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3rd PLACE, BUTTERFLY STROKE
I was feeling fine as I walked home from the swimming pool. Everything seemed great: the trolleybuses, because they were transparent and you could see who was riding in them through the windows, the ladies who were selling ice cream, because they looked so happy, and the day that wasn't too hot, and breezes that cooled my wet head.
But best of all, that day I'd taken third place in the butterfly stroke and I was going to tell Daddy all about it. He'd always wanted me to learn to swim. He says everybody should know how to swim, and especially boys, because they're men, and you can't really call a man a man if he goes and drowns in the sea during a shipwreck, or in a pond if a rowboat turns over.
So today I took third place and was going to tell Daddy all about it. I hurried home as fast as I could.
"What're you so happy about?" Mommy said as she let me in.
"We had a swimming race today."
"What kind of a race?"
"A twenty-five-meter race doing the butterfly stroke."
"How'd you make out?"
"I took third place!"
Daddy smiled. "You don't say? Good for you! Isn't that something!"
I'd known he'd be real happy. Looking at him now, I felt still better than before.
"Who took first place?"
"Vova. He's been swimming a long time, so it was a cinch.""Good for Vova! And who took second place?"
"A red-headed boy. I don't know his name. He looks like a frog, especially when he's in the water."
"And you took third." Daddy smiled again. I was feeling great.
"Well, third place isn't bad, either. Third, place gets the bronze medal. Who took fourth?"
"Nobody."
"What d'you mean?"
"We all took third place: me and Misha, and Tolya, and Kirn, and everybody. Vova took first place, the red-headed froggy boy took second, and all the rest of us eighteen kids took third. The swimming coach said so."
"Oh. So that's it. I see." And he went back to his paper.
Somehow, I didn't feel as good as I had up till then.