The sun rose onto the Langchester house. Kyle rubbed his eyes as he woke up from the bright sun. He heard his mom downstairs calling him for breakfast. So he slumped out of bed and dragged himself downstairs. He forgot about the comfort of his bed when he smelt the sweet fragrances in the air. The enticing sausage sizzled on the pan next to the golden scrambled eggs. Tsssht! The fresh toast popped out from its hiding place in the toaster. Boy this breakfast looks fit for a king, Kyle thought to himself. Kyle sat down and began eating his delectable dinner as his mother walked in from the other room.


“Ready for the big field trip today?” She asked.

“Oh no!” Kyle said franticly, “I completely forgot.” Kyle swallowed up was was left on his plate and ran back upstairs to get ready. Today was his field trip to watch the San Antonio Spurs take on the Detroit Pistons. His class won seats to the game when they raised over 3000 dollars for a charity. Kyle raced back down the stairs with his pants unzipped and his shirt on backwards. He was so excited. “Bye mom!” Kyle shouted as he raced out to the bus waiting for him outside. His mom just waved through the window. Kyle could not stop talking about the game the whole way to school. All of the kids in his class was so excited to get to the game. The teacher walked in and everybody pulled out their permission slips. Kyle reached down into his pocket and it was empty. Kyle quickly checked again, nothing. Kyle began searching his whole body for that permission slip. The teacher slowly walked around the classroom picking up slips until she finally got to Kyle.


“Young man,” she said in her stern voice, “where is your permission slip?” Kyle checked again and again for the ticket. “Do you have one?” The teacher began to become impatient.

Kyle hung his head down and he struggled to whisper the words “No.” His teacher just looked at him for a while.

“OK class the bus is waiting outside.” All the children quickly left for the bus. The teacher headed out as well. “You’ll have to stay here with the gym teacher Mr. Henderson. He’ll watch over you while the class is gone. Knowing him he is probably at the tennis courts.” Kyle just nodded slightly. His teacher walked outside to the bus and Kyle watched them drive off down the street to the game. Kyle turned around and looked into the empty class room. He was so disappointed he couldn’t go. He walked to the door, turned off the lights and headed down the hall toward the tennis courts.

Kyle walked outside to find Mr. Henderson on the courts hitting with some kids on the tennis team. Kyle slumped along to the fence where he watched Mr. Henderson practice from behind. Mr. Henderson turned around to find Kyle standing behind him. “What do you want kid?” Asked Mr. Henderson.

“I forgot my permission slip so my teacher sent me to you.” Kyle looked away in embarrassment as the boys on the team began to snicker at him.

“Oh, well I need a partner to play doubles with. Go inside and grab a racket and join me.” Mr. Henderson pointed at the shed where the sports equipment was held.

“Umm, I don’t think so. I’m really bad and find tennis really boring.” Kyle said hoping not to reveal how bad he really was at tennis. A few years ago he tried tennis and the kids made fun of him because he couldn’t hit the ball, so he gave it up right away.

“Nonsense,” said Mr. Henderson, “ you’ll be fine.” Kyle redundantly turned and headed to the shed only to return with a old racket. “OK, just hit the ball when it comes to you.” Mr. Henderson reassured. The other boys got ready on the other side. Mr. Henderson threw the ball up...WACK! The ball flew to the other side.

“I got it!” yelled one of the other kids. WACK! The ball sped back toward Kyle.

“You got it Kyle.” Cried Mr. Henderson. Kyle prepared himself for the ball. It raced toward him, faster and faster. The ball came up to him. He swung his racket back........


To Be Continued