"Everything is just perfect!"

Beverly B. Spiller

Zach was in the seventh grade, and took his after-school baby-sitting job very seriously. In fact, he was able to teach his first-grade friend, Jonah, a lot of new things on the computer, help him with his reading assignments, and even show him how to skip rocks at the creek in their neighborhood. Looking after Jonah was great fun and made Zach feel grown up. He also liked knowing he was helping Mom with the extra money he was earning.

One hot afternoon after school, Zach and Jonah could hardly wait to go to the creek behind Jonah's house and have a rock skipping contest. Things went along pretty well for a while. Then, Jonah, wanting to skip the rocks as far as Zach, wound up to throw, but the rock slipped out of his hand and hit Zach's eye.

Jonah was very frightened. He thought Zach would be really mad at him and wouldn't baby-sit for him anymore. He yelled for help right away. He told Zach over and over how sorry he was. Zach was able to tell Jonah that he knew he hadn't meant to hurt him and that everything was going to be OK.

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