It was the day of the Midsummer
Festival on Polliwog Pond.
Everyone, EVERYONE had come out for the festivities. Hayden the turtle and his family
arrived after all his friends and their families. Audra the duck, Emerson the dragonfly, Xavier the frog, and
Summer and Madison the butterfly twins were already playing some of the many
games set up for the day. Audra,
Summer, and Madison were swinging on the maypole. Emerson and Xavier were trying to hit the bulls-eye on the
dunking booth. Xavier’s father was
the one in the dunking booth at the moment.
Hayden
lumbered up to Emerson and Xavier.
“Hey guys, what are you doing?” he asked.
“We’re
trying to dunk Xavier’s dad,” said Emerson as he threw a ball at the bulls-eye,
“but we aren’t having much luck.”
“Can
I try?” asked Hayden.
“Sure,
just let me finish my other two balls first,” stated Emerson.
Hayden
tried to wait patiently, but he was eager to get his turn. When Emerson took longer than Hayden
thought he should have taken, Hayden complained to the man in charge, “Emerson
is taking too long.”
The
man told Emerson to hurry up and Emerson gave Hayden a nasty look. When Emerson finished, he and Xavier
left Hayden throwing balls at the bulls-eye and went to look for the girls.
They
found the girls at one of the eating tents snacking on cotton candy. Emerson and Xavier joined them and
bought some cotton candy as well.
After a while, Hayden found them in the tent. As soon as he walked in, he said to the girls, “Emerson and
Xavier left me at the dunking booth.”
The
girls looked at Emerson and Xavier, and Emerson said to Hayden, “We left you
because you tattled on me.”
“You
were taking too long,” said Hayden.
Summer
looked at Hayden and said gently, “It’s not nice to try and get your friends in
trouble, Hayden. Next time tell
Emerson instead of trying to get him in trouble.”
When
the friends were through, they all picked up their trash and put it in the
trashcan. Summer accidently missed
the trashcan, but didn’t notice.
Hayden walked up to the person in charge of the eating tent and said,
“Summer threw her trash on the ground.”
The
man called Summer and embarrassed, she picked up her trash and put it in the
trashcan. Summer didn’t speak to
Hayden as she joined her friends.
Then the five friends walked to the cake walk tent leaving Hayden
behind.
Soon,
however, Hayden caught up to them and joined them on the cake walk as another
round started. When the music
stopped, Xavier took an extra step to another square. Before the announcer could declare a winner, Hayden shouted
out, “Xavier’s on the wrong square.”
Xavier
looked at Hayden is disbelief.
“What do you mean?” he asked defensively.
“You
took an extra step after the music stopped. You should be on that square,” Hayden explained pointing to
the square behind him.
Xavier
stepped back a square but gave Hayden a nasty look. When the winner was announced, Audra, Emerson, Xavier,
Summer, and Madison all left the cake walk tent in a hurry once again leaving
Hayden behind.
It
took Hayden a long time to find his friends again, and when he did, he only
found the girls. Emerson and
Xavier were no where to be found.
Hayden walked up to the girls and asked, “Where is Emerson and Xavier?”
Just
then, Emerson and Xavier jumped from behind a pole and fastened a long tail on
Hayden. “Hey, what are you doing?”
Hayden cried.
“We
are putting a tattle tail on a tattle-tale,” they said plainly.
“Get
it off!!” Hayden cried with alarm as he spun trying to reach it.
“Not
until you promise to stop tattling on us,” said Madison firmly.
“Yeah,”
said Audra, “if you are going to be a tattle-tale, you should have a wear a
long tail. That is what we all
have decided.”
Hayden
started to run to an adult and tell on his friends, but then he stopped and
looked back at the tail his friends had attached to him. He really had been a tattle-tale all
day long. He looked at his friends
and then looked down at the ground and said, “I’m sorry guys.”
“Do
you promise to stop tattling on us?” Madison asked.
“I’ll
really try,” said Hayden. “I know
I’m bad at that.”
“Yes
you are,” said Audra, “but we’ll help you stop if you really want to stop.”
“I
do,” said Hayden as he looked at his friends. “I know I don’t like to have somebody tattle on me.”
“Okay
guys, you can take the tail off of Hayden,” said Madison.
Emerson
and Xavier removed the tail. Then
all six friends went to find a spot to watch the lightning bug display because
it was starting to get dark. The
lightning bug display filled the sky with light as the six friends watched in
wonder. Hayden was glad to not
have a long tail anymore, and from that day forward, every time he started to
tattle, his friends would just simply ask him, “Do you need a tattle
tail?” That usually stopped his
tattling in its tracks.
