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.