09/01/2026
For most kids show-and-tell is a chance to brag about their dad, but for twelve-year-old Jason it was something he dreaded. His father was a cop, a fact that made him a target on the playground where anti-police sentiment ran high and being the son of an officer meant daily taunts and the threat of getting beat up after the last bell. Secretly, Jason wished his dad was a firefighter instead, someone everyone cheered for, who got to slide down poles and rescue cats from trees and was universally seen as a hero. So when the older kids cornered him near the lockers and demanded to know what his old man did for a living, he panicked and blurted out the first untouchable thing that came to mind, telling them his dad was a drug dealer. The lie worked instantly, the boys backed off with a new, fearful respect and for the first time he walked the halls without looking over his shoulder, but now he carries the heavier weight of that secret, knowing he traded one dangerous reputation for another just to survive the school day.
Written by Hanjo McLeyroy