This, too, is off of notes that I took.

This time was interesting. The kids opened up a pretend store. They put a plank of wood on top of two stools to serve as their counter. They assiduously wrote up a menu. They had shopkeepers and customers and fake money.

Two kids kept stealing the fake money. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to intervene because it was their game and fake money. Mr. Patel ultimately did intervene. He told the thief that he could go to jail and then quickly added, “but, like, not real jail.”

The kid with the mullet forged a bill by writing 1 followed by a ton of zeroes, spilling onto several lines, on a piece of paper. He spent a lot of time on it and proudly presented it to the shopkeepers. Someone could have told him that that sort of thing could land him in not-real-jail too, but we gave him a pass.

Mr. Vitucci told this kid’s parents that he was the best in today’s session, even though that kid called him ugly the week before. I’m no Christian, but that’s what Jesus would do.

— Hartek