"What are you?"
That is what the neighbor kid said to me today. An odd question, to be sure -- even more so because the kid can't be more than six years old. Under different circumstances, I might have asked what he meant, but the kid's age (if the kid had been ten or so, it might have been worth discussing, but at this point the kid is still clearly kinda stupid) and my being in a hurry prompted me to simply smile and wave.
As I walked to the mailbox, the kid shouted it after me several more times.
I grew increasingly annoyed. Did the kid even know what he was asking? Did he understand that his question was potentially highly offensive? I didn't know. But as I returned to drop off the mail before dashing off to the store to try and beat the rain (I failed), I looked up to answer the kid's inquiries with a final smile in his direction.
Instead of repeating his question, he instead voiced a statement that suggested that perhaps he recognized the potentially offensive nature of the question after all:
"You're ugly."
And that is how not running over and punting the annoying neighbor kid down the block came to be added to my list of charitable deeds.
