Happy just to have qualified, Dominic had been clearly the bottom speller in every practice session and when I heard a parent behind me talking about a child sweating to learn the words in time for today I knew that Dominic, having spent maybe 10 minutes looking over the sheets, was without a hope.
Not that he wanted to win. Last night he even asked me if I would mind if he lost on purpose if he made it down to the last two. As he pointed out, winning meant having to do another Spelling Bee.
In the event my consent was not required. Dominic made it through three rounds and was in the last eight. It was a highly respectable performance in what was a genuinely serious and tense competition with the kids standing in front of all their teachers and peers using a mike and being literally in the spotlight. For the record, he spelled echoed, audience and fascinating correctly, before stumbling on impenetrable.
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