The fifth grade production of Sleepy Hollow ended with Katrina and Brom linking arms to the sound of a wedding march. It was, as you might imagine, incredibly mortifying for the two actors. When the time came to link arms, Brom held his arm out and Katrina put her arm through, being super careful not to let her arm touch his.

Afterward, my son (who was playing Brom) told me that Katrina got really angry at him about it. “I think it was because people laughed,” he said.

“We laughed,” my wife said, “because you two were blushing, and everyone in the audience understood exactly what you were going through.”

“We’ve all been there,” I added.

“Oh.” He thought about that for a second. “I still don’t know why she got mad at me.”

“Girls are a lot meaner than boys,” I said. “You might get a little teasing for it. She’s probably going to get a ton. She’s just turning all that upset on the closest target.”

“Oh.”

“He’s right,” my wife said. “When people get embarrassed, they do all sorts of strange things.”

“Or,” I said with a grin, “It could be that she’s not really angry with you. Maybe she actually li-”

“Don’t say it!” he interrupted. “Don’t even say it!”