The dangers of re-using

I recycle and reuse. I recycle plastics and aluminum. I reuse paper.

I don’t print very much. For the longest time I didn’t even have the printer hooked up. It was only when I came across agents who required hardcopy queries that I got the printer out of its box.

Next to my desk I keep a box filled with papers that have one printed side. I reuse these by printing on the flip side. I never thought much of it. My kids use that paper, too. So a few days ago my daughter took a few pages and turned them into an art project. With the help of scissors and much glue, she transformed the pages into a very nice bird. She was so proud of her bird, she wanted to take it to school.

“Sure,” I said.

It wasn’t until we were standing in front of her Kindergarten class that I realized what was printed on the back of her bird. She’d taken a sex scene! I stood there staring down at my own writing, wondering how I was going to talk her out of taking the bird inside to show to her teacher.

Now it wasn’t as if the entire scene was printed across the back of her bird. She’d done a superb job of covering the naughty bits and leaving the fairly harmless stuff exposed. I didn’t see any words she could get expelled over. Whew. But I sure waited by the phone all day, expecting a call from her teacher.

No one called.

I was almost disappointed.