[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-440072-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-440072-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","just-clowning-around","Just Clowning Around","","A secular humanist family newsletter story follows Carl, a restless eight-year-old, after a frustrating Saturday spent watching old videos and being pulled into a stressful day of clashing classroom chaos. At home, Carl’s family questions him as he recounts how a hallway prank spiraled into a comic catastrophe during school, involving spilled water, collisions, and nonstop laughter. 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However, it didn’t work for them because they lacked the timing and rhythm.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},440072,1790813819,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,91,95,100,105,110,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & 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California professor emeritus  \nIt was 4:30 P.M.and Carl was in a bad mood.He pushed hard withhis right foot and his skateboard fairly zoomed down the street.Hiseyes ached.His brain felt cloudy.He had spent a dumb Saturdayafternoon watching old videos and doing stupid things with Timand Walter.What a waste of time,when he could have been hav-ing real fun.He reached his driveway,spun the board into a fastturn,leaned back with his heel and braked.He picked up theboard,opened the side door of the garage,put the board inside,then went to the backyard where he knew it was family snack time.  \n\"Heyhere's our hungry eight-year-old.Your stomach is like analarm clock—it signals when it is snack time.Are you hungry?\"asked Carl's father.  \nCarl slumped into a patio chair.\"Well,yeah—kinda.\"  \n\"Beth?Mother?Did you two hear that?Kinda?Didn'tyou havefun with your friends?\"  \n\"Not really.\"  \n\"How come?You seemed really excited this morning.Youeven did your chores in record time.What happened?”  \n\"Well,it started on ThursdayBeth knows about the schoolthing.\"  \n“All I know is that you and Walter and Tim were clowningaround in the hall and had everybody in stitches.But I really don'tknow what happened,\"said Beth.  \n\"Let's give Carl a chance to have some of my extra-speciallemonade and a slice of banana bread,\"said his mother.  \n“Thanks,Mom.Well,here's what happened.Walter sits acrossthe aisle from me.And on Thursday afternoon when the classbell rang,we both had our books on our desk ready to go.We sortof got up at the same time and grabbed our books and swung intoone another.Our books went everywhere and I was sort of spunaround and whammed into Tim,who sits behind Walter.Hisbooks went everywhere.Then as lbent over to pick up my books,Waiter bent over to get his books and we hit butts.I sailed intoTim and knocked him flat.And there were the three of us sittinglike dopes on the floor.The class was killing itself laughing.MissThompson was laughing so hard she could hardly ask us if wewere okay.She said we reminded her of the Three Stooges.\"  \n\"But I thought it happened in the hall,\"said Beth.  \n\"That's the next part,Beth,and that's where the rest of theschool got their laughs,\"said Carl.  \n# \"What happened?\"\n\n\"Well,we got our books into our backpacks,and when we leftthe room Tim stopped at the fountain for a drink.There must havebeen air in the pipes,and when he pushed the lever ahuge amountof water just spurted up and hit Walter in the face.He spun aroundand whammed me with his backpack.I slipped on the water on thefloor,and aslstarted to fall I grabbed Tim.We both went down,andmy feet kicked Walter's legs and he went down.And so there wewere sprawled out on the floor and everyone was laughing theirheads off.Miss Thompson came out of the room and told us wewere obviously a natural comedy team and could one day be asfamous as the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.\"  \n\"Who are the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers?\"askedBeth.  \n\"T'll let Mom or Dad answer thatDad?\"said Carl  \nThey were two comedy teams that were very popular on tele-vision and in movies.The Marx Brothers were Groucho,Harpo.and Chico.I think the Stooges were Curly Joe and Moe and—who was the third one?\"  \n\"Larry,\"said Carl's mother.  \n\"See,your mother has a better memory than I do.Well,whathappened?\"  \n\"Well,we didn't know anything about these people so Timasked his Dad and he told him that we could rentvideos and seethem in action.That gave Tim anidea—we would become a com-edy team.So on Friday Tim said he would get the videos and wecould watch them and copy what they did on Saturday We start-ed with the Three Stooges.They were sort of funny and we decid-ed to try some of their acts.Well it didn't work.Somebody goofedup each time.And because they were always banging one anoth-er we got tired of being bumped and whacked and slapped andpushed,and it wasn't eve","cbCaiaCgk9BrtAlg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaCgk9BrtAlg","pdf",2858220,"English","# Just Clowning Around\n## What happened?\n## Family Matters'Goals","[{\"question\":\"Why is Carl in a bad mood at the start of the story?\",\"answer\":\"Carl is cranky because he spent a dumb Saturday watching old videos and doing “stupid things,” and he believes it was a waste of time with no real fun.\"},{\"question\":\"What happened during school that led to everyone laughing?\",\"answer\":\"Carl explains that after getting books and leaving the room, Tim ran water from a fountain that splashed Walter, triggering a chain reaction of slips and collisions that left them sprawled on the floor while classmates laughed.\"},{\"question\":\"What did Carl’s group try to do after the classroom incident?\",\"answer\":\"They decided to copy classic comedy routines from the Three Stooges and Marx Brothers by acting out similar bits, including roles and props. However, it didn’t work for them because they lacked the timing and rhythm.\"}]","Just Clowning Around | PDF",1790691014,14]