My Short Short for the Day

“Alright Max, you can do this.”  Max bolstered up some courage, crouched down and pushed up and out.  He imagined himself as a kangaroo.  Strong, powerful legs propelling him into the air and over the sand.  He felt like he was soaring for so long before he touched down.  When his feet made contact, he instantly bent his knees to ‘absorb the shock’ as his coach would say.  He made sure to throw his arms forward so he wouldn’t lose distance falling back.  He made a solid landing and when he was steady, he straightened up.  He beamed at his coach and teammates who had been cheering him on.  He was so proud.

Slowly it began to dawn on him that everyone was looking at him strangely.  They were smiling but it seemed awkward, not nearly as enthusiastic as he expected from such an amazing jump.  The judges asked him to step out of the long jump pit. 

His coach came over and clapped him on the back.  “At a boy Max.  You really give it a go on that one!”  His smile was off as he lead Max away, talking about what the next event was.

Max stopped and looked back.  Why was everyone acting so weird.  Max watched in disbelief as the judges measured out 1 foot.  1 foot!  He couldn’t believe it.  He had jumped 1 foot.  “A whole foot!”  He shouted.  “I jumped a whole foot!  I’ve never jumped so far in my life!”  Max danced around and laughed.  Then he sought out his parents and saw their smiling faces as they stood and cheered.

When Max twirled around in joy, he saw the smiles on his teammates and coach’s face light up.  Now they were smiling right.