I lived with my mom and grandmother since I was 8 years old. Running a big grocery store in our town, my mom was very busy and seldom had time to take care of me. Every day I was left inside the house with my grandmother who was too old to take me out to play. I always thought that my mom cared more about her business than me.

One sunny afternoon, two of my closest friends, Jason and David, called me to go biking at the park. My grandmother was sleeping in her bedroom. I thought it was my chance. So I climbed over our gate and got out. Jason lent me his bike and sat at the back seat of David’s bike. Then the three of us went together to the park, which was not far away from our home, to enjoy ourselves. I was riding the bike as fast as I could around the park. And I felt as if I were flying!

Suddenly out of nowhere, a little boy appeared in front of me.     1         2         3         4         5    

Through this experience, I realized accidents may happen any time and that mother is always the one who loves me best.

3 . Jack caught the basketball and threw it at once. The ball flew into the net. “Jack, you never miss !” Tom said excitedly. “You're a great shooter!”

“But I always fail to do it in a real game,” Jack felt upset. “I'm just not comfortable playing with strangers around me.”

Tom knew that Jack was right. Jack performed much better when he was having fun with Tom in the school yard than he did when he was playing for the school team in front of a large crowd. But Tom soon had an idea.

The next day Tom and Jack met in the school yard again to practice for the coming game. After a few minutes, Tom excused himself. “I'll be back in a minute.”

Tom hurried through the school building to search for some people.     1         2         3         4         5    

“Hey, Jack!” Tom called out finally. Jack turned. A look of surprise came over his face. “I just wanted to show you that you could play well with people watching you,” Tom said. “Now you'll have nothing to worry about for the next game!”