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.