The Day Jamie Forgot to Breathe

I was there the day Jamie forgot to breathe.  I really want to say that he turned a sort of purple colour and that the veins on his neck stuck out and that his eyes kind of popped out of their sockets and that he fell off his chair kicking and yelling so that the rest of us had to get out of the way.  That's what I want to tell you.

But I can't, because it didn't happen that way.  Mum reckons I always exaggerate and she might be right, but I figure, if you're going to tell someone something you should make it as interesting as you can.  That's not the same as making things up, is it?

Illustration by Kim Gamble

---

Publication History

"The Day Jamie Forgot to Breathe" has been published twice.  The first time in Puffinalia, The Puffin Club Magazine (Penguin), in 1989. The second publication was in the NSW Department of Education Touchdown School Magazine in 1990, featuring a series of brilliant illustrations by Kim Gamble.