The Tale of the Tattle Tail

            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.