I shot an arrow into the air ...

and it fell on a newspaper!

Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

                                                                    Dad, circa 1947

I was about 4 or 5 years old. Dad was reading Manila Bulletin on a easy chair. 

I was playing Robin Hood. 

Since our sala was very spacious (it had no divisions), anything on the ceiling and walls was a potential target. 

But something wrong happened. 

In physics a crooked arrow would not follow a straight line, so it found an unintended mark – the center of a widespread newspaper!

The arrow pierced through it and landed on my dad’s forehead, almost between his eyes. 

He gave me a severe beating with my plaything as he wiped his forehead, blood dripping.

I did not cry, I just took the punishment obligingly. 

Dad must have seen innocence in my eyes. 

He stopped and gave me a hug.~


Acknowedgement: Title adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem, I Shot an Arrow into the Air.