The Detective

I have oft been ridiculed for my organizational skills, which some call excessive. I merely call it being efficient. In my preschool classroom in one building, we had a row of cupboards against one wall. I organized these by toys, holiday stuff, teacher stuff, etc., and then stuck a number sticker to the outside of each one.

Other teachers and aides would come in and ask to borrow something, say, rubber stamps. "Door 5," I would say without looking up. "Help yourself."

One week I noticed that a lot of people had been asking to borrow things...things it seemed they should have had, like paper and crayons. I said to my assistant, "It sure seems like people have been borrowing a lot this week."

She giggled but didn't say anything. I narrowed my eyes at her. "What?" I demanded.

"I told them how you have all the cupboards numbered and you know which cupboard everything is in," she admitted. "They didn't believe me, so I told them to come see for themselves."

"Ha ha ha," I said. "Well, now they know the reports are true."

I also had a tendency to notice when things were missing or out of place. The kids couldn't get away with moving anything, and neither could my assistant. I was out the day before my birthday one year, and when I came back I noticed little tell-tale signs of mischief. There was glitter all over the kids' cubbies, and my lesson plans had not included any glitter activities. The cookie sprinkles were all in disarray in a different cupboard than they should have been.

Later that day I was not surprised to be presented with a big, glittery birthday card the kids and Pattie had made for my birthday. I was also not surprised when they unveiled several misshapen cupcakes with sprinkles. "We made these for you when you were gone!" they said.

I oohed and aahed and thanked them profusely. "I never would have guessed!" I said.

My assistant was quite proud that she had carried all this off without my knowledge. "The kids did a good job of keeping the secret, didn't they?" she asked.

"They did," I said.

"What do you mean?" she said. "I didn't give it away, did I?"

I confessed to noticing the trail of glitter and the misplaced sprinkles.

She made a sound of disgust. "You notice too much! One of these days when you're out I'm going to rearrange this whole room!"

She never made good on that threat, thank goodness. I think I would have noticed.