Joreen Neo (13)
1C
16th April 2010
A Moment of Folly
This accident happened when I was in Primary 5. I was attending my English class in my class room, which was taken by my new form teacher, Mrs. Khoo. My new classmates that year and some old classmates from last year were also there.
From Primary 1 to 5, I have seen many students who liked to rock their chair to and fro in class while listening to the lesson. I was no exception. Although most of the students have met with accidents due to it, and teachers have always advised us to not rock our chairs, I turned a deaf ear to it as I have been rocking on my chair on two legs for many years, without having accidents, hence I always consider myself as a professional in the “art of rocking of chairs”.
As I was rocking with the two front legs of my chair, I unconsciously tilted my chair to a steeper degree and place my whole body weight onto the only two legs which supported me. Suddenly, I felt my chair legs sliding through the smooth surface of the tile. I panicked, and in my mind, I knew what was going to happen next.
I was going to fall.
I tried to hold onto the table to prevent my chair from tilting steeper and steeper that would result in me falling down to the floor. But everything occurred in a flash and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground and the chair’s legs were pointing towards the table at the back. I was in an awkward position and was stunned and did not know what to do.
I stayed there, stunned, the seconds slowly ticking away as the teacher hurried towards me, after hearing a loud screech that was emitted from my rusty chair. Curious faces turned to face me. I hastily picked myself up and pulled my chair to a way which I could sit and sat down before more faces spotted me half-sprawling on the ground. I blushed furiously and wished that I had not done that foolish thing. Mrs. Khoo came and asked if I’m okay. I muttered softly, “I’m alright,” and I was grateful as she resumed her lesson afterward, so that the class could direct their focus on her lesson and not on me. I became aware of my face getting hotter due to the embarrassment. I didn’t talk throughout the whole class to avoid from getting to much attention in class that would lead to the topic of how I fell down.
After this accident, I heeded the advice my teacher had given me. If I turn a deaf ear to her advice, something even worse might befall me.
