I awoke with the sun in my eyes, looked around and realized I was in my bedroom with my window open. I got up and went out to the living room. The clock read two o'clock in the afternoon. Time to eat breakfast. So I took out some cereal, and while I was eating it the phone rang. It was my uncle Bucko asking if I wanted to go water skiing? "Yeah, when?" I asked. "After awhile," he replied. "Okay I'll be down after I'm done eating breakfast," I told him.

After I hung up I ate my grub faster. Then I looked for my shirt and socks, slipped on my tennis shoes and walked over to my grandparents' house. When I got there I found Chris, Joe-Joe, Victor, and J.B. resting from playing ball. Bucko asked them if they wanted to go skiing with us. They did and went to get their swimming gear. In half an hour they were back, and we headed across the river for the beach.

When we got there I took out the ski rope and gave it to Joe-Joe. All us boys were arguing about who was going to ski first, and finally Chris said, "I'll go first you scared punks!" So Chris put on the life vest and got into the water which he said was really cold. Joe and I gave him the skis and rope and Bucko started the motor and tightened the rope between Chris and the boat. When Chris said he was ready Bucko pushed his motor full throttle. After Chris got up on step he moved from right to left of the boat jumping back and forth on the water. When he was tired Joe took over. Joe also jumped on the waves made by the wake, stayed to one side of the boat for awhile, then went back to jumping on the waves again. When Joe got tired I took my turn.

After Joe hopped back in the boat I put on the life jacket and jumped in the water. It was freezing cold! I put on the skis then found the rope. I was very nervous because it was my first time water skiing. But Bucko told me to keep my skis above the water so I could plane out. Then he accelerated. It was very hard trying to plane out and it took a while before I got up. Then I didn't know what to do and just stayed right behind the boat until the other guys in the boat told me to jump on the waves of the boat. But I just went from right to left to check how the waves would be. Then I started to speed up and finally began to jump on the waves. At first I was very scared and thought I would wipe out and get hurt. Then it got to be fun and I started to jump harder every time I went over the waves. When I got tired I went right behind the boat then let go of the handle. As I took off the skis Bucko turned the boat around. The other boys were laughing at me because of the way I slowed down In the water.

Then we let James Oney try, but he was too heavy and couldn't plane out. A lot of water splashed him in the face and we cracked up laughing. Then on our way home Chris water skied. He was jumping on our very high waves until he wiped out really hard. I tried a second time when we were by Kemp but I wiped out harder than Chris although I didn't got hurt. I felt like I was sliding on the water when I wiped out. The other boys were laughing at me because of the way I fell. They said I made a big spray of water when I wiped out. But that was O.K. I may have wiped out, but it was a good end to a very great day. I had learned to water ski.

Story by: Matthew Shorty