14-year-old mack daddy

I mentioned this story to Kate at one point in an email exchange. Looking back over the blog so far this year, I see I've dropped hints on a number of things, so I guess I should clear those up. Call it a New Year's Resolution.

In 2001, Red and I were still coworkers & friends (this was long before we were dating). We both volunteered for a project funded by our employer, mentoring kids at a local middle school as they worked through the Lego Robotics Challenge. It was a motley group of kids; mostly kids I'd call "average", and a couple that were much more what I'd classify as "geeks". One in particular stood out of these, and I'll call him Mr. Smooth.

Mr. Smooth was a brilliant kid, and like most geeks really didn't get along with his peers. Most of them, in fact, couldn't stand him because he usually had the answer to their questions, wasn't shy about displaying the fact that he knew better than they did on a lot of problems, and was, for the most part, contemptuous of them. He got along with Red and I okay, mostly because, to be honest, he reminded me a lot of myself at that age....(brains+mouth)-common sense = bad things.

I forget exactly how the conversation started. I believe the kids were asking Red if they should call her by her first name or Mrs. ____, and she told them to call her by her first name, that was fine. There was a short pause in the conversation, and then Mr. Smooth spoke up.

"You know, I used to watch a show that had a character named (Red's name). She was a koala bear."

"Oh yeah?" Red asked.

"Yeah. I like koala bears. They're cute.....and they're vicious," Mr. Smooth said, and winked at her. Red could only laugh.

"Smooth, Mr. Smooth.......very smooth."