He came to work with his dad because school was out. Just a small child in Kindergarten, tow-headed, a little bit quiet and preoccupied with the computer game his dad had put on for him to play while waiting to leave. His dad had placed him at the workstation next to mine and I could tell he was getting fidgety after sitting there and playing quietly for some time.

Thinking that it would help him pass the time, I thought I’d tell him a few jokes. The first few fell flat and I determined that they were a little out of his age range, but I continued and started on knock-knock jokes. He finally cracked a smile, it was like the sun coming out on a cloudy day. I was so excited that I googled some other jokes to entertain him with while his dad worked.

He cracked a few smiles, chucked a few times and then I asked him this one, “Knock, knock,” “Who’s there?” he said. You could tell he was anticipating the next line, so I said, “Boo!” When he replied with boo hoo, I asked him why he was crying. With the most puzzled look on his face, he turned back to the computer. I could tell his brain was trying to wrap around the question.

Turning back to me, he finally responded, “I don’t know why I’m crying!” With that, he resumed playing computer games and quit listening to me tell him jokes.