Imagine sitting at your breakfast table having a cup of coffee when all of a sudden you see someone about to die. What would you do? Last Christmas, John Gelinne found out.

On Dec. 26, Gelinne, 60, was watching out the back windows of his home in Edgewater, Maryland, at frozen Beards Creek (河流). Children and grandchildren were running around the house. That’s when Gelinne looked up just in time to see a small plane a few hundred yards away, losing altitude (海拔高度).

As the plane disappeared behind the trees, Gelinne, a former Navy commander, realized it was going to land in the creek. He flashed on a moment from more than20 years earlier: Sept. 11, 2001. Gelinne was at work in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., when terrorists (恐怖分子) crashed a plane into the building. He escaped but has always wondered if he could have stayed inside and

“To the right was the crisis, and to the left was escape. I don’t even know if I could have gone right, but I went left,” he recalled. “I always second-guessed myself about that decision.”

On this day, Gelinne didn’t hesitate. He ran down to the waterfront. The plane had slipped to a stop on the broad, frozen creek, far from the shore. It was now sinking. The pilot was standing on the wing. Gelinne knew from his Navy training that even a few minutes in the icy water could kill the pilot.

Gelinne tested the ice with his foot and decided not to take any chances walking on it. So he and his son, John Ir., 37, pulled two kayaks(皮艇) out.

“I figured, if it can float on the water, it can slide on the ice,” Gelinne says. The kayaks’ paddles (桨) proved easily broken, so the pair tried using shovels (铁铲) to push the boats along. Their first attempts left them moving in circles. But with some muscle, they made progress.

Just like on every break, Asiri would go with his uncle to his workshop, who made costumes for elephants! Asiri had been asking to help make the costumes. But he’d been told he was too little to sew the fine stitches (缝线) needed for the costumes.

Waiting for Uncle Thad, Asiri smoothed his practice piece beside him. Across it he had sewn, pulled out, and resewn stitches just as Uncle Thad had taught him. He couldn’t wait to show it to his uncle.

When his uncle finally came over, Asiri leapt from his seat. “Look, Uncle, ” said Asiri, holding up the stitched cloth. “These are fine stitches, Asiri, ” said Uncle Thad. “Just right to fix sequins (亮片). ” Together they walked to the workshop.

Uncle Thad and his team were busy making the costumes. They had to be ready for Esala Perahera, the biggest festival held in the city of Kandy. Since the elephants were the stars of the parade, their costumes had to be dazzling. He especially loved the sequins sewn on them that made them sparkle.

Uncle Thad, his team, and now Asiri, would finish the costumes. Asiri hoped he’d get to sew a sequin onto the costume for the most important elephant in the parade. After lunch, Asiri was putting away a piece of cloth when his uncle called. “Asiri? Please bring me the box of golden sequins. ”

Here was his chance, thought Asiri. He’d bring the box to Uncle Thad and then ask to sew one on. Uncle Thad was sure to say yes. Asiri lifted the box from the shelf but turned a little too quickly, and the box was turned over, leaving the golden sequins on the floor. Uncle Thad turned to stare-first at Asiri and then at the golden sequins. Asiri felt his cheeks turning red. Now, Uncle Thad would never let him sew a single sequin on the costumes this year. Asiri dashed out of the door, down the street, and all the way back home. Hearing the rush of his footsteps, Asiri’s mother came to the door.

“What’s wrong, Asiri?” asked his mother.

Reaching the workshop, Asiri found the sequins were still there.

Jenny liked drawing and her parents thought she had a gift for drawing. So her parents were planning to send her to an art school for drawing classes.

One day, when Jenny returned from school, her mother said, “Jenny, do you want to go to an art school, where you can learn to draw in your spare time?” Hearing that, Jenny was very excited and happily agreed since being an artist was always her dream.

The following day, Jenny’s parents took her to the art school which was a thirty-minute bus ride away from their home. They enrolled Jenny in a drawing class in that school. Then, Jenny started taking classes regularly. At first, she showed great interest and listened carefully in class. She practiced hard in order to do better in drawing. However, some weeks later, Jenny got tired of going to the class. It was very hot at that time of the year. She often had to walk in the hot sun to get to the bus stop. What was worse, she found that drawing wasn’t as easy as she had thought. She was told that it’d take many years for her to be a real artist, so she wanted to give up.

One day, when it was time for her to go to the class, she didn’t leave home. Her mother looked at the wall clock and said, “Honey, it’s already three o’clock now. Your class begins in just half an hour. You should hurry.” But Jenny didn’t move. She said, “I' m not going. In fact, I am tired of drawing.” Her mother was very surprised. She asked her why. Jenny told her what she thought. Her mother thought for a while and said, “You can take a break if you really don’t want to go to your drawing class now. Go and pay a visit to your grandma. If you still don’t want to go after you come back from your grandma’s, then I’ll call your teacher and tell her your decision.”