Here it is, Miss Winide, the whole story about how I up in the hospital.

I sure hope you haven't forgotten our deal. You know I've missed a lot of school and have a ton of make-up work to do. You agreed that you'd give me a passing grade for my missed time if I made a writing assignment out of this. So I guess you get the details on how a church kid like me got into trouble with a bunch of kids called the Sewer Rats.

I remember you once said that good writing isn't about getting hung up on spelling and punctuation rules. You said it's about making pictures with words. And about getting better with practice, just like in sports. You said good writers are the ones who tell their stories as honestly as they can.

I figure that's why you have me filling up this notebook-so I can learn both how to write better and how to be honest.

You never told me, though, that it would be so hard to decide where to start. I mean-and this is being honest-part of this happened because I was mad at my parents. They made me play baseball with a bunch of kids everyone called losers. And I didn't like being forced to believe in what my parents believe in. I mean, a person should have a choice in that, right? And a little bit of it happened because I didn't want anyone to find out how often I get afraid. But I'm not sure I want to start with all of that.

Instead, I'm going to do what you taught our class about writing. It might surprise you to find out I was actually paying attention. I remember how you said it was important to start with the four corners of a story. Who. When. Where. What.

So here I go. Who?

That's easy Me, Jim McClosky And my friends, Lisa Chambers and Micky Downs. Lisa and Micky called themselves the Sewer Rats before I met them. That's because of the paintball wars that happen in the tunnels beneath the streets. The Sewer Rats rule the sewers. I became a Sewer Rat later, after my folks forced me to hang out with Lisa and Micky on the baseball team.

More on us. I'm short and skinny and dark haired. When I get to choose, I almost always lose myself in a good science fiction book. Lisa Chambers is blond and pretty, with a sweet face and big eyes, like a china doll-but she's a lot tougher than she looks. Micky has light brown short hair, a square face, and square shoulders. His dad was a policeman who was killed on duty.

When did it begin?

Just after sundown on a Wednesday I guess I should have been doing my homework instead of tying to fit in with the Sewer Rats, but like I said, I was mad at my folks.

Where did this story start?

Down at the park, where the ponds are. You know the place. Near the playground. Where all the ducks and geese hang out. There are two little platforms over the ponds for bands to perform on during the summer. Because of the rain we've had, the ponds are overflowing their banks, and the walkway between the platforms is kind of hard to get to. The ground around the ponds is pretty slimy and slippery, and it doesn't smell too good.

Of course, kids aren't supposed to be there after dark. There's a fence around the park to keep people out at night.

Which leads to the fourth corner of how you said we should start a story: what Micky and Lisa and I were doing hanging out near the duck ponds just after sundown on a Wednesday night.

We were watching from outside the fence. The new kid in class was picking his way between snoozing birds. Then he jumped from the muddy bank onto one of the platforms. He waved as he positioned himself at one end of the walkway between the platforms.

What he had to do next was almost like crossing a tightrope.