This morning, for no particular reason, the kids and I were singing “Hit the road, Jack.” I don’t know who started it, but that’s the kind of song that once someone starts it, all of us end up joining in.

“Daddy,” my youngest asked me. “Who’s Jack?”

“I think the first part of the song is a woman telling a guy to leave.”

“Why?” they asked.

“I’m not sure. I think he did something mean, and she doesn’t want him around any more.”

“That’s not nice,” my oldest said. “I mean he should get more than one chance. You can’t send someone away after just doing one thing wrong.”

“Maybe he did more than one thing wrong,” I said. “Maybe it was a bunch of things. I don’t know.”

“Still,” my youngest said. “It’s not fair that he can’t see her again. What if he wants to? That’s not nice.”

“Yeah,” his older brother agreed. “You can’t send someone away like that. It’s just not right.”

“He’s right,” the little guy assured me. “That’s not right. He should still be able to see her.”

“I mean, maybe he loves her,”

“…and he just wants to see her again.”

“Why can’t he see her?”

“She shouldn’t just send him away like that.”

“Yeah, that’s mean!”

“Stop,” I said. “I don’t know! It’s just a song, okay? I don’t even think the guy’s real name is Jack.”

Whew!