george knew all this because 1 ) they were the kind of parents who would go to every parent/teacher conference ( he thought it might be the 'only child ' thing ; they did n't want to miss even a moment , lest they irreparably screw something up ) and 2 ) they 'd been unable to get a sitter that night , despite the vast squadron of teenage girls usually on offer at the church , so he quietly drew with coloured pencils at a spare desk while his mother and father crouched , comically low , in the plastic children 's seats before miss jones 's desk .