by Steven Tatum, age 14

This piece is one of a series written by students at the Hutch School. The Hutch School, which spans grades K–12, seeks to meet the educational needs of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance pediatric patients. On his trips to Seattle, Dave Eggers visits the school to work with students on various projects. During a recent trip, students wrote in response to Jamaica Kincaid’s short-short story "Girl." The students then read their stories aloud at a reading at the Elliott Bay bookstore, on October 2, 2002.

This is the third of three short pieces by Steven Tatum that we will be running this week.

Always try your best, don’t give up, don’t make the coaches mad, listen to everything, do it for yourself, don’t let the team down, run as fast as you can, don’t make excuses, don’t look down on yourself, don’t think too highly of yourself, don’t get nervous, don’t look at the people watching you, be proud, try harder, set your goals, run with posture, get in front of the person, breathe correctly, don’t screw up …