Then I felt a real hard pain in my stomach. I looked down and Jimmy was layin' there smiling. I grabbed my gut and fell over in the snow. I couldn't breath. Jimmy got up. He was leaning over me. Then he squished a big handful of snow in my face.

"Asshole," he said. "You're nothin but a big pussy."

I couldn't breath.

I couldn't move.

I lay there and watched Jimmy Cooper walk away. Then I started to cry. My old man found me when he came home from work. I had cried so much the tears were frozen on my face. When my old man carried me into the house John looked at me and laughed. I was still crying.

"What's with you, you little wimp?" he asked, and turned back to the book he was reading without waiting for an answer. It was a Danny Dunn mystery book. John was always reading books. That's how he got so smart and went to college. But that's another story. Anyway, my old man said it was a good thing he found me or I could of died. Then he whipped my butt just to remind me how good it felt to be alive.


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