Wait, that was off the scale!

My work colleague and I usually go out of school to get a cola (or Pepsi in my case) . On  the way to the front gate, there, are of course students galore. It's their lunch break after all. One of my fourth graders said hello to me. Nuthin' unusual about that, I answered in kind and then asked the stereotypical response... "How are you?" A short pause and the reply was "I'm fine". I continued on to the corner superette and to my waiting Pepsi. I thought. She had thought. I'd gotten a genuine response, (in my opinion) and perhaps something that had the kernels of a conversation. She'd responded to my pause, and not choked. The patterns are getting through, and that, I do think I'm teaching them good habits. The next step would be to teach them reading and listening skills. Awkward, but not quite out of my control.