I have a child in my class whom I’ll call Daniel. He’s a fun kid; smart, charming, and very likeable.

I got a big surprise when I received a message yesterday from his mother. Here’s what she said:

“Hi Sarah… We have somewhat of a mystery at our house… well, um, I guess we’ve solved it, but… (fumbling for words) I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I got a call from the school office today to tell me that a screw came out of Daniel’s glasses, and they replaced it. Um… but, Sarah, Daniel doesn’t wear glasses.”

What? ‘Yes he does,’ I think, ‘All year long, he’s worn sleek, thin, black glasses!’ He puts them on every day before reading class and wears them faithfully throughout the day. Why, just today during our measurement unit, he discovered that the width of his glasses is exactly one decimeter. What in the world….

As it turns out, our charming little Daniel fessed up to stealing his dad’s reading glasses from home and wearing them at school… for MONTHS now. His dad has been tearing up the house looking for his favorite glasses, while his son is masquerading as a glasses wearer at school!

I laughed for 5 solid minutes with this parent on the phone. She is a good friend of mine (and, strangely enough, also an EU grad) and I had to just chuckle at the grand heist that Daniel pulled off. Not bad, I thought, although VERY, very naughty.