One theme of "Raccoon Olympics" is "Adults have a responsibility to protect the influential experiences of younger people." Which evidence best supports the theme? "It will not occur to me until I am an adult to wonder if Paul convinced all the kids he could train wild raccoons to compete in swim meets, or if he just made up a kinder explanation for me."

"Paul doesn't really say what the raccoons look like when they swim. But my swimming raccoons wear goggles and have special swim caps fitted over their ringed tails to decrease drag."

"You ever heard of the Raccoon Olympics?' Paul asks me. I shake my head. He winks. 'No? Well, some raccoons are very good swimmers. But we want to find the best for our Olympic team"

"So, to test their swimming, we drive the raccoons out into the middle of the lake and put them in the water. If they're good swimmers, we start training them for the Olympics-..."

Read the excerpts from part 3 of "an occurrence at owl creek bridge." a rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! the cannon had taken a hand in the game. as he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond. *** a whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. the baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. he sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest. *** as he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence! what function does the motif of the cannon serve throughout the story? the cannon continually pushes farquhar to continue his journey through his dream and back to reality. the cannon encourages farquhar to investigate whether his escape was a dream or reality. the cannon reminds farquhar that time is subjective and encourages him to move quickly in order to reach his home. the cannon represents farquhar’s romantic dream that he escaped his execution and will return home.