the spelling bee

Elliot informs me that the reason he only placed 4th in his class spelling bee was because he really, REALLY had to go to the bathroom, so he purposely spelled a word wrong in order to be released from standing at the front of the class in front of everyone.

When Henry was in 2nd grade, he "accidentally" won the school-wide spelling bee. Henry is the least competitive person I have ever met. He doesn't like to comepete, or to draw attention to himself. He also happens to be an excellent speller. He had no idea that when he kept spelling words right, he would "win," and thus automatically progress to the county-wide spelling bee. When he realized that he had accidentally achived this feat, he was morose. He begged not to be made to compete, and threatened to throw the competition. His teacher persuaded him to at least give it a try, but I knew he wouldn't actually try. On the day of the competition, he was by far the smallest child on the stage (this was for all of elementary schools in the whole county), and sure enough, he failed to spell something easy like "opportunity" correctly. Then he smiled happily and gratefully exited the stage.