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| Illustration by Summer Age: 9 |
Emerson the dragonfly was so ready
for the rain to stop.
It had been
raining for days at Polliwog Pond.
He and his friends had spent the last couple of days taking shelter
wherever they could find.
Emerson
wanted to stretch his wings and just fly around for hours.
The rain had finally stopped during the
night, and Emerson couldn’t wait to get out in the sunshine.
He
met his friends Audra the duck, Hayden the turtle, and Summer and Madison the
butterfly twins at the edge of the pond.
It was too muddy to play in the clearing or on the path. They would have to play in the pond
today. They decided to play tag
since both Audra and Hayden were actually faster on the water.
Emerson
volunteered to be “it” the first time.
He was eager to get going.
As his friends scattered around the pond, Emerson zipped this way and
that at full speed.
It felt
wonderful to be out in the sunshine at last.
For
a while all of the friends managed to stay away from Emerson because he was too
busy zipping around to truly chase them.
Then he decided he had better start trying to catch his friends.
First, he set his sights on Audra.
He barreled in her direction going as
fast as he could.
Audra yelped in
dismay when Emerson caught her by the tail.
Instead of just letting go, however, Emerson held onto her
tail causing her to start spinning in the water.
Then he let go, leaving her spinning out of control.
Before she could stop, she became
entangled in the stem of a lily pad.
“Emerson,
that wasn’t fair,” called Audra as she tried to get untangled.
“You’re
out,” said Emerson gleefully as he set his sights on Hayden next.
Now
on the water Hayden was almost as fast as Audra.
Emerson set out at top speed, but Hayden made an unexpected
quick turn that sent Emerson into the cattails at the edge of the pond.
Emerson grabbed one of the cattails and
bent it way back.
When it snapped
forward, it hit Hayden on the tail.
“Ow!!”
exclaimed Hayden as he slowed down in order to see what had hit him.
When
Hayden slowed down, Emerson thumped him on the head.
“You’re out,” called Emerson as set off to get the twins.
“Hey,
that wasn’t fair!” exclaimed Hayden as he swam back to shore.
The
twins were the most difficult to catch because they dart in directions that
Emerson couldn’t.
However, he was
determined that he was going to get them out.
First, he went after Summer.
Summer began to zigzag back and forth trying to lose
Emerson, but Emerson plowed into her at top speed knocking her into some
cattails.
Summer
landed on a cattail and began to cry.
Madison became furious with Emerson and said, “This game is now
over!
Emerson, you hurt Summer.
I don’t think we want to play with you
anymore.”
“Don’t
be a sore loser,” called Emerson.
“We
agree with the twins,” said Audra as Hayden shook his head in agreement.
“You are playing too rough and we don’t
want to play with you anymore, either.”
The
four friends left a stunned Emerson sitting on a cattail as they swam and flew
to a different part of the pond.
“Hey,
wait up!” called Emerson as he tried to catch up with them. “I’m sorry!”
The
four friends turned around and looked at Emerson as if they didn’t believe
him.
“Are you really sorry that
you hurt Summer and didn’t play fair?” asked Audra giving him a hard look.
Emerson
suddenly realized that he had really messed up.
His friends truly meant to go off without him unless he
apologized.
He looked down in
shame and then said, “I’m sorry I hurt you, Summer.
Will you forgive me?”
Summer
looked at him for a moment and then said, “Yes, if you promise to play nicely
for the rest of the day.”
“I
promise,” said Emerson quietly.
For
the rest of that day, the four friends played tag in the pond.
They didn’t let Emerson be “it” again
until he proved to them that he was really going to play nice.
He had to sit out for a while sometimes
so that he could calm himself down, but he did manage to show his friends he
could play nice.
All five friends
had a wonderful time playing together.
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