::SURRO-GATE::

I stepped into a classroom where kids were dissecting sheep brains and kneeled down to talk to a couple of kids about the cerebellum: "So if you ever see a sheep that's really clumsy? And falling down a lot? It's probably this part of the brain that's messing up."

A few moments later, I address the small class to ask a question about which part of the brain the "baaaa" comes from, and a kid raises his hand to ask, "Are you Robert's [the kid I talked to first's] mom?"

This hit me like a pillow, slung lazily and low in a fight.

For a second, I was the boy's mom, if for no other reason than a kid thought I was. And it was terrifying in the way that a rollercoaster is.