Speaking of No Inside Voice

Little Kevin Martin paid us a visit yesterday too. He and his mom stopped by, along with his little brother and two of their friends. According to Mrs. A, who witnessed and participated in the blessed event, Kevin was his usual oblivious-to-his-surroundings self.

Kevin entered in a full voice conversation with his pals and was so absent-minded about it that he plowed right into our display easel on his way to the desk. In doing so, he knocked off the big illustration of our proposed new library design, sending it crashing to the floor, and never even noticed that he'd done it. He then stood at the desk and continued screaming about whatever it was he was screaming about, completely drowning out the conversation Mrs. A was attempting to have with an unrelated patron. Kevin's mom, who no doubt had long since grown numb to her son's antics, did nothing.

"YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE QUIET!" Mrs. A shouted at Kevin. "I can't hear my own conversation over you." Kevin got quiet and his mom uttered an apology, then, unoffended, Kevin ran off with his friends toward the children's room.

I arrived for work shortly thereafter and was told of the incident with Kevin before he could even leave the building. I then got to watch his mom try and fail to ride herd over the four boys while she checked out their books. The boys were trying to stage a loud wrestling match in the middle of our front room, that is when they weren't busy trying to leave the building and run into traffic.

Kevin's mother looked SO tired.

I didn't tell my wife that story, because it would just become yet another cautionary tale about the dangers of having children.