As grafitti it was pretty stupid, but what mattered was *where* they’d written the message:  on the outside of the grade one portable in the junior yard. ‘They’ were clearly sex maniacs.
“Sex maniac teen-agers,” added Debbie. Not to be outdone I slipped in
“I bet they smoke.”  Everyone nodded in agreement.  Here were the words:

K         L            V

Y         A            A

            W            N

We all knew what KY was.  We did it in grade 5 health class.  We all got packets to open, like mustard packets. KY was used for sex. The LAW of KY made me think ‘law of the jungle’ and a menacing man in a thong, with no face. He grabs grade 5 girls by the hair and makes them open KY packets. It doesn’t sound as scary as it feels so I don’t share everything I think.

“What’s the van part got to do with it?”

“They take children into vans… it’s the law” says Sharon. Then, pausing – “gang law.”

“Sex gang law,” Debbie chimes in, smiling like it’s her birthday, then clearing her throat and frowning hard.

Sharon wants to know how -- exactly
-- those teen boys enforce the law. And speculates that maybe the warning was really meant for us, after all, “they probably know we always get to school first and that we know about KY.”

“What, exactly, would we do with the KY…. If we wanted to cooperate?” Sharon’s face is red.  None of us really knows.  We know it’s used for sex. It comes in packets. It turns out most of us opened the packet and spread it around in our hands or on our desk.  Sharon slipped hers into the mustard at lunch. I can’t figure out what this has to do with sex. When I squint hard, though, something weird happens to the letters:  The message looks a little bit like it says KYLA and VIN… KYLA and Vin from the 6^th grade class. 

I don’t discuss this theory out loud. In the morning quiet, we listen, expectantly, for vans.