The Here and Now

I helped out with lunch duty and was watching the little kids. About 7 of the girls have a habit of trying to get me to play with them.

Today they took the game farther.

One jumped onto each of my feet and held on for dear life. The others formed a circle around me.
A new game was formed.

The ones in the circle would run around me holding hands.
The two on my feet would try to break up the circle of death using any method possible: tripping, nudging, and The all-powerful tickle.
When the circle broke it was my swore duty to run as fast as I could which was not all that fast considering the 50 lb weights on each foot.
I had to stop when the circle reformed.

After about 10 minutes of this riveting game the kids started to get bored and my legs started to ache.

Now, a few wanted to play "Jody the jungle gym"
Not my favorite game.

When one took a flying leap onto my back the game was over. Weighted down by my leg braces I fell to the floor.

Now it became "Jody the trampoline".

The language barrier came into play. They have not started their English classes. How do I say, "let me the hell up!" in Yupik.
It turns out a stern voice is the answer.

I escaped.
My hair-do didn't.

I looked around with triumph. I had freed myself from the grasps of the tiny demons.
The other teachers had been standing behind me, laughing the whole time.