The principal gets to hear a lot of wild stories. Still, this one will be memorable.

L. comes to me to say he’s being bullied. By whom? By M.. We go get M. M, I say, what’s the story? Are you bending L’s bus pass? Are you yanking on his backpack? M says nothing, but the silence is Hemingway-esque. All that’s missing is a canary feather dropping from his teeth. M had been teased last week, by O. M, I say, what gives? Wherefore thou teasest L?

M won’t say. I prefer not to answer, he tells me. From Hemingway to Melville we go.

L spills the beans in a heartbeat. If you want to rob a bank and need a partner, L is not your man. Good for L. It’s because of our deal, isn’t it?, he says.

M says nothing, silently.

We had a deal, L tells me, to trade projects. And I was tricked.

Tricked?, I say.

Yes, says L. He tricked me by not giving me the project as advertised. Were you selling your work, I ask. M shakes his head.

I wanted to do giant bugs and plants, but M sold me fossilized bacteria. The words pour from L in a rush, as if I had any clue what he’s talking about. He goes on: Mr. W assigned topics, and I wanted giant bugs and plants, and M said he had them, but when I got it it was really fossilized bacteria.

I can’t ask. But I have to: How much did it cost you?

Twenty-five dollars, says L.

Of which he still owes me twenty, says M.

You’re not getting any more money, I say.

I know, M says quickly. He is still furious. Did I mention that this happened 8 months ago?

Finally L apologizes. It was dumb, he says. Even giant bugs and plants is not worth twenty five bucks. And you should have known better.

So should you, says M. A pause. A long pause. Then: I accept. I’ve been waiting for you to apologize. It’s not about the money.

Sometimes it really isn’t. Sometimes, it’s about giant bugs and plants.

It's hard to keep from making kissy lips at all those animals. There's so much love in the air around Cashew the Dog that it's a wonder we didn't smudge the lens with smooches. Max's school is doing a unit on pets, because even day care has units now, and Max insisted that his stuffed animals were his pets, so we need to send in a picture. This is definitely the one. Perhaps we will be called upon to explain it during...wait for it...teacher conferences, which will be in two weeks. I hope his grades are good. Otherwise, we will ground him.

Today we saw real animals like lions and wildebeests at the Franklin Part Zoo, a zoo which gets an A for effort but a C for having giraffes in Roxbury in the winter. This is the zoo, of course, which let the gorilla escape twice in about six weeks. Today the gorilla was doing what gorillas do whenever you try to see them in a zoo: napping as far from the fence as possible. At home we spent the day playing with a variety of deflating balls in the backyard. Soon I will need to buy that most replaced item, the inflating needle. They break or become lost almost as soon as you are done using them once, but the joy that comes with inflating a ball is so great as to allow you to forget that.

Since this is a three day weekend, we have plans to make our house function like it's just had a DIY network makeover, but I believe we will settle for cleaning the pizza stone and opening mail from August. Have a nice Columbus Day your own self.