the start of a very long day

worked the night desk friday - which, by the time i get out of the office, i am always wide awake after and up for a few hours later, which ain't too pretty when you're facing a 12-hour solid day starting in the a.m. with 4 assignments and running through to that saturday's night desk duties...this was the first assignment of the day - boy scouts placing flags at the grave sites of veterans in one of the local cemeteries...to make it manageable, i tried to stick with a small group of kids, and this first image is what ran dominant on a little back-page package a couple days later

this little boy was running like a maniac through that cemetery...scanning the site, he'd suddenly yell "i see one" and go running and screaming to the next headstone - it was a chore keeping up with him

seems like there's always that one kid that just kind of gets to you...this little boy started talking about how his grandfather was buried here he thought - he got lung cancer and died, and his uncle got "the cancer" too and then he died too...the other kids weren't really paying any attention to that, but i started talking to him, and he just kind of stuck to my side after that...i'd start shooting some other boys, and i'd notice him standing there just kind of waiting for me to come back, so i did, and he told me about how much he'd like to have a toy flying plane, and that he was going to a Tigers game soon and they had seats right behind the dugout...later, after they'd put out all their flags on the graves, he started playing with his handful of left-overs - "i have funny ears" he'd say, sticking them about his head, until one of the parents scolded him and the others for mistreating the flag...they are kids after all, and really, amidst all the seriousness we all face, and of which this little boy is obviously aware in his own family, can't kids just BE kids?

oh, this one is SO still life - bound!