AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

It’s All In Your Mind
National Area Capital Council

Jumping Jack: Stand up and jump once, say “Boing” and sit back down.

Running Ralph: Stand up, run in place, stomp feet 3 times and say “Zip!”  Sit back down.

Computer Charlie: Stand up, swing arms back and forth (like the robot from “Lost in Space”) and say, “It Computes, It Computes.”  Sit back down.

“This is the story about a boy named Jumping Jack, and another boy named Running Ralph, and still another boy named Computer Charlie.  These three boys were close friends and they went everywhere together.

Jumping Jack got his name because everywhere he went he was always jumping over things for no apparent reason except that he liked to jump.  You could see all three boys walking around town with Jumping Jack jumping over benches, curbs, bushes, fences and almost anything that wasn’t too high.

As you may have guessed, Running Ralph got his name because he was always running.  Maybe his legs were shorter than his two friends and he had to run to always keep up, or maybe he just liked to run.

Computer Charlie got his name because he was a very intelligent boy who excelled at mental skills.  Everyone always teased Computer Charlie because Computer Charlie wasn’t very good at sports or as strong as Jumping Jack and Running Ralph.  But this never seemed to bother the three friends because they stuck together no matter what.

One day, Jumping Jack, Computer Charlie, and Running Ralph were on their way to the store when they saw a local bank being robbed.  The robber was making his getaway.  Jumping Jack jumped over the bushes and a fence to get to a neighbor’s house to call the police.  RUNNING Ralph was right behind him.  But Computer Charlie just stood there, watching the whole thing.  Thanks to Jumping Jack’s jumping and Running Ralph’s running, the police arrived at the scene in no time at all.  They started to ask questions, but Jumping Jack and Running Ralph didn’t know what to say because they had been too busy running and jumping to see what had really happened.

But Computer Charlie began telling the police everything they needed to know.  He knew the model and color of the getaway car, the license plate number, the direction the robber went, and a description of his clothes and size.  His mental skills were a great help to the police.

After reading about the theft in the newspaper, all of the children were so proud of Computer Charlie.  They never teased him again about his mental skills.  They came to realize that Computer Charlie was just as important as Jumping Jack and Running Ralph.  Together, by pooling their talents, they were able to accomplish many great things.

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