"Does this mean that we aren't married?" Jerome asked Mrs. Evans. He had to be married to Mara! They had a baby!
"Do you want to be married?" Mrs. Evans asked, smirking.
"Yes!" Jerome and Mara said in unison before smiling shyly at each other.
"Well, then you are."
"Yay!"
"Anyway," Jerome began. "We lost our baby, Poppy. Can you help us find her?"
"With my super-powers?" Mrs. Evans asked. Alfie and Jerome had asked her about her powers once, when she found their missing lunchboxes. It was a preposterous idea, but ever since, Jerome and Alfie had been convinced that she was a superhero-slash-alien.
"Yes, please," Jerome answered.
"Okay, okay. What does Poppy look like?" Mrs Evans asked.
"Uh, she has pink clothes. And she's smiling . And she doesn't have any hair."
"Okay. I'll go and find her. I won't take too long, all right?"
The teacher went off to find Poppy as Jerome turned to Mara. "I told you she has super powers,"
"Okay!" Mara giggled. "She does!"
As soon as MAra finished her sentence, Mrs. Evans came back with Poppy tucked under her arm, and a small girl, who looked as if she had been crying was following her, along with another shy-looking boy.
"Jerome, Mara," Mrs. Evans began. "This is Nina," she gestured to the girl, "and Eddie," she pointed to the boy.
Jerome and Mara waved at them, and Nina and Eddie shyly waved back.
"I found Poppy with them, but they've been very sad and lonely. You see, they only came a few days ago, but no-one had been playing with them, and that's why they took Poppy. Will you play with them?"
"Yeah! Okay! We'd love to!" Mara replied instantly. She loved to make friends. It was extremely extra-nice!
"Okay," Jerome agreed. Anything for Mara. "C'mon, Nina and Eddie!"
"that's it," Mrs. Evans told them, handing Poppy over to Mara. "Go and play!"
Nina took Mara's hand, and Eddie folowed as they were led over to the rest of the gang.
"Guys," Jerome announced. "This is Nina and Eddie."
"Hello, Nina," Fabian said shyly. "Uh, you have really nice hair. Can I touch it?"
Nina giggled. The boy was really pretty. "Um, okay then."
Fabian blushed and reached to touch Nina's long caramel-coloured hair. It was so soft!
"You sound weird," Patricia pointed out. "Why?"
"Um, we're from America," Eddie answered. "And you sound weird, not us!"
"Sorry," Patricia sneered before sticking her tongue out at him.
Eddie grinned and stuck his tongue out, too.
"Are you going to get married?" Amber asked them slyly.
"No! Why?" Eddie asked, looking confused.
"We all got married last week," Patricia told him matter-of-factly.
"Married? Who are you married to?" Nina asked Fabian.
"Fabian is married to me," Joy told her immediately.
"I'm not!" he squealed. "We broke up!"
"But I didn't want to!"
"You scared me! You made me cry!" he bawled.
"Oh, Fabian. It's okay," Nina assured him as she patted his back.
"I don't lke being married," he whimpered
"It's okay. Do you want to share my juice?"
"Okay."
Nina and Fabian went off, holding hands as Joy scoffed.
"She took my husband!"
"Joy!" Patricia scolded. "You got... dee...duh...duhvo..."
"Di...vorced?" Mara offered uncertainly.
"Yeah! That!"
"But he can't be married again!" Joy whined "It's against the country rules!"
"No it isn't," Mara disagreed. "Well, I don't think so, anyway."
"Yeah," Jerome added. "I don't think so either." He turned to Mara. "Do you want to want to play with Poppy in the sandbox again?"
"Yeah, okay!"
The second 'happy couple' went to play, and everyone turned to Eddie.
"Do you like sports?" Mick asked him.
"Yeah," he replied. "Do you like food?"
"Yeah!" Alfie and Mick answered together.
"Let's go and get some cookies from my lunchbox!"
"Okay!"
"Do you want to come?" Eddie asked Patricia shyly, turning to her. "I only have three cookies, but you can have mine."
"It's okay," Patricia told him as she took his hand. "We can share it."
The fouur children went off to eat,leaving only Joy and Amber behind.
"It's so annoying when your husband is gone!"
"I know!"
Mrs. Evans smiled as she watched the ten children playing together. They had eventually ended up playing in a big group, and were all laughing together as they tried to tell funny jokes.
"Listen, listen!" Alfie waved his hands, causing the group to turn to him. "Why did the chair go to school?"
There was a chorus of, "I don't know!"
"Because..." He paused for effect, "to take the blanket!"
The children erupted into giggles again as Jerome announced, "My go! Why did the flamingo stand on one leg?"
"Why?"
"Because if it stands on no legs, it falls down!"
"Ha ha ha!"
"Now it's Mara's turn!"
"Um... why did the lady eat a bug?"
"I don't know!"
"The sandwich was finished!"
Mrs. Evans giggled along with the children and put a hand over her mouth.
"Um, Mrs. Evans?" Fabian asked, patting her leg. "It's your turn."
"Okay, okay..." She racked her brain, trying to think of a simple joke. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
"I don't know! Why?"
"To get to the other side!"
There was complete silence from the group.
"I don't get it," Alfie whispered to Jerome.
"I don't."
"That's not very funny."
"Chickens don't wallk."
"All right, fine," Mrs Evans said, putting her hands up. "Why did the crocodile say cheese?"
"Why?"
"He was hungry!"
The gang started laughing again, and Mrs. Evans shook her head fondly. After nearly ten years of working with kids, she still wasn't sure how their minds worked.
Ha ha, those were genuine 5-year-old jokes that my cousins were telling each other. They didn't get the chicken joke.