How to Skip a Rock

I was standing by the side of Lake Cayman with ace rock skipper Moe Keller.

Moe, who is eleven, was telling me how to skip a rock.

“For starters,” he said, “you have to pick a good rock. You want one that is smooth and flat.”

Moe bent down and scooped up some rocks. He held them in his hands for me to see.

“Here are some rocks that are just begging to be skipped! See how nice and flat they are?”

Moe picked one of the rocks. It was small, thin, smooth, and gray. It was two inches from end to end. He held it in his hand so I could see it.

“You want to hold it in your hand, with the flat side down. Wrap the side of the rock with your index finger, like this. Then sling it. It’s best to toss sidearm. You don’t want to aim it down at the lake too much. You want the rock to be whizzing just inches from the top of the lake. And, as you let go of the rock, you want to snap your wrist so the rock starts spinning.”

I looked on as Moe tossed the rock. It went skittering on the lake. Pitter-pat, pitter-pat pitter-pab pitter-pat. It must have skipped ten or twelve times.

“You want to skip one?” Moe asked.

It did not look hard when Moe did it. So I bent down and picked up a rock. 1 wrapped the rock in my finger. Then I flung it sidearm at the lake.

The rock struck the lake and sank. I can’t say it sank like a rock since it was a rock. The point is, it did not skip.

“When the rock sinks like that, we say its a plonk,” said Moe. “That's not what we want to see.”

I picked up a rock and tossed it.
Plonk!
“Snap your wrist!” Moe called.
I snapped my wrist as well as 1 could.
Plonk!

“You are so close,” said Moe. “Let me help you.” He came up to my side and pointed out how to toss the rock.

I tossed the rock. This time it was different. The rock hit the top of the lake and went pitter-pat. Tt was just three skips, but it felt awesome.

“Rock solid!” shouted Moe.

I soon found out that Moe, as a rock-skipper, likes to use the word rock. He sticks it in whenever he gets a chance.

I skipped a bunch of rocks. I got one to skip five times.

Moe yelled, “You rock!”
The next rock I tossed skipped six times.

Moe yelled, “You rock!”
“It's like magic!” I said. “I's cool! I'm hooked!”