The Tale of the Copy Cat

Illustration by Xander  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

          Audra the duck, Xavier the frog, Hayden the turtle, and Summer and Madison the butterfly twins were all playing tag along the banks of Polliwog Pond.  After a while, everyone decided to take a break and sat down in various places along the banks.

            “Wow! That was fun!” exclaimed Audra the duck.

            “Wow!  That was fun!” echoed Hayden the turtle.

            Audra gave Hayden a funny look but decided to just let it go.  Then she slid into the waters of Polliwog Pond and began floating on the water.  “Ah, this feels good,” she stated.

Illustration by Helaina  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            Hayden the turtle lumbered over to the water and crawled in as well.  As he floated on the water, he said, “Ah, this feels good.”

            At this point, Audra looked at Summer, Madison, and Xavier with a weird look on her face.  Her three friends returned her weird look, but still didn’t say anything.  Then Audra began to swim around and Hayden followed her.

            “Hayden, what are you doing?” asked Audra just a little bit aggravated.

            “I’m just swimming around,” stated Hayden plainly.

            “Why do you keep doing everything I’m doing?” asked Audra getting more aggravated by the minute.

            “We just happen to want to do the same things,” explained Hayden.

Illustration by Caelyn  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            “Well, go do something else,” said Audra.  “You are getting on my nerves.”

            With that, Audra set out for deeper water, but so did Hayden.  Then she swam back to shore, and Hayden followed her.  Audra was just about to explode and start yelling at Hayden when Summer landed on the end of her nose.  Summer whispered something in Audra’s ear, and Audra began to smile wickedly.  She glanced back at Hayden with that same wicked smile on her face.  Hayden just tried to act normal, but he did have a worried look come across his face.

Illustration by Colby  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            Just then, Audra set out for the deep water again.  Suddenly, she put her head under the water with her tail stuck up in the air.  Hayden tried to copy her, but ended up flipped over on his back.

            “Help!” Hayden cried trying to keep his head up out of the water.

            Madison flew over and landed on Hayden’s stomach.  “Are you going to quit trying to copy Audra?” she asked sternly.

            “Yes, yes!” he replied.  “I promise.  Just, please help me get back upright.”

            Madison looked over at Xavier and nodded.  Then Xavier jumped into the water and swam under Hayden.  He grabbed Hayden’s tail and pulled down hard flipping Hayden right side up again.

            “Thanks, Xavier,” said Hayden.

            “You’re welcome,” said Xavier, “but why in the world were you copying Audra like that?”

Illustration by Avelina  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            “I don’t know.  I just wanted to.  I thought it would be fun,” answered Hayden.

            “Well, let me suggest you never WANT to do that again,” said Audra very sternly.

            “Okay, “ said Hayden.

            For the rest of the afternoon, the five friends played follow the leader and made Hayden be “it” quite a bit.  They wanted to make sure he completely understood how annoying it is to have someone copy your every move.  It didn’t take Hayden long to understand their point of view, and he decided being a copy cat would probably never be a good idea again.

The Tale of the Vine Catastrophe

Illustration by Logan
Harrelson 2nd grade

           Audra the duck was playing chase on Polliwog Pond with her friends, Xavier the frog, Emerson the dragonfly, and the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison.  Audra loved playing chase as long as she could be in the water.  She was a fast swimmer, which gave her an advantage.

            After a while four of the friends became tired and decided to rest for a little while.  Audra was the only one that didn’t seem to be tired at all.  She continued to zip back and forth on the water.

            “Hey guys, come back out and play,” pleaded Audra.

            “Give us a minute,” panted Xavier.  “It’s hard work hopping from lily pad to lily pad.”

            “Yeah, give us a minute,” said Emerson.  “My wings are tired.”

            “We need a break,” said the twins together.

Illustration by Elias
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Well, hurry up then,” stated Audra.  “I’m not tired at all.  In fact, watch this”

            With that Audra zipped away across the water going as fast as she could.  She turned her head to see if her friends were looking and didn’t notice she was heading straight for a large cluster of lily pads.             

            “See guys, I’m still full of energy,” said Audra.

            Then the butterfly twins screamed, “Watch out!”

            When Audra turned her head back around, it was too late.  She plowed into the cluster of lily pads and became helplessly tangled in the underwater vines.  The more she struggled, the more tangled she became.  When she finally stopped struggling, she could barely move any part of her body.

Illustration by Marshall
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Help!” screamed Audra.

            Emerson, Summer, and Madison flew to her as fast as they could while Xavier hopped to the shore closest to her.  However, when they arrived, they just looked.  None of them had any idea how to get Audra untangled.

            “Why are you guys just standing there!” screamed Audra in frustration.  “Help me!”

            Summer looked at her friend with wide eyes and said, “I don’t know how in the world to even begin.”

            Madison flew over and landed on Audra’s back to get a better look.  “Summer, Emerson, and I can’t go underwater,” she stated plainly.  “Xavier, this one is all up to you.”

            Xavier dove into the water and swam around to assess the situation.  It was bad.  This would take a while to even figure out where to begin.

            Xavier came back up to the surface.  “It’s bad,” he said with wide eyes.  “I don’t even know where to begin to untangle that mess.”

Illustration by Jacob  Age:  8
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Audra began to cry, but she couldn’t struggle anymore.  “What am I going to do?” she wailed.  “I can’t just stay here forever.”

            “Is there any way to cut the vines so we can pull you out of the water and then untangle you?” suggested Summer.

            “Maybe we can find a sharp rock that Xavier can use to cut the vines,” added Emerson.

            This sparked everyone into action.  Emerson, Summer, and Madison all flew away in search of a sharp rock.  Before long, Emerson returned with one that would work.  Then Xavier went right to work.  He dove down close to where the vines went into the bottom and began to cut.  After he had cut three of the vines, Audra began to wiggle making Xavier’s job more difficult.

            He came to the surface and said, “Audra, you will have to be very still if you want me to finish cutting all these vines.”

            “Sorry,” said Audra regaining her composure.

Illustration by MacKenzie
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Xavier dove back under and before long, he managed to cut the rest of the vines.  Then he grabbed the vines and helped pull Audra onto the shore.  Audra lay on the shore still unable to move very much at all.  For a moment her friends simply stared at her trying to decide where to begin.

            Finally, Madison decided someone would have to take over so she grabbed a vine and started giving orders.  “Summer, grab that vine and pull it out from under this one.  Now, Emerson, grab that vine and untwist it from the vine Summer has.”

            Before long Madison had managed to untangle the mass of vines and Audra was free.  Audra stretched out her wings and danced around happily.

Illustration by Conner
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Thanks, guys,” she said as she gave each one a hug.  “I have never been so scared in all my life.  That was awful.”

            “You’re welcome,” said all her friends together.

            “Next time you want to show us something, “ said Madison, “please look where you are going.”

            “You got it,” said Audra sheepishly.

            For the rest of the afternoon the five friends sat on the banks of Polliwog Pond and talked about their big adventure that day.  They all decided that Madison was the best puzzle solver in the world, and that Xavier deserved a medal for his diving feats that day.  It was a day they would never forget.

The Tale of the Great Whine

Illustration by Leyex  Age:  5
Ms. Jana Bruce's Kindergarten class

          Emerson the dragonfly sat on a cattail next to Polliwog Pond.  He was not happy.  He had wanted a certain fly for breakfast, but it got away, and he had to settle for a much smaller fly.  Then we he went to find his friends, no one was out yet.  This just had not been his day.

            Finally, Xavier the frog came hopping down the path toward the pond.  “Good morning, Emerson,” said Xavier.  “Where is everyone?”

            “I don’t know,” said Emerson.  “Seems like no one wants to play with me today.”

            “Well, I’m here,” said Xavier.

            “Yeah, but what can just two do,” whined Emerson.  “I wanted to play tag, and that’s no fun with just two people.”

            “Well, why don’t we play something else until everyone else gets here,” suggested Xavier.

            “I don’t want to play if we can’t play tag,” said Emerson.

Illustration by Morrigin  Age:  5
Ms. Jana Bruce's Kindergarten class

            Xavier was just about to get angry with Emerson when Summer and Madison, the butterfly twins, flew up.  “Hey guys,” the twins said together.  “What are you doing?”

            “I’m trying to suggest something to play,” said Xavier, “and Emerson is whining about everything.”

            “I am not,” stated Emerson.

            Xavier just ignored him and said to the twins, “What do you guys want to play?”

            “Let’s play hide and seek,” suggested the twins.

            “But I want to play tag!” exclaimed Emerson.  “I’ve been waiting all morning for enough people to get here so we could play tag.”

            “Maybe we don’t want to play tag,” said Madison giving Emerson a stern look.

            “You guys never want to do what I want to do,” whined Emerson.  “I hate hide and seek.  If you don’t want to play tag then I don’t want to play with you.”

            “Fine!” exclaimed the three friends, and then they all took off for the clearing leaving Emerson sitting on the cattail.

            For a while, Emerson sat on the cattail complaining to himself about how his friends always mistreat him.  Then Hayden the turtle lumbered up to the pond and said, “Good morning, Emerson.  Where is everybody?”

            “My so-called friends left me here to go play hide and seek in the clearing,” complained Emerson.

            Hayden very quickly realized Emerson was in one of “those” moods and tried to figure out how he could go find his other friends without making Emerson even worse.

            “Okay,” said Hayden cautiously.  Then he said nothing for a little while.

            “Fine!” exclaimed Emerson all of a sudden.  “I guess you want to go play with them, too.  Go ahead!  Nobody loves me anyway!”

            Hayden didn’t know how to deal with Emerson when he got like this so he decided to just start heading for clearing.  When he arrived at the clearing Xavier and the twins were happily playing hide and seek.  Hayden joined them as they started a new round.

            For a good long while Emerson sat on that cattail telling himself about all the horrible things his friends had ever done to him.  He had just about convinced himself that he had no friends at all when he suddenly looked around.  He realized he was all alone.  He listened and heard his friends’ laughter from the clearing.  All at once, he felt very lonely and wanted more than anything to be with his friends.

            Slowly, he flew in the direction of the clearing.  He landed on a piece of tall grass on the edge of the clearing and watched his friends play for a few minutes.  Then he got up enough courage to speak to them.  “Hey guys, can I play, too?” he asked.

            “Do you want to play hide and seek?” asked Madison.  “Or are you going to whine at us until we play tag?”

            “I’ll play hide and seek,” said Emerson in a small voice.

            “Then you can play,” said Xavier.

            Emerson joined his friends, and before long his mood improved greatly.  He forgot all the horrible things he had thought and said about his friends while sitting on the cattail.  He was having way too much fun now.

The Tale of the Hurt Leg

Illustration by Audrianna  Age:  6
Ms. Natalie Norwood's 1rst grade class

            Audra the duck, Xavier the frog, and the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison, were all playing tag in the clearing.  Suddenly, Hayden the turtle lumbered up the path.

            “Sorry I’m late guys,” apologized Hayden.  “My leg is hurting today and it took me longer to get here.”

            “Hayden,” stated Madison rolling her eyes.  “Your leg is always hurting.”

            “Yeah, Hayden,” added Xavier.  “That’s your excuse for everything.”

            “I can’t pick that up,” said Audra imitating Hayden’s voice.  “My leg is hurting today.”

            “I can’t do that,” added Xavier also imitating Hayden, “because my leg is hurting.”

            “I don’t do that!” exclaimed Hayden starting to get angry.

            “Yes you do,” said Audra giving him a stern look.

            “Summer, do I really say that?” asked Hayden giving Summer a desperate look.

            Summer looked down and said as gently as possible, “I’m afraid you do, Hayden.”

Illustration by Luna  Age:  6
Ms. Natalie Norwood's 1rst grade class

            Hayden turned around and stomped off as fast as his turtle legs would carry him.  As he traveled down the path, he didn’t watch where he was going.  He stepped into a large hole and twisted his leg very badly.  For a while all he could do was sit there because he was in so much pain.  Then he decided to go back to the clearing to get help from his friends.

            It took him quite a while to get there because it hurt so much.  When he finally reached the clearing, he limped up to his friends and said, “Hey guys, I really hurt my leg bad.”

            Audra and Madison rolled their eyes, and then Audra said, “Really, Hayden, didn’t we just have this discussion about you and that hurt leg.”

            “But it really is hurt this time!” exclaimed Hayden as he tried to come closer.

            “What about all those other times?” asked Madison with a glare.  “Hayden, you are going to have to find another way to get attention.  We are done with your hurt leg.”

            With that, his friends left the clearing leaving him all alone.  Hayden sat down in the dirt and started to cry.  At first he was angry with his friends for not believing him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had used a “hurt” leg as an excuse to get out of things or to get attention.  He began to really feel angry with himself for faking a hurt leg so much.  Now that his leg was really hurt, no one believed him, and he really couldn’t blame anyone but himself.  However, that did not help him at the moment.

            Suddenly Xavier hopped back into the clearing.  “Audra wanted me to come get our special rock to play with at the pond,” said Xavier as he hopped to their special hiding place.  “Hey, Hayden, have you been crying?”

            Hayden was so miserable that he didn’t care what Xavier thought.  “I really hurt my leg bad when I left, but I understand why no one believed me.  I have been faking a hurt leg for a long time.  I really can’t walk without it really hurting,” explained Hayden.

            Xavier looked at Hayden for a good long while trying to decide if Hayden was telling the truth or faking again.  Hayden just sat there and cried.  Finally Xavier decided that maybe Hayden was telling the truth and went to get the rest of the friends.

            As soon as everyone reached the clearing, Hayden started to apologize, “Hey guys, I’m sorry. I completely understand why you didn’t believe me.  I have been faking a hurt leg to get out of stuff and to get attention.  I didn’t realize how wrong that was until I really hurt my leg and you didn’t believe me.”

            All his friends looked at him for a good long time, and then Summer asked, “Are you really hurt so bad you can barely walk?”

            “Yes,” said Hayden.  “I stepped in a big hole because I wasn’t watching where I was going.  I think I did something to my knee.”

            Madison flew over and looked at his knee.  Sure enough, it was swollen.  “Wow, Hayden, that looks bad,” said Madison.

            The rest of the friends came over and inspected his knee as well.  Now they all believed him.  His friends helped him walk back to Polliwog Pond, and then helped him get into the water.  The cool water felt good on his knee, and being able to float in the water took all the pressure off of it.

            “Thanks, guys,” said Hayden as he settled into the water.  “This feels so much better.”

            “Your welcome,” said Summer, and then Madison added, “I hope you have learned your lesson about faking stuff.”

            “I sure have,” said Hayden.

            For the rest of the afternoon the friends played on the pond so that Hayden could be near them.  He was so thankful that they finally believed him again.

The Tale of the Thunderstorm

Illustration by John  Age:  8
Mrs. Cindy Webb's 1rst grade class

         Audra the duck, Emerson the dragonfly, Xavier the frog, and Summer and Madison the butterfly twins were playing hide and seek in the clearing.  Madison and Summer were hiding in a patch of tall grass on the edge of the clearing.  Audra was it, and she had found everyone but the twins.

            Suddenly a clap of thunder sounded, and Madison flew into the air giving away their position.  Audra yelled at Madison, “I see you.  You’re out.”  Then she waddled over to the grass and found Summer as well.

            Summer called out to Madison, “You gave us away!”

            “It thundered,” cried Madison.  “You know how I feel about storms.”

            “It was only a little thunder,” said Summer.  “That does not make a storm.”

            Then it thundered again, and Madison flew around frantically trying to find somewhere to hide.

            “We have to find shelter!” exclaimed Madison.  “The storm will be here any minute!”

            “Alright,” sighed Summer.  “Maybe we should start looking for shelter.”

            The five friends set off into the tall grass in search of shelter.  After a few minutes the wind began to blow making the grass sway from side to side.  Emerson and the twins had to start flying very low to the ground.

            “The grass can’t protect us!” cried Madison.  “See how the wind moves it around!  We have to find something more solid!”

            “Madison, calm down,” said Summer.  “Anybody have any ideas where we can find more solid shelter?”

            “The cattails around the pond would be just as bad as the grass,” said Emerson.

Illustration by Alexandria  Age:  6
Mrs. Cindy Webb's 1rst grade class

            “With the lightning, we really don’t need to be on Polliwog Pond, either,” added Audra.

            “Isn’t there a big bush over by the fence in between the tall grass and the people yard?” asked Xavier.

            “I think you’re right,” said Summer.  “Xavier, you go ahead and see if it will work since you can go faster than the rest of us right now.  We’ll get there as soon as we can.”

            With that, Xavier hopped away to find the big bush.  The rest of the friends started heading in that direction as well even though the wind made it difficult for the flyers.

            Just then it thundered again and began to rain.  Madison landed on the ground and began to cry uncontrollably.

            “We’re going to die!” Madison sobbed.   “We’ll never make it to the bush in time!”

            “Madison!” exclaimed Summer.  “Get a hold of yourself.  We will never make it to the bush if you sit here crying and screaming.  Now get up and get going!”

            Madison gave her sister a stunned look, and then obeyed.  The rain made it even more difficult for the flyers, but they slowly made their way to the fence.  When they reached the fence, Xavier hopped up to them.

            “Hey guys, follow me,” said Xavier.  “I found the perfect shelter for us.”

            Xavier led the way to a large evergreen bush.  The bottom of the bush was at least a foot off the ground and underneath it a layer of evergreen needles made a soft blanket on the ground.  The five friends crawled under the bush and huddled next to the trunk.

            “This is almost cozy,” said Audra.

            “Yeah, the bush is so thick the rain doesn’t even reach down this far,” said Emerson.

            Madison still sat wide-eyed with fright.  The wind still made the bush sway slightly, and the thunder was now coming more frequently.  Now the storm was close enough that the lightning lit up the countryside.  She began to tremble and cry again.

            “Madison,” said her sister.  “Calm down.  We’re safe now.”

            “Yeah, Madison,” added Audra.  “This is just a passing thunderstorm.  It’ll be over in just a little while.”

            “But the thunder is so loud and the wind makes it impossible to fly!” sobbed Madison.  “I want it to stop now!”

            “Thunder is just noise, Madison,” said Xavier.  “It can’t hurt you.  And the wind doesn’t even reach us in here.”

            “Yeah,” said Emerson as he flew around a little under the bush.  “See I can fly in here.  We really are safe in here.  You don’t have to be afraid.”

            Madison wiped her eyes and looked around.  It thundered again, but this time she didn’t jump.  Xavier was right.  Thunder can’t hurt you.  For the first time since the storm started, Madison began to feel safe.

            While the friends huddled under the bush, they pretended to be explorers taking shelter from a great storm.  Madison got so involved in the play that she completely forgot about the storm.  She was having too much fun with her friends.

The Tale of the Missing Rock

Illustration by Camden  Age:   4
Ms. Mo's Preschool class

          Emerson the dragonfly sat in the middle of the clearing thinking hard.  Where could that rock be?  Yesterday he had hid it somewhere wanting to play a trick on his friends, but now, he couldn’t remember where he put it.  This was his friends’ special rock that they kept in the clearing and used for different things when they played.  They would be here any minute!  Where could that rock be?!

            Just then Audra the duck waddled into the clearing.  “Good morning, Emerson,” said Audra.  “What’s the matter?”

            Emerson had not wanted to tell his friends about the rock right away, but the words started before he could stop them.  “I can’t find our special rock.  I was going to play a trick on everyone by hiding it, but now I don’t remember where I put it,” Emerson replied desperately.

            Audra glared at Emerson for a minute, and then sighed, “Well, let’s get to looking.  I hope this teaches you to stop trying to play tricks on us.  You know, we don’t think it’s nearly as funny as you do.”

            Emerson gave Audra a sheepish look as the two friends began to look around the clearing.  They were so busy looking that they did not even notice when the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison, flew up.

            “Good morning, Emerson and Audra,” called the twins together.  “What are you looking for?”

Illustration by Alex  Age:  4
Ms. Mo's Preschool class

            Before Emerson could say anything, Audra blurted out, “Emerson hid our special rock as a trick and now he doesn’t remember where he hid it.”

            The twins gave Emerson an aggravated look, and then Summer asked, “Where have you looked already?”

            “I’ve looked all over the clearing,” cried Emerson.

            “When did you hide it?” asked Audra.

            “I hid it yesterday after everyone left to go home,” replied Emerson.

            “Are you sure you hid it in the clearing?” asked Madison.

            Emerson thought hard.  “Wait a minute,” he said excitedly.  “I went to Polliwog Pond before I went home, and I think I took the rock with me.”

            The four friends set out for the pond.  When they reached the pond, Emerson said, “Maybe we should split up.  I could have put it anywhere, and this is a big place.”

            Audra decided to swim in the pond and look along the bank.  Emerson and the butterfly twins each took a different section and searched from the air.  After they had searched for 15 minutes, they met back at the beginning of the path completely disgusted.

            Just then, Hayden the turtle lumbered up to the pond.  “Good morning, guys,” he said pleasantly.  “What are you doing?”

            “Emerson hid our special rock as a trick and now he doesn’t remember where he put it, “ replied Audra giving Emerson another nasty look.

            “I’m sorry, guys,” Emerson apologized.  “I promise I won’t ever do this again.”

            “When did you hide it?” asked Hayden.

            “I hid it yesterday after everyone else left to go home,” replied Emerson.

            “You passed me on the path yesterday evening,” said Hayden.  “And you had something in your arms, but I couldn’t tell what it was.”

            “Did you see where I put it?” asked Emerson excitedly even though he was a little disappointed someone had seen him.

            “You landed over there by those cattails,” said Hayden.

           Suddenly, everything came back to Emerson, and he remembered where he put the rock.  He flew straight to his hiding spot and pulled it out.

            “Here it is!” Emerson shouted.

            “Yeah!!” shouted the twins.

            “Finally!” exclaimed Audra.  “Now let’s go back to the clearing and play.  I hope you, Emerson, have learned your lesson.”

            Emerson gave everyone a sheepish look as they all set out for the clearing.  When they got there, they put their special rock in its special place.  They decided to play something that didn’t involve the rock for the rest of the afternoon.  They figured the rock had
 seen enough action for one day.

The Tale of the One-Upper

Illustration by Talan  Age:  3
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare

         Hayden the turtle sat in the clearing waiting for his friends to arrive.  He was trying hard to come up with a decent story to tell his friends.  They always seemed to have the most interesting stories, and he felt like he never had anything interesting to say.  Today he was bond and determined to have stories that were better than his friends’ stories.

            Before long Xavier the frog, Emerson the dragonfly, and Summer and Madison the butterfly twins all arrived in the clearing.  Xavier was all excited because he had just seen the most enormous fly on his way to meet his friends.

            “Hey guys, I just saw the biggest fly I have ever seen!” exclaimed Xavier.  “It was sitting on a rock on the side of the path.  It had to be the size of Emerson’s head and abdomen put together.  I was so shocked that I forgot to try to catch it before it flew away.”

            “Oh, that’s nothing,” said Hayden trying to be big and bold.  “I once saw a fly that was as big as one of the butterfly twin’s wings.  It was sitting on a blackberry bush and was almost as big as my head.  It scared the life out of me when it flew close to me.”

Illustration by Audra  Age:  2
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare

            “Really,” said the twins together.  “What did you do?” asked Summer.

            “I pulled into my shell until I was sure it was gone,” said Hayden.  “I didn’t want to have anything to do with monster.”

            His friends laughed, and Hayden felt big and important.  He was finally the center of attention.  Xavier, however, seemed a little upset that his story had been ignored.

            Then the twins started telling a story about a flower they had seen yesterday.  “We saw this flower yesterday over by the fence between the tall grass and the people yard,” started Summer.  “It was like a rose, but it was blue with just a hint of purple in it,” finished Madison.

            “You think that’s cool?” asked Hayden as he tried to turn the attention back on himself.  “Once I saw a flower that was six different colors.  It had red, yellow, orange, brown, black, and pink in it.  It was like a zinnia that couldn’t decide which color it wanted to be.”

            Emerson laughed and Xavier laughed a little, but Summer just looked at Hayden with a hurt look on her face.  Madison gave Hayden a nasty look.

Illustration by Hayden  Age:  2
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare

            Then Emerson started a story about this toy he found over by the fence between the tall grass and the people yard.  “Hey guys, yesterday when I was flying around, I saw this thing lying in the grass next to the big fence.  It was shiny and red with wheels.  I just wished it was big enough for us to fit inside so we could play with it.”

            “Well last week,” started Hayden, “when I was over by the blackberry bushes, I saw this great big toy with wheels.  It would have been perfect for us to play in.”

            “Well, why didn’t you tell us about it last week?” asked Madison glaring at Hayden.

            Hayden was caught off guard by Madison’s question.  All of a sudden he felt put on the spot instead of being the center of attention.  He stuttered and stammered for a moment, and then fell silent.

            “I’ll tell you why you didn’t tell us about it because it didn’t happen,” accused Madison.  “Did it, Hayden?”

            Hayden started to defend his story, but Madison jumped back in, “None of those stories were true.  Were they, Hayden?”

            Hayden faced turned red as a beet.  Madison was right.  None of the stories he had told were true.  However, he really didn’t want to admit that at the moment.

Illustration by Emerson  Age:  4
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare

            “They were true,” said Hayden becoming less sure of himself with every passing moment.

            “Really,” said Madison.  “Then show us the flower with the six different colors.  I want to see that.”

            Hayden tried to think of a response quickly, but instead he crumbled under the pressure.  “Okay, okay,” said Hayden desperately.  “You’re right, Madison.  I made up all those stories.”

            “Why in the world would you do that?” asked Summer. 

            “I wanted you guys to listen to my stories for a change,” said Hayden as he looked down at the ground.  “I just wanted to be interesting for once.”

            “Well, nobody likes being lied to,” said Madison.  “And nobody likes someone who has to always have a better story.”

            “Yeah,” said Xavier.  “You made us all feel bad when you tried to make our stories seem less interesting than yours.”

            “Sorry, guys,” said Hayden as he looked up from the ground.  “It felt good at first to be the center of attention, but now I feel awful.”

            “Just don’t do it again,” said Madison and the others agreed.

            Hayden promised not to try that again, and the others forgave him.  Hayden let everyone retell their stories without interrupting, and for the rest of the afternoon they took turns making up imaginary stories together.  They even let Hayden make up big parts of the story since he had shown such a knack for coming up with wild tales.