Suburban

In my 7th grade Reading class today...

Crystal is reading aloud from the text, "The roots of the Arctic Poppy spread out like a Suburban-"
"We have a Suburban!" Filip interupts.
"Shhh, let her finish," I tell Filip, giggling to myself, having read ahead.
Crystal continues, "... like a Suburban strip-mall." She pauses, finished with the paragraph.
"It's black!" Filip excitedly adds, totally missing the point of the simile that Crystal just read.
I explain to the class what a strip-mall is, in Homer terms, and how that relates to the root system of the Arctic Poppy. They get it, but the term suburban still eludes Filip.

It was my smile for the day. I love these kids. Their small town world view. Their inability to imagine a city large enough to warrant suburbs. They are sweet. They are innocent. And, for now, they are mine...

Oh, and as a side note: Filip is Russian and Crystal is Philipino - it's quite an eclectic mix we have here at the end of the road in rural Alaska.