"I need to tell you what happened to Christa at school today."

That's what the elementary principle said when he called me last Friday.

"Is Christa okay?"

"Yes, she's fine."

Once I heard those words, I could breathe again--and I asked him to tell me what happened.

To make a long--and quite upsetting--story brief:

Two little boys in Christa's kindergarten class told her that another boy was planning on trapping her. He planned on jumping out and scaring her with a scary mask and then--it is so hard to write these next words--he was going to take her to someone's home and stab her in the chest.

The two boys promised to protect Christa, who was crying. A teaching assistant noticed, talked with the kids about what was going on,and took them to the principle.

The principle proceeded to gather facts--talking to a number of the boys and trying to find out who had threatened my daughter. One little boy was named--but he denied it and broke down crying.

Now here's the odd twist in all of this:

One of the original boys who promised to protect Christa finally admitted he made it all up. He lied.

By the time I was called, the boy had apologized to both Christa and the boy he accused. Christa was back in her classroom.

After a quick phone call to my husband, I drove to the school and talked with the principle again--trying to gather facts so I could understand what had happened. Then--even though the school day was almost over--I went and found my daughter, wrapped my arms around her, and assured her she was safe.

"Mommy, I was all trembling inside," she told me.

"Me too, sweetie."

And I still get all trembly when I think about what happened.

TO BE CONTINUED