Some close friends and I used to gather for what we called "Throw." This involved setting up a camera and capturing moments when we threw things at whoever was in the hot seat. I was in line at the DMV when photographer Geoff Wood sent out the results of a Throw session, and this one seemed like there was a story behind it. The DMV lines being what they are, I had time to type out this story on my phone.

It's what kids do.

I mean, you can hardly blame them, what with schools these days. Teachers are pulled every which way, kids can't even keep up with the standardized testing, and on a pop-tart? On one pop tart? Poor little things. It's no wonder their minds wander, leading them to take that paper which should be filled up at least halfway by this point with their own version of George Sims' famous address and start folding it into a paper airplane, eyes moving about to find the perfect target. Nine times out of ten the plane isn't a vehicle of vengeance. It really comes down to whoever happens to be looking the other way in that moment. Nine times out of ten it's a bored student tossing a harmless paper airplane at another bored student. Nine times out of ten it’s meant as fun.
That's all it was in my case. Only thing I'm guilty of is boredom. I mean, if anyone's guilty it's the school system, am I right? They certainly responded with guilt. Paying for Keith's medical examinations, sending him to that fancy ear doctor in Delaware, even buying him that laptop to help him overcome any setbacks caused by the accident. I’m not sure how a laptop helps him overcome losing his hearing, but of all people I certainly wasn’t going to say anything. I was grateful for the whole thing to be behind us. We got through the rest of elementary school, middle school, and high school, the incident all but forgotten. Until the last day of senior year when I was looking through yearbook signatures.

Just as I never will again, you won't hear it coming. - K.

At the time, my friends and I laughed about it. I mean, who signs a yearbook that way? It had been seven years – get over it, Keith! I shrugged it off and went on with my life, which was pretty basic: college, travel, a stint in the city, marriage, kids, suburbs, zzzzzzz. I never thought about school, or even anyone from back home. Nine times out of ten you never see those people again. Nine times out of ten old mistakes are forgotten, all water under the bridge. Nine times, but there’s always the ten.

And he was right - I never heard it coming.