Age 11
My Most Embarrassing Moment
It was on a clear, cold January night that it happened. My brother, Dave, and I were ice-skating on our pond. The moon was so bright it was almost as light as day. Dave and I had already skated quite a bit when he called for the last race before we went in.
First, I must tell you that we have eight mallard ducks that stick the winter out on our pond instead of going south. They always kept a small bit of water in the shallow end from freezing. They would swim around in this hole all day and sleep in it at night.
Of course, we had already been warned to stay away from the hole. and until tonight, we had done so faithfully.
Splash!!! Qua-a-ack!!!
Well, we skated to the deep end for our race. Zoom! We sped toward the shallow end of the pond. We called it a tie and veered—Dave to the left, me to the right. Unfortunately, the hole also lay to the right, and I was going so fast I wasn’t able to judge my curve. Splash!!! Qua-a-ack!!!
Fortunately, the water wasn’t very deep, but it surely gave me a shock! When I had crawled out, crying and sputtering, and Dave had skated over to see what had happened and started laughing as hard as he could, right then was my most embarrassing moment!
The ducks squawked loudly at their intruder as I, soaking wet, ran back to the house where a hot fire was waiting.