Lockdown

This morning my older children did not have school because of parent conferences.  While I was making beds and starting laundry, they were playing in my daughter's room. I heard a lot of banging around and the baby laughing hysterically.

"What are you doing, guys?"

"Nothing," the chorus shouted.

I opened the door and saw clothes flung everywhere.  With innocent expressions, everyone froze on the various pieces of furniture they were standing on.

"Mom, Lilla's stuff that is too small is out of her closet now,"  my older son stated responsibly. Hmmm....

"OK. Thanks. That is on our list today--to clean out closets. But please don't add to that pile."

"OK," said the chorus.

Next I heard urgent, loud talking--an emergency! Back and forth down the hall from the room to the bathroom.

"What are ya'll doing?"

"We're having a lockdown!"  the chorus informed me.  They are having a "practice lockdown" at school tomorrow during lunch.  They had told me this means they all crowd into the class bathroom with their teachers in case "there is a stranger at school or someone sees smoke."  Now they were playing like they were the teachers, and the baby was their student.

I opened the door to the lockdown.  The lights were off except for flashlights. One of the "teachers"--the eldest--was weilding a toy cowboy pistol and sitting on the toilet lid.  Apparently, the "student" was a tad unruly and was trying to play in the toilet water.  They had books, a changing pad, and some sticky notes...all the necessities. I closed the door. After a while, my daughter emerged because they had forgotten a few things. She must have fixed her hair while in the lockdown because she had a clip pulling half her hair back in a sort of unfinished Pippi Longstockings-do.  She grabbed a school reading chart from the office and gave me a status report:

"We had to send the student home because he was talking, and you're not allowed to talk in a lockdown."

As the talking student toddled in the office while I was writing this post, I had to finish it later in the evening. And though the whole incident seemed a version of dark humor this morning, I'm not exactly sure the best way to cope with the fact that we live in a world where my 4- and 5-year-olds are playing "lockdown." 
But let's hope the drill at school goes a little smoother than the one at my house.