Sorry doesn't make it all better -- but it's a start.

We were at my son's piano recital today. Several other music students had performed as well, and the parents had been asked to bring refreshments. I made some brownies that are extremely rich, and one of the teachers asked me to serve them out in little pieces so that the kids wouldn't go nuts from a caffeine/sugar rush.

One little girl who goes to the school has a reputation for being, well, special. She has an extremely high I.Q. but has almost no friends because she alienates other kids with her outbursts and sometimes violent behavior. The reason I don't have more compassion for her -- I started out with a lot -- is that her parents say things like, "I don't believe in making children apologize if they don't really mean it." Very modern.

So. At this piano recital, I'm serving up brownies as requested. This little girl comes up with her plate. Her father is right behind her and asks for a brownie. "Just put it on her plate," he said. "I'll share it with her."

Okey-doke. As requested, I put one of the brownies that I baked the night before (also as requested) -- my wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth, three-chocolate brownies -- on her plate.

She looks at me as if I just spit on her and she'd like to return the favor. In a small room with wonderful acoustics, she shrieks, "YOU INFECTED MY FOOD!"

I look at the dad, who's looking sheepish. "Honey," he says tiredly, "I asked her to put it --"

"HOW DARE YOU INFECT MY FOOD!" she shrieks, and decks me on as hard as she can on the arm. "You THING!" she adds, just in case I haven't gotten the message.

Her father says absolutely nothing. I'm embarrassed, vaguely humiliated, extremely annoyed, and my arm hurts. And he's not doing a darned thing. I look at him, waiting for a response. She's obviously not going to apologize; it would be nice if he did. "Come on, Emi," he says, and takes her arm and gets the heck out of Dodge. I've seen this kind of behavior before, usually with the parents of kids who are such blatant bullies that they'll act up even when the grownups are looking right at them. The mom or dad just pulls a disappearing act with the kid in tow, and the next time you see them, it's like the whole thing never happened. Earth to Hell Parents: SAY YOU'RE SORRY, ALREADY! If your kid acted up, do the decent thing and apologize, would you? Don't know how much good this public service announcement will do. Made me feel a little better, anyway.