Narset- Catches an Apple

If it was an apple from up there that her mother wanted then that was what she would get. Narset jumped. "Then that one!" She pointed to one of the topmost fruits—and her sleeve snagged the long stem of it.

What happened next happened in slow motion. The apple wavered first forward and then back. Narset reached to steady it, but she was already on her way down from her leap, and when her fingers touched it they dragged the fruit to the precipice. It teetered there for a heartbeat and then began to tumble down.

"No!" She heard the apple merchant's desperate shout from somewhere above.

She reached for his precious piece of produce as it sailed off the stack and plummeted toward the floor.

She could predict the trajectory; she had studied falling objects before, and her hand connected just before it hit the ground.

"Ha! Got it!" She lifted her arm, holding the apple on display—as hundreds more rained down around her, thumping and bumping, hopping over each other and rolling across the floor.

"Oh no." That shouldn't have happened, Narset thought, not if the pile was stacked as tightly as she had assumed. However, if there were only sixty-five apples then there would have been structural instability and this behavior would make sense.

THE GREAT TEACHER'S STUDENT