One of my classmates was standing on the end of the teeter-totter. This was against the rules because you can fall off and hurt yourself. The child on the other end of the teeter-totter pushed his end all the way to the ground. My classmate was now standing on the end of the teeter-totter with his feet above my head. Suddenly he lost his balance and fell. One second he was high in the air, the next instant he was standing on the ground. There didn't seem to be any time in between. We all looked at each other in amazement. No one said anything for several seconds.

"I think I did a flip in the air. Did anybody see it?” he asked. No one felt certain enough of what they had seen to answer yes or no. It was strange. He was going to do it again when the bell rang.



In our school we had a gymnasium. We were all required to bring tennis shoes to school, because regular shoes would be bad for the floor. We kept our shoes on selves in a closet. One day I noticed that my name was in the shoes; I didn't have to rely on what they looked like or where I had put them. Actually there were two names in my shoes, my first and last names. Up until then I had never thought about my last name. I always put just my first name on my papers. Later that afternoon I had to put my name on a piece of paper I was turning into the teacher. I decided to put both names on my paper. I couldn't remember how my name was spelled, so I guessed. The next day the teacher decided it was time to learn how to spell our last names. I was embarrassed when I got my paper back and found that I didn't know how to spell my last name.

Richard taught me how to swing during my kindergarten year. "Push me Richard, push me."

"Oh, you can do it yourself," he said.

"How? How do you do it?"

"Well, you just push with your hands and tuck up your feet when you go backward, and you pull with hands and stick out your feet when you go forward."

I tried it. At first I didn't seem to be making any progress. "It's not working!” I complained.

"Come on Tink. Keep trying. I think it was working a little. It's just hard to do."

I kept at it. Slowly I began to get the hang of it and I was doing better and better. "Hey, look at me now!" I was so proud of myself. Then I thought for a little while. "Hey Richard, why does pushing and pulling work?"

"Beats me. That's just the way I learned it, by experimenting." I started to do my own experimenting after that. I found that most of my experiments didn’t get me anywhere on a swing, or anywhere else in life, for that matter.

Memories of Early School Years

The school playground had slides, swings, and teeter-totters – and room to run around. Our school also had a gymnasium for days when the weather was bad. When the weather was good the playground was filled with children, and you had to wait your turn to use the equipment. Sometimes the other children wouldn't give me a turn. One day, when I was in kindergarten, my brothers and I walked to school. It had just rained and we jumped over puddles along the way. When we got to school I was delighted to find that we had the playground to ourselves. I immediately ran over to the slides.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!” warned my brother Richard.

"Why not?” I asked.

"You'll find out," snickered David.

I looked at them. David was smiling his wicked smile. Richard looked indecisive. James had run off some where. I went down the slide, wondering what David was smiling about. I soon found out.

"Hey, my pants are all wet!” I said. David laughed, and Richard, after a second, joined in the laughter.

"I told you that you shouldn't go down the slide," said Richard.

"But I didn't know. You should have told me why," I complained.

"Serves you right," said David. "Anybody ought to know better than to slide down a slide after a rain. You could have looked, you know. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

I guessed it was sort of funny, but it was not at all funny to me when the school bell rang and my pants were still very wet. I looked back at the seat of my pants. My heart sank to my shoes. "Oh no," I thought, "everyone will think I wet my pants." I walked along the halls of the school, trying to keep my backside to the wall. I found that this action drew unwanted attention to me. It was very uncomfortable sitting at my desk in wet pants. And when I had to stand up and get in line to go to recess I could hear the other children snickering and whispering behind my back. I could feel my face get hot and flushed, and I felt that I was going to die from embarrassment.