Smells Like Government

Puck’s 7AM field trip to Jeff City began at home where he got busy packing items for the road. When the load began to look a little too heavy for his usual Minecraft backpack, he asked for the big guns.

“Mom? Can I just take a hiking backpack instead?”

Ten-plus hours later, when the bus returned to school, Puck seemed satisfied with his adventures. Later that evening, he pulled a small gray rock out of his pocket and tossed it to me.

“Here. I took that from the governor’s mansion.”

“Hmm,” Oxbear said, taking the rock; he sniffed it. “Smells like government.”