Scene: Mrs. D�s kindergarten classroom. It is Valentine�s Day and the class party is in full swing. A parent is passing out cupcakes to AJ�s table.

P. (a bright and talkative girl): I got a heart on mine! [she pulls out a red glittery plastic heart decoration from the icing, and licks it off.]

Harriet: It�s a ring!

P.: It is a ring! [she smiles and slips it on her finger].

AJ: I wish I got a ring. It�s not fair.

The Girl Next Door: Boys don�t wear rings!

J (a freckled boy missing a lot of teeth): Some do! My dad has a ring!

M (a boy with a mop of dark brown hair): My dad has a ring. That�s because he�s married.

TGND: My dad wears a ring too. [I hope her dad doesn�t read too much into the logic in TGND�s statements]

P.: My daddy wears a ring. It�s a golden one. My mommy has a lot of golden rings. I wish I had a golden ring. [She sighs and looks at her heart ring.]

H.: But you have a pretty heart ring!

P.: But it�s not a golden one.

H.: True. But it�s very sparkly.

P.: (she brightens) It is sparkly. It�s beautiful.

* * * * *

The best thing about volunteering in AJ�s classroom is that it gives me a little glimpse into his world. I like seeing the place he spends all his afternoons and meeting all of the people he talks about when we can extract any school-related information from him.

Also offering a glimpse into his world is AJ�s recent fascination with the digital camera. While he�s been home sick the last few days, I�ve given him free rein of the camera and I love seeing what�s on the camera when it goes back in the drawer every afternoon. A picture of The cat�s furry back. A picture of the bottom left quadrant of my face. A picture of AJ�s bare toes digging into the carpet. A picture of my father�s childhood glasses, which usually sit on in their case a bookshelf, but which are of fascination to AJ and come out for inspection on occasion. The matryoshka doll that my parents brought for me from Russia (than still Soviet) when I was ten, who happens to be standing in front of my copy of Susan Sontag�s On Photography.

Perhaps it�s his shortness. Perhaps it�s his newness to the camera, his inability to hold it straight. But he captures light differently, angles that I would never have thought of. And he sees things that I tend to look past.

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