Monkey Bars

It was possibly the stupidest thing I had ever done in my 1^st grade career-OK, OK, maybe the second most stupidest thing I had ever done...next to the time I ran into that pole, but that was because there was something more interesting than where my feet were taking me. Oh well, that's all over now-back to the second most stupidest thing I have ever done in my life...it happened on a cool day like this...

It was a day, much like the regular days of fall-you remember: when the wind picks up and licks your face clean like the tongue of a dog smacking its chops after wiping your strawberry-ice-cream-covered face. It was one of those days, yep, and I should have seen it coming.

So we plodded along, a single file line as always, popping our heads out of singularity every so often to try and figure out what Mrs. Peterson was feeling like today, if she would give us a long recess or a short one because we had started giggling that morning-Matthew had done something rather funny by kicking the door opened a few times, so we thought that was humorous, but we should have known that it would lead to a whole slew of things at recess...one of them being a shorter time outside. Phooey.

Well, there I was, racing around the bend of the monkey bars, the pat clop clip of my worn shoes upon the mulchy gravel...I had been deemed "the fastest thing on two legs", so all the boys were running after me now, sprinting at my heels. I got tired of this game because they could never catch me, so I called it quits and started on a new venture-to be the first one to conquer the inevitably winding monkey bars. Wow, those things are high.

So, I sized them up-eyeing them like a real expert, sniffing up a little bit of cold drips so I wouldn't have to wipe my nose half-way through them. Then, I leaned forward-my shoelaces dangling like shoelaces do, and I grabbed the first blue bar, hoping that I could swing my way through. So it began-the most stupidest thing I had ever done in my 1^st grade career.

I swung and twisted and maneuvered around, slipping at one point, then hoisting myself through the maze of the meandering monkey bars. I guess it was something of a spectacle because everyone started watching, wondering if I was going to fall or keep my wits about me...as for myself, I was starting to wonder the same.

So, I kept reaching and swinging, reaching and swinging...then, I came to the hardest part of the whole thing-the turn at the very end. I had almost made it! The first one to conquer the monkey bars! But, how in the world could I contort my burning arms around the turn at the end? I sighed for a second, dangling like my shoelaces at this point-everyone watching. What was I going to do? Well, I gulped, sniffed, watching the long bars parade themselves in front of my watery eyes-they were getting quite blurry now because of the cold. That last bar over there seemed like a long reach, too long, like something that you want so bad but you can't quite get it because you're not tall enough-that happened a lot. So, I pushed forward, holding out my arm to the next bar, reaching...reaching...reaching! Got it...shoo...that was a hard one...Now, I'm kind of stuck, between the bar of my left arm and the bar of my right one...My arms are shaking now, kind of tired-like. Oh my, everyone's still watching. Only three more to go...only three more...come on, you can do it...Just count...One, two...three! I swung one arm, then the other...Okay, only two more, two more...One, two...three! Got it...only one more...one more...One, two...uh, oh...uh, oh...I'm slipping! Take a second, breathe...wait for it...My legs are now wildly flailing, my arms trying to regain their composure, blisters screaming on the palms of my hands. My breath is dangling now, kind of like my untamed shoelaces.

Wait a second...I'm here...I'm on the last one! How did that happen?

I open my eyes, the blackness all gone...I made it, and I was dangling in the wind, like the last leaf of fall, holding onto something I had already conquered...Was it really the most stupidest thing I had ever done in my whole entire life? Well, there was that one time when....