Boys

Today I went down to Expo at the end of the day to collect Eli and Theo and their friends, the twins Benjamin and Daniel. By the time we crossed the street to head home we also had good old Sam DG in our crew. The boys were tussling around, whipping snowballs, sliding on the ice, knocking each other down, all of it done to the soundtrack of high decibel yelling. I was walking along behind, out of snowball range, thinking some thoughts about boys and their dang energy and general propensity toward pummeling each other. And then above the battle cries I heard a sweet little, "Hi Eli!" and looked across the street to see Janey, a girl from their class who is dealing with some physical and mental challenges. At first I didn't think the boys heard. Then I thought maybe they heard but they were going to ignore her. Another "Hi Eli!!" and then they stop, look up, and one by one call out a hearty "Hi Janey!!". They remain there, frozen mid-brawl for one more second while they give her a wave. She waves back delightedly. And then it's over- the break in the chaos- and they are back pummeling, throwing, screaming.