Adam Runs Cross Country or (Adam learns about
playing fair
Idioms related to the inside of your body
Adam was really into playing all sorts of sports, baseball, hockey, soccer he
loved them all. He decided that it was time to try running Cross Country.
Where sports were concerned he was no
lazy bones. Cross Country
would be a change for him, the other sports that he played all involved playing
on a team. Team work and cooperation were very important. Even
though the school would have a "team " the truth was that each runner just ran
the best that they could and it was the "team " score came from each individual
performance. This would give him a chance to see how he could do by
himself. He knew that as a new Cross Country runner the rest of the team
would see him as
new blood . He thought that it was a
fat
chance that he would place in the top of the field,
but he
had guts
and that he would not run
half-heartedly.
When he went to his first meet, players on the other teams saw that he was new
and
smelled blood. As they started the run, there was one player from one
of the other teams who ran so close behind him that Adam couldn't help himself
from taking quick glances over his shoulder. It really made running very
different and he felt that this player was
a thorn in his side. He felt that this player was
cruisin (g) for a bruisin(g), because if Adam slowed down even a little bit
that they would have a collision. He knew enough about running Cross
Country that it wasn't
written in blood as to how much space there should be between runners, but
he found it really scary.
After five minutes of this the player behind him
shouted out,
"
Yellow
Belly." Adam realized that this player was trying to intimidate him.
Adam knew that he couldn't be frightened and that he was not
Yellow and trying to scare him would be like trying to
get blood from a stone.
He decided to circle around behind this other
runner and run very closely behind him. He would give him a
taste of his own medicine and become
a thorn in his side! The other runner couldn't stand this and tried to
pull away from Adam but Adam kept up the pace until the other runner had to
drop back. Adam didn't understand why another player would try to win
by intimidation rather than by skill or ability. Adam knew that in sports
sometimes people were paid to do things that were unfair
to get ahead of the game. Adam couldn't understand why anyone would
take
blood money.
To Adam, the only way to play any sport was to play fair and win by ability.
Idioms in the story:
playing fair
lazy bones
new blood
fat
chance
had guts
half-heartedly
smelled blood
a thorn in his side
cruisin (g) for a bruisin(g)
written in blood
Yellow
Belly
Yellow
get blood from a stone
taste of his own medicine
a thorn in his side
drop back
to get ahead of the game blood money