Once, When I was a Kid . . .

by Jai-Sung (Korea)

When I was 12 and a senior in Elementary school, we held an exhibition of student works to celebrate the end of the school year, I had prepared a chorus day by day. And I had struggled to finish that with my classmates. Other grades prepared a play, traditional Korean dancing, and many things, but we wanted be the best because we were seniors. The day was getting closer and our preparation was getting better!

Ultimately, the exhibition of student performances was held. According to my memory, I didn’t sleep well the night before because of dread. Our turn was second part after noon so we were waiting for our turn and we didn’t do anything except staying in class room. But it was too long and boring for us. For that reason we decided to do “a milk competition” which meant how many cartons of milk can you drink in a limited time. At that time, my elementary school gave every student a milk every day so we could have lots of milk. Three friends and I began drinking to be the winner. One more….One more….One more…. I drank at least 10 milks and every one else gave up. I became the winner at the competition. It was the reason of the disaster. When I went to the stage for singing, I got a really, really serious stomachache.

Oh! I had to sing in front of a large audience, my parents, and my friends. So much bright lighting and silent atmosphere! I had never said to my teacher, “ I wanna go to the wash room right now. I must hurry! Hurry!” And I could see my parents. They looked like they had big expectations. But my stomachache was getting worse. Probably that time is my worst time. My face color changed to white. If you saw my face at that time, you would think I looked like a Canadian. I had about 10 minutes until my turn finished. Suddenly imitation fog appeared for atmosphere. I must not miss this opportunity! I ran away from the stage. Nobody realized that I was gone because of the fog.

After the show finished, I ate supper with my family. They asked me about where I was. I told them, “You couldn’t find me because of the fog. That’s it.” They were a little disappointed about that.

Now, when I see milk, it reminds me of my old memory.