I almost killed my Math teacher.
A tennis match could have turned out to be a deadly game... Issue #48
ifOnlyi… had not let my anger and upset at missing shots interfere with my tennis game.
We were fortunate to have a tennis court at home. My math teacher loved tennis and said he played regularly. He told me he would love to come over to our house for a game of tennis.
Well, of course, I agreed, and one afternoon, when school was out and he was done with his work, he came to relax and enjoy some tennis. I, too, was looking forward to the game, especially to winning. Maybe I could increase my final Math grade, too. It was hopium.
The tennis game started, and the points became more aggressive, fast, and furious. It turned out he was a fantastic player. Imagine a Greek math teacher enjoying winning points one after another. I became too aggressive, made too many mistakes, and went for shots beyond my capability. My blood started to boil.
I was boiling over, and after this one particular shot, I lost but knew I should have won. I took my racket by the handle and threw it over the net with all my might. As the metal racket spun around, it came within less than an inch of hitting his head. The Angels above saved both of our lives.
The racket's throat went around his neck and missed hitting him by barely even an inch.
I dropped to the ground and then realized what had just happened. I jumped to my feet, then over the net, went down on my bent knee, and apologized profusely repeatedly.
I was mortified and felt like a total idiot.
The fear, the stupidity, the pure insanity of my reaction to throw a “weapon” like this metal racket in a rage. I couldn’t think of anything worse I could have done. It was not directed towards my opponent, my Math teacher— but it went right for him. My temper tantrums were finished, done, over forever.
He understood that it was not aimed at him, and things were okay between us. He never came over to our house or asked to play tennis again!
After this one incident, I never let my racket out of my hand again. This was a lesson well learned, and the end result was a saved life.
I am, to this day, so very sorry…
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#…ifOnlyi… short stories are published chronologically and follow my life growing up in California from 4 years old. If you’ve just found me, the stories will come together when you start reading from...Issue #1