What's Your Number?

As soon as I picked up the phone in my office I noticed them. “Where did they come from?” I wondered to myself. As I spoke on the phone they stood in the doorway to my office and stared at me. I tried concentrating as I spoke on the phone but their presence was somewhat distracting. Seeing small children at my office was not a usual occurrence. Actually, our company usually frowns on bringing your children to the office. Not that I blame them, a manufacturing environment is not the place for little kids to be running around. As I spoke on the phone the little girl stared intently at me. I waved at her as if to say hello and she shyly waved back. The little boy was less interested in me and more interested in my office. In my office he saw an adventure.

The little boy was about five years old and she was probably two or three. I finished my conversation and hung up the phone. I looked at them and “Hi - What’s your name?” She started to speak but the little boy overwhelmed her and said “I’m Trace!” He continued and said “That’s Sierra my little sister”. I said “Trace and Sierra – those are fine names.” The little boy must of felt comfortable because he said “I can write my name on our your board if you want me to?” I have a white board in my office that I use to keep notes or reminders. "Sure go ahead" I said and he proceeded to write his name on my board. He then asked me my name and how to spell it. I told him and he wrote that down as well.

I asked him how old he was and he said six. I asked his sister how old she was and she held up four fingers and said “Two”. I smiled and laughed and said I bet you’ll be three soon. She nodded her head up and down, I’m not sure she understood what I said. Then Trace said to me “Hey mister, what’s your number?” I was confused for a second because I didn’t know what he meant. “What’s my number?” I said aloud. Trace then said “My number is six” and he proceeded to write down a "6" next to his name. Now I knew what he meant: How old am I. I looked at him and said “My number is forty four – that would be two fours.” Slightly puzzled he looked at me and said “Two Fours? That’s a lot isn’t it?” I laughed and said “Yes it is, two fours is quite a bit”. He then wrote two backwards fours next to my name. He looked at me and smiled and I smiled back.

His mama called his name and said it was time to go. They said goodbye and I told them to come back again and they promised me they would. As soon as Trace got by the door to leave, he turned around and ran back to the board. At first I thought he had forgotten something. He once again picked up the marker and began to draw. Over both our names and ‘numbers’ he drew a heart. After he drew the hearts he filled them in with the marker. He closed the marker and headed towards the door again. On his way out he said “I almost forgot to give you a heart…” I told him thanks and that I needed a heart. He kept walking and without missing a beat said "I know".