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After we’ve gone through our normal spiel, Todd and I have the kids sit back down on the grass. “We’ve still got plenty of time. Does anyone have any questions?” he asks.
Two little boys in the front row throw their hands up, and I smile to myself when I recognize them as Marcus and Troy. They probably don’t recognize me, and I’m not sure how they’ve been handling the fire, so I don’t plan to bring it up.
“What’s your name?” I ask, pointing to the boy on the left. The boy on the right pouts while the other smiles proudly.
“Marcus.”
“What’s your question, Marcus?”
“Have you ever saved someone’s life?”
Yeah, buddy. Yours. “I have.”
“How many?” he fires back.
“I don’t know. I don’t keep track.”
“More than ten?” his twin brother asks.
“Way more than ten.”
They look at me approvingly, and Todd moves on to the next kid. “What’s your name?” he asks a little girl in the back row.
She stands up. “Lilah.”
“What’s your question, Lilah?”
“My mom watches a firefighter show on TV.”
Todd and I watch Lilah, waiting for her to get the questions, but she just stares at us.
“Cool,” I say. “Did you have a question for us?”
She shakes her head and sits down.
Todd laughs and claps his hands together. “Trevor and I have time to show you one more thing before we finish up today. We can either practice our stop, drop, and roll, or we can show you the different ways to do a one-man carry. Raise your hand if you want to stop, drop, and roll.”
All the kids keep their hands down, and Marcus blurts, “We stop, drop, and roll all the time.”
“Okay then, one-man carries it is.” Todd looks through the sea of kids. “Who would like to volunteer?” Twenty hands go up in the air, but when I spot Claire behind the kids, an idea pops into my head.
“How about we use your teacher?” I ask, making it sound exciting and cool.
The kids fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Claire’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “No. No, no, no. Use one of the kids.”
“Come on, Ms. Daniels,” a few of the kids taunt, and then they all break out in a chant:
Ms. Dan-iels.
Ms. Dan-iels.
Ms. Dan-iels.
I should’ve brought candy for these kids. Not only do I get to stare at their beautiful teacher, but because of them, now I get to touch her.
Finally giving in, Claire rolls her eyes and walks over to Todd, but I grab her wrist and pull her toward me. “He’ll talk. I’ll demonstrate.”
