Always trust Luke's observant eye

That first Sunday afternoon in Kuna, we decided to drive through downtown Kuna and show the boys our new town. Our first visit was past the newspaper office, at the far east end of Main Street in the corner of the basement of an old converted church that housed a medical clinic and a counseling center. An unnoticeable sign on the side of the building was all that told passersby that there was a newspaper office within.

As we drove past the building and headed down Main Street toward downtown proper, 4-year-old Luke said from the back seat, “Hey, there’s Earl and Suzi.”

First of all, Luke had never even met Earl and Suzi Maggard, the owners of the Kuna Melba News. He had only seen one blurry photograph of them that I had taken surreptitiously during our visit in July. Surely, Luke would not be able to pick them out in real life. Second, it was Sunday afternoon, and the Maggards wouldn’t be working at the office on a Sunday afternoon.

“No, Luke, I’m sure that wasn’t them,” I said.

“No, it is them,” Luke said in his still-tiny voice. “I’m positive.”

As would become common, Nicola and I would know better than to doubt one of Luke’s astute observations. We pulled the car over to get a better look, and sure enough, there were Earl and Suzi. They had left something in the office and had to go in and get it. It was quite coincidental that we had been driving by at the very moment they were leaving the office. And it was good that Luke had noticed them, as Nicola and I had not even seen them.

Luke was our little journalist in the making. Either that or a beat cop.