My Son Is Not Racist

Setting: local movie store

Characters: me, Jacob, large African American man

Scene: Jake is restlessly jumping around on the black and white striped tiled floor singing the "Step on the crack, break your mother's back" song and giving me a play-by-play of his adventure. He hops over every white stripe and eventually comes to a corner, where he turns and calls to me "hey mom, look! Another big black one!" I look up to see the large black man giving me an I-certainly-hope-your-son-is-not-talking-about-me look. I decide an explanation to the guy would make matters more uncomfortable. We quickly pick out a movie and leave.