Don't step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back

The other day I was walking across campus next to this kid who had a very strange skip in his step. I started watching him to figure out what he was doing, and realized that superstitions do exist--he was being very careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk. He was doing a great job, and then, we hit the brick sidewalk! These bricks go every which way, and they are bricks so they are small. (I saw him step on a few bricks before he realized, but let's just keep that our little secret.) The panic that entered his body was very apparent and I wasn't sure he would make it across. His initial reaction was to take very small steps and tip-toe across the sidewalk; his steps got a little bigger though as that was taking much longer than needed. He was very graceful in his step. We finally reached the normal sidewalk again, and I believe his heart rate and blood pressure became normal again; anymore of that brick sidewalk and I may have been calling the campus EMT's. Then I thought I would rock his world a little bit, and I began stepping on every crack. This definitely frustrated him a little, and he began walking faster to get away from my astounding behavior. We quickly parted ways and amazingly, I did not break my mother's back. One this is for sure, that kid made my day!