They practice barricading themselves in and hiding together in closets, and they rehearse trying not to move or speak while pressed into spaces usually reserved cleaning supplies. They talk about running as fast as they can-not for joy or exercise, but for their lives. They talk about their most likely escape plans, if these are possible in the chaos of the unthinkable yet now far more common. They go through terrifying scenarios informed by the lives of other children and teachers who have served as case studies with their very bodies and buildings. On many days, instead of spending the morning talking about the migration of birds or learning about global weather patterns or exploring Renaissance painters, she and her classmates and teachers go through in great and chilling detail, what happens if their school is invaded by a person with a gun:
My 12-year has to do active shooter drills in her school.