In article <Grant-me-that-2806101@Grant.Grant>, +Grant.
<+Grant@grant.grant> wrote:
> The Adventures of Stevie #11
>
> These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
> are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
> been true. LOL
>
> My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
> in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
> before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
> friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
> service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
> Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
> fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
> he isn't here in person. I think.
> All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
> that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
> Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
> The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
> Stevie is 11 in this story, which takes place two weeks after story #10
>
>
> The Adventures of Stevie #11 "The Wall"
>
>
> Dear Carlos,
>
>
> Today was very exciting. I have to tell you all about it. There are
> still Ninjas around!
> This afternoon at school, the kids who go to karate class had a special
> class. First, Sensei told us to sit lotus. This is a way to sit where
> you bend your knees and put your legs over each other like a pretzel,
> and rest the backs of your hands on your knees or sometimes your palms
> on your knees. You have to be flexible or it hurts or you can't do it,
> but I can do it no problem because I'm very flexible. I can do a full
> side split standing on one foot, but lotus hurts me in a different way.
> I have a lot of energy that makes me want to move all the time. If I
> can't, my whole body feels trapped and itchy. You don't move in lotus.
> It takes a lot of concentration will power for me to keep still. I
> don't like it. Then I forgot all about it, because a very special man
> walked into the class. He was dressed in black fighting clothes. That
> was different from us. More different was how he walked. It was like he
> was floating over the floor. It was smooth like flowing water. He
> wasn't tall or full of big muscles like Sensei, but I could see he was
> very strong. His whole body shouted power at me. He looked old but
> acted young. He sat lotus next to Sensei. His friend who was also
> dressed in black who I hardly noticed, sat kneeling behind and to one
> side of him. Sensei said we should call him Sensei Ninja and his
> assistant Sensei Tommy. My whole body was staring at Sensei Ninja. I
> was afraid to blink or miss something he might do. I knew it would be
> very special. Sensei said "today you will learn a little about
> Ninjutsu." Ninja are Shinobi Japanese who practice the fighting arts of
> spying and assassination. They teach other people now. They have
> special weapons and tools, and can make themselves so people don't see
> them. After the explanation he asked for questions. I was too excited
> to speak so I signaled with my whole body I had one. Sensei nodded at
> me. I said "The history books are wrong?" Sensei Ninja smiled at me and
> said "Yes, Ninjas are still around. They didn't die off like the
> history books say." There were no more questions so they did some
> demonstrations. It was amazing and unbelievable what they did. Then we
> were allowed to look at their special tools. Then they did more
> demonstrations.
>
> The last demonstration Sensei Tommy did was on our climbing wall.
> That's a wall which has little things sticking out of it in different
> places so we can grab them and climb up the wall like it was a
> mountain. Karate class is in a part of the big gym which has very high
> roof, but the climbing wall goes only about 3/4 as high, and has a
> place where you can rest on top of it and where ropes hang from. He
> didn't climb up it, he RAN up it like it it was flat and then
> summersaulted off the top and landed with his feet flat on the floor.
> That was amazing! I asked him if he could do it again. He did and I
> watched as hard as I could. Then I asked Sensei if I could try to do it
> like that. He smiled at me like I was a little kid and said "sure, go
> ahead." Then he stood near it to catch me if I fell. He didn't think I
> could do it. I wasn't a very good climber the regular way. I thought I
> could because I watched how Sensei Tommy used his speed just the right
> way to keep going, and I thought of a way I could get extra jumping
> strength. I bet you will never guess how. I was going to imagine
> somebody grabbed my monster by surprise. I thought if I could jump like
> that when I want to, it would help going up the wall.
>
> I ran full speed at the wall, and made myself feel like I was grabbed
> at just the right moment, and I went up the wall so fast I barely
> touched the handholds. I was so fast I was over the top of it in the
> air before I could slow down and stop, and fell down onto the top
> resting place scared almost to death I was going to miss it. It was
> very VERY exciting. Funny too, when I saw all those faces staring up at
> me with their mouths hanging wide open. I wondered if I could count
> their fillings. Then I thought I would surprise them some more, and I
> showed off by going down the wall dropping down from handhold to
> handhold grabbing them by my fingers and not using my feet. I can do
> this because of my extra strong fingers and I am small and don't weigh
> much. I never did it before when people were watching so they didn't
> know I could do it. I sure wasn't going to jump down that far like
> Sensei Tommy did! I liked surprising them again. It was a lot of fun.
> Ha ha.
>
> Sensei Ninja signaled approval at me and I almost melted into a
> little bubbly pool of excited happiness. Sensei Tommy lifted me up and
> hugged me and and smiled and said "Maybe you can come to our school and
> give me some lessons." My smile back to him almost cracked my face in
> half. He even made my monster happy. I wanted him to notice it because
> I saw him look at me there before, but I knew it wasn't going to get
> big enough fast enough for that. I asked him to tell Sensei Ninja I did
> it all with my eyes closed except when I was looking down at them from
> on top, which is true. He looked surprised and hugged me some more.
> Then he put me down and the other kids swarmed all over me trying to
> hug me and clap me on the back at the same time. I was busy dodging
> them for a while. They are all bigger than me and backslap harder than
> they think. Our regular Sensei made us all line up and bow, and
> dismissed the class. He looked at me when we left like I just turned
> green with purple polkadots. I smiled back at him like I was an
> innocent little baby.
>
> I hope Sensei Ninja and Tommy come back again real soon. I like them
> a lot and I want to learn everything they can teach me. I think there
> will be a lot of walls I will have to climb in my life. Most of them
> won't be solid like the one today, but important just the same and
> harder. I think what they can teach me is important and can make those
> walls not so hard. Then I could help other people learn how to climb
> their walls better. I would like that too.
>
>
> Your friend,
>
> Stephen
You do have a way with odd images that work well:
"I almost melted into a little bubbly pool of excited happiness."
That was great.
Stevie is becoming a real tease. I'm not complaining! LOL
Good lesson at the end.
Mover, in appreciation
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