“Jinx!” “Ah c’mon, Hal. That’s kid stuff.” Hal’s eyes went wide. “You talked! I get to hit you ten times.” Hal proceeded to hit Cal on the shoulder, counting each strike. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” “What are we nine again?” Hal shrugged. “Twelve.” Cal smiled. “Yeah. Those were the days. Elementary school. Recess.” “And we were just discovering girls.” Cal lilted. “Yeah. Girls.” He straightened up. He smiled. “Hey! Do you remember…” “Rhonda Miles,” the two friends said in unison. “Jinx!” Hal shouted. “Hey! We were having a serious conversation.” Hal pointed at Cal and proceeded to give his friend the requisite 10 hits on the shoulder. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… And ten!” “Hey! That last one hurt.” Hal shrugged. “They all used to hurt back in the day. We’d wind up and… POW!” “Yeah.” Cal smiled at the memory. “Hey. Do you remember that other dumb thing we used to do?” Hal pursed his lips and squinted his eyes. “You know…” Hal made an okay symbol with his right hand and slowly lowered it to rest on his thigh. Cal could not help but follow the gesture with his eyes. When he continued to follow Hal’s hand, he saw the okay sign turn into a fist. Then, he felt the familiar slug on his arm. “Ow!” “You mean that dumb thing we used to do?” “Yeah. That one.” Cal grimaced as he rubbed his shoulder. “Remind me. What could you do so you could hit the other person instead?” Hal put his circled thumb and forefinger on his thigh again. “You need to stick your finger in and pull it out again before the other person grabs it. But usually, you look and I hit you before you can even try. Like just now.” Hal slugged his friend again. Just then Mr. Jenkins walked in the door. He saw the exchange and lowered his eyes into his hand and shook his head. He sighed as he looked at the two friends. “You boys used to do that stupid thing with the okay sign all the time in elementary school. Don’t you think it’s time to give it up? You’re supposed to be role models now. You are, after all, the teachers.” They said in perfect unison, “Yes, Mr. Jenkins. We’ll try to do better.” Mr. Jenkins nodded. Hal whispered, “Jinx.” With a smile and a motion that everybody recognized as him sealing his lips, Cal promised to say nothing more. At least not until Hal said his name.