I once mistook a kid for someone else, so he got one beating he shouldn't have, but that's not so bad.

But you a Whitebread who not be afraid.""No, I'm not afraid," I say, most truthfully, now wondering if I came this way hoping for a fight.

There is no excuse when you lose. It doesn't matter to anyone if you had polio and were stuck in bed for six weeks.

Did you know that Edmund Hillary is the first man to climb to the top of Mount Everest?" I ask Dad. Dad mumbles back, "No one gives credit to the Sherpa who took him up there.

I can picture it. Dad running like a deer and three men with guns being chased by an unarmed small dark Jew.

I root for the Indians. I saw a movie about Custer's Last Stand. Really, he was stupid for underestimating Chief Sitting Bull and he deserved to lose.

My hands are blurs punching left-right-left. Even if I get hit it will do no good - I won't feel it. You have no chance with someone like me. No chance. I am invincible.

As she raises the strap even higher, I face her stiffly. I have never turned away. I can't recall ever crying and I won't cry today.