Big Guy is the reigning monarch of the misplaced.

Where are my shoes? “Did you leave them by the door, like you’re supposed to.”

I can’t find my pants. “Did you check the dryer?”

What did you do with my backpack? “What did YOU do with it after school yesterday?”

The last time he lost something “important” – he forgot his baseball glove at the park after his first practice – I replaced it.

No more. He’s going to learn the lesson this time, and I suspect I’ll have help in providing the tutorial.

Somewhere between the end of karate class and bedtime Monday, Big Guy lost his yellow belt.

Not “lost” in the sense that Sensei Troy meant when he said “you’ll lose your yellow belt for goofing off in class.” “Lost” as in “disappeared from the face of the Earth,” though there’s a chance it might still be in the classroom.

It happened due to Big Guy’s excitement about new karate toys – they’re going to start sparring soon, so we bought his head gear, mouth piece and a bag to store it in after class.

Somewhere during that shuffle, he must have dropped his belt. I try not to say “I told you so,” but I did tell him to put the gear in the bag until we got home. He’s like a crow with shiny new objects, though.

He searched the car, the bag, the bedroom, the closet. Monday night and Tuesday morning. Nothing.

“What are we going to do, Mama?” he asked. I’m only “Mama” when he wants something.

“You’re going to have to ask Sensei.”

“Sensei?” he said, gulping.

Sensei is not a mean man. He was far more patient than I would have been with goofing off during the white belt class. It was only at the end that he warned the new yellow belts that he’d demote them back to white belt for continued clowning.

At the start of the yellow belt class, he told them that forgetting to wear the belt would earn them five push-ups. Big Guy thought it was funny at the time. “Push ups just like Daddy!” he smiled.

Faced with the reality of facing up to his transgression, though, it wasn’t nearly as funny.

“Will he make me do push ups?” Big Guy asked.

“Probably.”

“How will I get another belt?” Big Guy asked.

“I don’t know. He might make you earn it again. Or he might let you order another one. If he does, though, you’re going to have to pay for it with your money.”

“My money?! No fair!”

Ay, but it is fair. You lost the belt, you pay for another. I’m mean that way now.

Besides, he has more money in his wallet right now than I do. That needs to even up.

Copyright 2009 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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