During the show there was a situation in which the main character, Pete (played by Jeremy Sumpter of recent Peter Pan fame), doesn’t tell his mother something in which he should have, and later is confronted by his mom regarding this. During the commercial immediately following that, the twins were asking why it was wrong of him to do that since he had not actually lied to his mother.
Hubby explained to the boys that in circumstances such as that, where the circumstances are potentially serious or dangerous, failing to tell someone (such as a parent or teacher) is worse than lying about it. At that point, #1 got a funny look on his face and offered up that something happened Friday that he now realizes he should have mentioned then, but didn’t at the time as he thought it was something either not to worry about or that would get him in trouble with some of the kids at his school.
It seems on Friday, #1 overheard an incident between two students in which one lost his temper and yelled at the other that he was sick of him and he was going to bring a gun to school Monday and shoot everyone. He relates that there were two other students and two teachers that heard this exchange.
At this point, I think both Hubby and I felt our stomachs turn to ice and could hear our blood pumping in our ears. The implications of what #1 heard and saw was enough to make us never want to send the boys out in public again.
I kept the twins home this morning until I could call and talk with some folks at the school about this.
I got a hold of someone at the school this morning, let them know about it, and asked that they please check on it and make sure that the boy who made the threats was not at school today. I got a call back about an hour later. One of the teachers who supposedly was there when this happened, and the boy who was threatened had been identified and brought in for questioning to determine what was going on and see if the threat was addressed.
Both of these people, the teacher and the student, had no idea what #1 was talking about. The teacher didn’t hear anything like what #1 related, and the boy who was threatened had no recollection of being threatened in the manner #1 suggested.
Huh??!!??!!
I talked with #1 about it again; he maintains that what he told us was what he witnessed.
I had no clue what to think at that point. The only conclusion I could draw was that he possibly had a dream of this, and it was so real that he confused it with what actually happened. As a child (and to a smaller extent as an adult) I had dreams which were so real, and so detailed, that I couldn’t separate them from memories of actual events. Obviously the ones in which I could fly or do other spectacular feats were dreams. My normal dreams though are of every day things that could, and do happen on a daily basis.
Is it possible that #1 also has such vivid dreams? Is it possible that what he thought he saw was a dream? Or is it possible that it did happen, but the teacher was preoccupied and didn’t notice, and the boy who was threatened is afraid to admit to whatever did happen?
I don’t know what to think.
The school has been alerted, and the boys were brought to school for the day. They have been instructed by me not to tell any other kids about what they heard so as not to start wild rumors and incite panic. But they have also been instructed to keep their eyes and ears open and immediately go to a teacher if they see or hear anything potentially threatening.
I’m not sure if this was the right response to the situation, but it is the one I went with.