AKRON, Ohio — In his role as Simon during a playground game of Simon Says at Pfeiffer Elementary School, ten-year-old Jerry Torres removed his prosthetic arm and watched the rest of the players struggle.
“Can’t get it off!” wailed Hailey Bender, tugging at her arm. “How did he do it?”
Torres’ classmates all employed different strategies, from wrapping their arm around a nearby tree to rolling around on the ground in order to gain momentum. None of these methods worked.
“I didn’t think this all the way through,” admitted Torres, holding his prosthetic in his other hand. “But it seemed like a good idea in the moment.”
About a quarter of the players stopped trying to tear off their right arm and switched to their left.
“I forgot to flip it around in my head,” sobbed Louis Young, taking a break to shake out his limbs. “I can never remember which arm Jerry is missing.”
The recess monitor called out that there were only ten minutes left in recess. The children all began pulling at each others’ arms in a final, futile attempt to beat Torres.
Only Julia Perez remained still. She had noticed at the start that when he removed his prosthetic arm, Torres forgot to say “Simon Says.”