Remember, remember, the 5th of November

If you can't remember that, how about your beam routine?

Generation 4.0 exhibits desireable traits: they pay attention, talk little, and work hard. Except their memories are like water to a duck. Nothing stays put.

"Roundoff from one knee," I say.

Colleen cocks her head, long ponytail sweeping over her face. "What's a roundoff?"

"You just did one."

Colleen doesn't believe me. Then the epiphany: "Oh." She does a cartwheel.

"Land with your feet together."

She nods. The ponytail waves like a flag. She does another cartwheel.

I look at the clock. Two hours to go.

The learning process for the beam routine is arduous. Larissa and Dana remember. Except there are a few parts they forget, and no matter how many times we review, they still forget. Holly's the most solid. It's hard to tell if Mariah has forgotten, or if she's just pausing every three seconds from fear. Colleen prances as she wishes, puckering her lips on the "fish pose." Nina and Allison look at me bashfully. They're lost.

Greg suggests that we designate each beam as a different part of the routine, and have them practice piecemeal. I support this idea. Except nobody besides the former three remembers those parts. Nor can they put the parts together for one cohesive routine. Then you've got Nina and Mariah scared to do handstands, Allison rolling her ankles and stubbing her toes constantly, Colleen lying on the beam pretending to swim, and Larissa and Dana already bored of the routine.

"All right, let's get a drink!" I call.