It’s All Downhill

For her birthday, Carol had gotten a brand new scooter. Today was the day she decided to try it. She grabbed her library books and put them in her backpack. Carol began peddling down the hill towards the library. This was going to be a great day!

But Carol didn’t realize that the hill was longer than it seemed. As she continued down the hill, she began going faster and faster. She also began to realize how little she knew about using a scooter.

On her bike, this trip was easy. Carol would just put a little pressure on her brakes to slow down. There wasn’t a brake on her scooter. She was afraid to put her foot down on the scooter for fear that she would hit the ground and fly through the air.

Swoosh! The wheels were clicking, and Carol was starting to panic. How was she going to stop? Click, click, click . . .

Carol noticed a big bump in the road. She tried to remember if she should hit the bump aggressively or timidly.

Bump! The bump sent her flying through the air. This was going to be a rough ending. Things were going from bad to worse. She could see a car coming from her right. With her luck, she would probably hit the intersection at the exact same moment. Panic raced through Carol’s body.

“How can I slow the scooter down?” she thought. Thoughts were racing through her mind.