My best friend Lisa and I carefully wrote our words with a No. 2 pencil. We took turns writing down the sentences. "Dear Miss Hanley, "we wrote, "you like Kathleen better than you like us. That isn't fair. "Miss Hanley was our second-grade teacher. She was in her 20s, with short, dark, curly hair and lovely grey eyes.

You're a very talented writer, "Miss Hanley often told me. "If you want to be an author when you grow up, you will e. "This excited me. A few weeks into this school year, Lisa and I had co-authored a play based on our favorite novel, Little Women. And we performed the play in front of the class. When the curtain came down, the applause from the other students was light. But Miss Hanley clapped strongly, saying, "Great! Great!" Lisa and I ignored the other kids, and were high on her praise for days.

I didn't envy Lisa's relationship with Miss Hanley. Sharing Miss Hanley was a bond between us. Lisa felt more like a sister to me than my real sister. In Miss Hanley's class we behaved ourselves, although we couldn't help comparing ourselves with Kathleen, whose demeanor (风度) and dress were perfect. Kathleen lived in he family's big house with a beautiful garden. Lisa and I lived in small apartments. Her hair was clean and tidy. My hair was loose and wild. Kathleen did very well in her studies and of course Miss Hanley liked her.

Lisa and I continued writing our note to Miss Hanley, "You call n Kathleen more than you call on us. You like her because she is a goody-goody (善于讨好卖乖的人). That's not fair! Just because we are not goody-goodies does not mean you should like us less. "My heart was pounding as we left the note before class on Miss Hanley's desk.

It was our tun to open our presents this particular Christmas morning. The living room was already covered with tom wrapping paper. Obviously, the children could hardly wait to discover the hidden treasures, which they had expected for nearly a month. Now we adults sat around the room with our presents at our feet, slowly removing the paper, tying o maintain our dignity in front of the children.

My wife Brenda, and her family have a tradition of getting each other gag(恶作剧) gifts. This day makes me a bit uneasy at Christmas or my birthday, never knowing what form of embarrassment lies waiting for me under the thin borders of the wrapping paper.

Recently, my six-year-old daughter Christy seemed to busy herself with something while I was playing computer video flight games. Now she was standing directly in front of me. The excitement of the moment just beamed across her face. It was everything she could do to keep herself from helping me rip the paper from each present. Finally, I came to the last gift and with my natural Sherlock Holmes ability, I concluded that this had to be the gag gift. With everyone looking on, I decided to go ahead and got it over with—just let them have their laugh—and I tore the paper and there it was…a toy airplane about two inches long. Our holiday guests started giggling to themselves as I looked up to my wife with an unpleasant smile on my face and blurted out, “A toy airplane? Are you kidding me?”

Brenda gave me the look—that look that always tells me I have just said something wrong and should have given it a second thought. I had failed to look at the name tag(标签) before I opened the present to see who it was from. As I picked up the paper from the floor and read the name tag, my heart sank.

On the tog were the letters that read, “To Dad, Love Christy”.

Storing at the gift, I suddenly thought of a way to lift her up.

My family’s house was close to a road. And on the far end of the road stood a big tree. My parents, together with me, often crossed the road to the big tree to have fun with our neighbors. But I wasn’t allowed to cross the road to go there by myself for my safety.

One day, for some reason, the big tree would be cut down. It was just before dinner time. A large crowd of neighbors gathered at the far end of the road to watch the falling of this tree. I watched from my house as the tree, tied with ropes, was lowered down. Soon, the huge tree fell safely to the ground with a big sound. But the kids and grown - ups didn’t leave. They moved closer to stay around this wonderful old tree.

Like them, I wanted to touch the tree with my hands and say good - bye. But I was only five years old and wasn’t allowed to cross the busy road alone. But as I became sadder when watching the tree nearly disappear, I thought to myself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” I didn’t see any cars coming, so I ran across the road to say good - bye to the fallen tree.

After standing around and talking with some of the neighbors, I realized that I had stayed there too long. “I am late for dinner, and I’m in trouble.”I told myself. Without even thinking, and without seeing if there were any cars coming, I dashed out between two parked cars and raced toward the other side of the road.

I didn’t see a car rushing forward from the other end of the road. And the driver didn’t expect I’d cross the road at that moment. When spotting me, he tried to stop his car, whose tires produced loud and unpleasant noises. But it was too late.