It was April 1962. I was 12 years old and in the seventh grade at William Cleveland School, in Houston, Texas. My English teacher was Ms. Ada Pettis. It was Spelling Bee time in our city. Students were given small books of words to study in preparation for the classroom spelldowns (拼单词比赛.. Spelling Bee was one of the most important activities of the year in our school. Everyone wanted to qualify (有资格. for the school spelldown. Winners would enter the citywide competition and try hard to become the top Spelling Bee of Houston.
The day before the classroom spelldown, my youngest brother was playing with matches and accidentally set a fire in our house. The next morning, my mother called the school and told Ms. Pettis about the accident.
When I arrived at school, Ms. Pettis pulled me aside. She asked if I wanted her to put off the classroom spelldown because I was in a bad mood. I told her no. That day, I won the spelldown.
The school spelldown was held the next week. I won again! The citywide spelling competition was one month away.
Over the weekend, Ms. Pettis picked me up. We went to her home, where she helped me practice the spelling of difficult words.
After a couple of hours, Ms. Pettis took me to an ice cream bar, where we enjoyed large ice creams! We practiced and had big ice creams every weekend until the citywide competition.
I did not win, but I still felt proud . I also felt thankful that .
