Beloved Pencil

This dialog just happened…

“Mrs. Gilpin, when you were moving the desks around, did you happen to find a purple mechanical pencil? I left it in here yesterday.”

Blank look from me followed by, “you are welcome to look around for a purple mechanical pencil on the floor.”

“Man, I took such good care of that pencil.”

My response, “I hope the pencil appreciated your dedication.”

Student: “Someone probably stole it. Because that’s what kids do. Oh man.”

In the event that your heart bleeds for this student… and subsequent pencil… another student found a green mechanical pencil on the floor and gave that to the pencil-less student. It seemed to suffice.