Amanda Takes Off...

Yesterday I spotted someone on the path down to the school, staring at the buildings with a camera or binoculars. Just as I was watching him, my intern came over and whispered, "That guy has been standing there a few minutes." We went over the window, leaned forward and watched.

The man had what appeared to be a camera with a large zoom lens on it. He lifted the camera straight at us, held it there for a moment, then began walking down the path very quickly.

"I'm going to go to the office," I said quietly. I peeled out of the room, burst into my principal's office and said, "There's some guy standing on the path with a zoom lens taking pictures of us, and when he saw us, he started walking away quickly."

She dashed out of the door and told me to grab her radio. I ran after her with her walkie-talkie in hand, and she chased the guy down while I waited in the doorway. A few seconds later she called out, "It's OK, it's OK."

I headed back up to my room, and a few minutes later the phone rang. It was my principal's extension. "Sorry I overreacted," I said.

She laughed, "No, it was kind of cute. He's from the safety office, and he wanted me to thank you for not only noticing, but reacting."

This morning, as my intern and I were entering the classroom, the man we saw left, with a few other county employees. My principal was with them.

"You're that guy!" my intern said.

He laughed, "I am, and look," he said, turning to my principal. She pulled out a photo. The man said, "When I found out you two reported me, I pulled the file up on my computer, and zoomed all the way in. There you are."

There we were, two ghostly faces in the window. Two heads attached to one body.

"Awww, we look like a two-headed monster," I said.

My intern held the photo closer. "You can't see any of the kids in the room," she said, "That's good to know."

"Thank you both for catching me," he said.

I laughed and said to my principal, "Does this make up for us both 'being shot' at the lockdown drill?"

"You both got shot?"

"Yeah," I said, "I was talking too loudly, and she closed the blinds before the doors."

The safety office guy said, "I think this makes up for being shot."