Putting my right foot in a large dent in the tree’s bark, I grabbed at a knot in the wood with my left hand. Then I pulled myself upwards until I could reach another knot with my right hand, moving my left foot up as I tried blindly to find another foothold in the trunk. And so I continued to alternate between my hands and my feet, using all of my upper body strength to pull myself upwards until I reached a cradle-like face at the top of the trunk where all of the other branches began. I laid myself down there, taking in several breaths as I closed my eyes a bit, feeling triumphant and smug that I had completed the first half of my side of the bet. But then a loud voice from below shook away the bliss and replaced it with annoyance.

            “Okay, so you got up there on your own,” Theo admitted sourly. “Now lets see if you can get down without father’s ladder.”

            He backed away and, as he saw I was sitting up, he laughed and replaced his frown with another mocking grin.

            “But I’m not going to hold my breath,” he added, laughing aloud.

            “Oh, I wouldn’t mind the slightest bit if you held your breath…then again, you wouldn’t be holding it for very long,“ I countered.

            “Well, Es, you always have been nothing but talk. So let’s see if you can put those words of yours into actions, eh?” he snapped back.

            And so began the descent back down from my perch in the tree. As I attempted to find the footholds I had used to climb up with, doubt began to grow in me. I wondered if this was such a good idea but I quickly brushed away these negative thoughts as I pictured myself being handed a dollar by Theo and how the victory would taste so sweet on my lips. I could see his face, frowned in defeat with his eyes looking away from me as if I would remind him of my achievement. But as I thought more and more about the spoils of war, so to speak, I lost concentration and my feet slipped out from under me. I fell down to the ground from ten feet up and the second I hit the ground, I heard a terrible snap, as if of a twig, before the pain of my injury actually hit me. But when it did I screamed so loud my father and mother came rushing out the front door, eyes wide and full of, at first concern, then just plain anger.