Cartwheel Contagion

To all intents and purposes Sierra Waterman was a normal girl. And when she woke up that particular Monday morning it seemed as though it would be just a normal day.

Certainly the sun was shining normally through her window. And outside her window the sounds of birds could be heard as normal. At the end of her bed her cat, Snap, lay snoozing quietly, and that was quite normal too.

But what happened next was not normal at all. Instead of getting up and shuffling her way sleepily to the bathroom, Sierra decided, for no apparent reason, to cartwheel there instead.

After washing her face, Sierra then proceeded to cartwheel her way into the kitchen. She landed perfectly in her chair, unnoticed by her mother who was busy buttering toast and keeping an eye on several eggs quietly frying in the pan.

When she finished breakfast Sierra cartwheeled her way back to her bedroom and slipped into her school uniform. After a quick stop to brush her teeth, she then proceeded to cartwheel through the house, out the front door, down the front path and along the street until she came to the gates of Camden Vale Girls Primary

She then cartwheeled herself across the playground and into her classroom, executing yet again a perfect landing into her chair, much to the amazement of her classmates.

When the bell rang for recess Sierra again cartwheeled herself out into the playground followed this time by a gaggle of very curious girls.

When the bell signaling the end of recess rang, Sierra cartwheeled her way back to class but this time with five other girls cartwheeling behind her. When it came time for lunch another seven girls took the opportunity to propel themselves into the yard by cartwheeling.

Veronica Jenkins took note of this with disdain. She thought cartwheeling was too easy and very, very juvenile. So when the bell rang for the end of lunch she took the opportunity to tumble turn her way back to class, speeding past the now some two dozen girls who had taken to cartwheeling.

As the school day ended the number of girls who cartwheeled their way through the gates had grown closer to thirty, while there were at least half a dozen who had chosen tumble turning as their preferred option of going home.

By recess the next day the popularity of cartwheeling had grown to such an extent that another dozen had taken up the habit. Meanwhile there seemed to be at least fifteen girls who were moving from place to place by way of tumble turning, but they were all moving so fast it was difficult to count.

Katie Williams looked on in dismay. She considered all this cartwheeling and tumble turning to be considerably childish. Accordingly she back flipped her way to class. By midday another dozen or so girls had joined her while there were now at least twenty-five tumble turners and well over fifty cartwheelers spinning and zipping down corridors, in and out of classrooms and across the playground.

“This has got to stop,” thought Mrs. Stevens, the Year 3 teacher as she hop-scotched her way to the school’s staff room.

After a brief meeting with her colleagues, Mrs. Stevens and five other teachers hop-scotched their way down a corridor teeming with cartwheelers, tumble turners and back flippers, towards the Principal's office.

“Come in,” they heard as they knocked hastily on the door.

As they hop-scotched their way into Principal Johnson’s office the teachers were shocked to find her executing a perfectly balanced hand-stand in the middle of her desk.

“It relaxes me,” she said.