I saw Ronald outside, she was in the sun room, bent over something. I walked past here to see her holding a magnifying glass over a action figure. She didn't look my way, not even when I spoke to her.

"What are you up to? Shouldn't you be playing outside?" I asked as I lit a cigarette, figuring she had better things to do than dishevel her toys.

"It's June 11." She told me, without being deterred.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I was about to learn a lesson from this eclectic child.

"Well," She started, "It's the anniversary of Quang Duc's suicide. I read about it in one of encyclopedias" The action figure's face was unrecognizable.

"You're not supposed to be in the office. That's off limits." I kept my stance in the shade, exhaling large breathes of smoke.

"Daddy won't find out." She kept staring intently as the figure began to collapse on itself. "I'd rather read those books than talk to the kids outside. They don't even play fair, anyway."

The figure finally fell to the ground, and Ronald headed off immediately to get the dust pan. I watched her as she cleaned up her mess diligently. I couldn't blame her, since the temperature outside was breaking the nineties. Later that day I passed her again in the sun room when I went for another smoke. She had a paper crane, now awaiting it's fate under her magnifying glass. I told her to stop that before she starts a fire, and she responded with, "I know mother doesn't like you smoking in the house, so you should stop that before I say a fire started from you." She kept looking, touching the paper for just a moment without flinching. She looked back at me and I calmly put out my cigarette and placed it back into the pack in my cardigan.