What Do You Want To Be?

“What do you want to be when you grow up Billy?” asked Miss Swanson. Billy, the blonde boy with the gap in his teeth smiled brightly.

“I wanna be a fireman!” he yelled, swinging the toy fire truck around in his excitement. Miss Swanson gave a smile, a smile that looked rather forced when one took in how stressful she found her job.

“How about you Dana?” The little girl with her hair in twin tails beamed at Miss Swanson.

“I wanna be a doctor, like my mommy,” said Dana. Miss Swanson gave a weak smile, and patted Dana on the head. Miss Swanson moved on to another child, still giving the same strained smile.

“Johnny, what do you want to be when you grow up?” The redheaded boy gave the teacher a big, warm smile.

“I wanna be an internet troll!” Miss Swanson’s smile finally slipped at what Johnny said.

“What?” she whispered, not believing what she heard.

“That’s what my brother says he does,” said Johnny proudly. “Every time I go to his room, he’s always laughing. He says it’s because he makes people fall for traps.”

“Miss Swanson, what’s a trap?” asked Dana, blinking her eyes innocently.

“Ask me again when you’re older,” said Miss Swanson. By now, her eye started twitching as she answered, and her smile looked even more awkward and forced.

“Traps are people like Bridget,” said Johnny, “That’s what my brother says, anyway. He says he makes fun of weeaboos and stuff. Miss Swanson, what’s a weeaboo anyway.”

Miss Swanson was never quite the same after that. She quit teaching (and by quit, she spent the next two hours sitting in a corner, laughing all the while, until she was picked up by the men in the white coats). She spent a few years there, until she was released. Now she spends her time at home in the country, tending to her flowers. She’s quite pleasant, really, unless you mention the words ‘trap,’ ‘Bridget,’ ‘troll,’ or ‘weeaboo,’ at which point, she tries to dismember everyone in sight with a gardening spade.