The Hole

Recess in the fall is nice in a rural school setting. Cool breezes with sunshine were a plus. It was my favorite time of year to go outside and watch the boys and girls play. Some good observations were made on the playground, but I did miss out on observing the mystery hole.

Part of the playground was blacktop, and the other part was on a grassy green hill. It had been a wonderful day, but I had a lot of paperwork to complete and didn't make it to the playground. The following day, the maintenance guy came to my office and asked why a hole was next to the fence. He said he had almost got the mower stuck in the hole over by the wall the evening before. He said that he filled it up and, hopefully, that would be the end of it. I didn't think about it until the following week when he returned with the same complaint about a hole in the fence. Again, he fixed it. I took time to look at the camera and did not see anything out of the ordinary. During afternoon recess, I did take time to walk out to the playground. Over by the fence, I saw two of the third graders digging away, making a huge hole. I walked over and asked them what they were doing. They looked at me indignantly and replied, "We're farming!". These were two boys who lived farm life at home. It was all I could do not to laugh. I asked them what they would do if their tractor ran into that hole. Well, it depended on whether it was raining, they said. More inner laughter had to be held back. We had a whole conversation about the hole, and then I told them that the maintenance guy had come to talk to me about the hole and explained that the hole was dangerous when he mowed and got a tire stuck in it, the same as it would be if they had a tractor tire to get stuck. I asked them to fill in the hole and leave it, and maybe they could farm on a more even surface without digging into the ground. Being the good kids, the boys filled in the hole and went on "farming" on the level blacktop field. I love these boys...they are seniors this year.