Crossing Guard for a day

Several times a month, my father-in-law, Minoru, volunteers to be the crossing guard for students at the elementary school down the street, where Michiyo and her sister Masae went to school. He told me several months ago I could come with him one morning and do it. So I got up at 7 a.m. and donned the bright yellow jacket, the green mesh cap, and carried the safety flag to the crosswalk.

Minoru looked like a police officer, and took pride in his official uniform, as well as his safety "light saber." Michiyo told me the characters on my hat mean, in so many words, "crime prevention."
Exciting stuff. I wish I would have gotten action photos including students and their yellow and red hats. The elementary school is first through sixth grade. When the kids saw a new, strange, and tall(?) foreigner helping them cross the street, reactions were mixed. Predictably, the fifth and sixth graders were absolutely unfazed and barely acknowleged my existence, the third and fourth graders were mildly curious and amused, and the happy little first and second graders that were bounding to school at 7:30 in th morning laughed and stared, and some asked me if I was the new English teacher. Here`s the crosswalk.