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I wonder what the sound was when one of those John Adams Middle School kids scratched out a gang symbol at the Albuquerque Aquarium. Was it a rattling, high-pitched screech on the glass? Or perhaps a lower-pitched gouge?

Either way, it's the soundtrack from that act of vandalism that I'm hoping sticks in their heads. Much like what you hear from ex-convicts: the sound of steel doors sliding and slamming shut, the screams, the crying. It's always the sounds that haunt.

Five tanks, four middle schoolers - two just 12 years old - and the aftershock of an entire community has been more than loud. While taggers doing their thing in a back alley is one thing, the Biopark and aquarium is a different matter altogether.

It's almost sacred ground. Once you're past the gates, it's where we can take a deep inhale and forget about the nagging problems just less than a mile away.

These kids broke the covenant.

An entire middle school got tagged in the process.

The outrage, while justified, feels a click over the top. No one seems to be asking who these kids are. More important, what the circumstances were that make such an act even a possibility.

"I have my lawyer, and he told me not to talk to anyone."

Click.

That was from a grandmother of one of the John Adams middle schoolers reportedly involved in the incident. Her reaction came amid a kaleidescope of school-aged voices and mayhem in the background.

It was not the melody of family stability. You can tell a lot about a situation by how it sounds.

Not too far away, the boy's other grandmother shed some light.

His father died 11 years ago in a car crash. His mother has been battling alcohol problems off and on for years, including a jail stint. The 12-year-old shuttles between the two grandmothers, a common occurrence in this city.

The second grandmother was none too happy about the situation. Her grandson, she said, "has never been into trouble before. These kids don't need any more problems. They never get any help."

Whether he or any of the other kids and their families are cut some slack because of family circumstances is doubtful. Temperatures are high, and sympathy is in short supply.

My attempts to glean some insight on the other three kids were not successful.

But for two of these kids, we're talking about 12-year-olds.

Twelve.

If you are not around kids much, it's a fascinating age. They are in every sense more about their previous age than the one that's coming. To my mind, they're still an open window of opportunity. But just barely.

Once it got out in the papers that these kids had "gang affiliations," you could feel the compassion wash out. It's a tag the grandmother denied. She's the co-caregiver, so I'll take her at her word until proven otherwise.

Twelve is a little too young to grasp the financial ramifications of what they did. This isn't an age where you can work off the damage, so what are we to do?

My hope is the solution lies in the only place that affords these kids consistent stability: John Adams Middle School itself.

I like what I'm hearing about what's going on there. Teachers and students are planning ways to pay down the damages because, let's face it, you can sue these families until the cows come home, but the money isn't coming.

And some credit is very much due to Mayor Martin Chavez for lifting the two-year schoolwide ban on visiting the aquarium. It was the right thing to do, because it allows the rest of the student population to get into solution mode and out from under siege.

There's a message here and a good one from the school's actions. Schools rise and fall together. For the four kids, that school is likely their best hope for a turn-around, because it's unlikely they'll find any helpful grown-ups. We're too busy spouting off in anger and revenge in a high-pitched squeal.