyfriend would like that very much, but I'll see what I can do about getting him to change it." Then I stared at her some. She just looked back. "What's your last name?"

"Smith."

"Oh," I was trying to think of something funny or witty to say about Smith like Is your boyfriend's last name Black? but then I decided I didn't think she would get it. Plus, teacher/adults don't really try to beat sixth graders in last name jokes.

"Do you know what my friends say about my last name?" I shook my head no in response. "They say that since my last name's so common that it's probably God's last name."

I laughed. That was about the funniest thing I'd ever heard. "Well, what do you think about that?"

She sort of shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it probably could be God's last name. There are a lot of Smiths out there."

"What about it in China. I don't think there are a lot of Smiths in China." I smirked, proud that I had thought of something half witty even though teacher/adults should be above that.

She just shrugged again and turned around. Her class was walking in and she waved as she trotted away to catch them.

'God Smith' I thought. 'Doesn't sound that bad.'