"Sa- pichous Package"

Ryan and Sarah attend Kids Zone in the summer. This is run by the Henderson recreation department and they attend the program at Whitney Ranch. Everyday they go to the rec center and rotate hourly through different rooms where they have activities set up for the kids. The price is reasonable and overall they love it. they even get to swim twice a week and on occassions they go on field trips to attractions in the community at no extra cost.

Well last week just before five in the evening, I get a call from John (their dad)... "Did you get a call?" "What do you mean?" I say.  "I was just wondering if the rec center called you, because I'm trying to get to the kids and Galleria Drive is blocked off by police. They tell me there was a bomb scare at the rec center and they have evacuated the kids to a nearby middle school."  He goes on to tell me everyone is safe but he just wanted to call me and let me know in case I saw something on the news and got worried. No problem I tell him, things like this seem to happen quite frequently around here and it is never anything serious. It seems like the local law enforcement are bored and always over react to things like this. I ask john to give me a call when he gets the kids.

Not more than ten seconds after hanging up the phone with John, it rings again... This time its Ryan voice... "Mom!!!" he says breathlessly... "Well you see there was a suspicious package and they made us all go to the school..." With excitement and a tinge of worry in his voice. [Ryan is my worrier]. "I know son, Dad is on his way, don't worry". "Ok, well I just wanted to let you know, they are letting us call if we need to." "Ok son, Dad will be there soon." "Ok mom - bye" And the line goes dead.

Ten seconds later.... the phone rings again. I pick it up to hear Sarah's excited voice... "MOM!!!!" She is tripping over herself trying to push the words out of her mouth.... "Well, you see... there was a sa-pi... there was a sa-picc.... there was a sa-pich-ous package, and they took us all to the school and we are all here now and it is loud". "Yes, Sarah, Ryan already called me, Dad is on his way to get you and he will be there soon. Where is Ryan".... "In front of me"!!  "They are letting us call if we need too"! I'm thinking to myself... now she probably stood there and watched Ryan talk to me! This is ridiculous! But I guess it is something majorly exciting and she just felt she needed a turn telling me all about it! "Well, I say, Dad should be there soon" "Oh, I know he is standing right here in front of me!!!"

As an aside to this story, later that night I was pondering the sa-pichous package. According to the kids there was some sort of brown bag in the lobby or some thing like that. I kept thinking to myself... some child is going to be mortified when he finds that his bathing suit or perhaps his underoos have been blown to pieces by the Henderson PD bomb squad.