The Tale of the Rough Play

                 Xavier the frog sat on a lily pad watching his friends Summer and Madison the butterfly twins and Hayden the turtle play with the twin’s baby sister, Lyla the caterpillar.  This was the first time Lyla had been allowed to come out with her sisters, but she was still so small all they could do was play gently with her.  Xavier was bored.
                  Just then Emerson the dragonfly flew up to the pond and landed on a cattail.  Xavier perked up.
                  “Hey, Emerson,” called Xavier.  “Boy, am I glad to see you!”
                  “What’s up, Xavier?” asked Emerson.
                  “Baby Lyla is out with us for the first time,” answered Xavier, “and all those three want to do is ooh and coo at the baby.  Please tell me you want to really play.”
                  “Sure,” said Emerson.
                  Xavier smacked Emerson on the back and said, “Tag, you’re it.”
                  Then the two boys took off with Emerson chasing Xavier.  Xavier dashed here and there trying to get away from Emerson.  Neither boy was watching where they were going until Xavier crashed into Madison.
                  “Watch where you are going!” Madison shouted at Xavier.  “If I hadn’t stepped in front of you, you would have trampled all over baby Lyla.”
                  Xavier looked over at baby Lyla and grunted.  “Maybe you should put baby Lyla on a stalk of grass so we won’t accidently step on her,” he said bluntly.
                  “Maybe we will, but you need to slow down while baby Lyla is out here,” Madison answered sternly.  “Mom and Dad won’t let us bring her out if you run over her.”
                  Summer and Madison placed baby Lyla on a leaf of a wildflower growing along the banks of Polliwog Pond.  Xavier and Emerson sat along the edge of the pond for a few minutes pouting.
                  Then Xavier starting pushing on Emerson and Emerson pushed him back.  Soon, the boys were tumbling and scuffling all over the ground.  When Hayden saw that Xavier and Emerson were about to bump into the wildflower that held baby Lyla, he placed himself in front of the flower and drew up in his shell.  Xavier banged into Hayden’s shell with a thud.
                  “Hey!” Xavier yelled at Hayden.  “Get out of our way!”
                  From inside his shell, Hayden said, “You almost knocked baby Lyla off of her leaf.  You two need to watch what you are doing.”
                  By this time Summer and Madison had descended on Xavier and Emerson.  “You two need to go play somewhere else before you hurt somebody,” Summer said sternly.
                  Xavier and Emerson skulked off to a spot several feet away and sat pouting.  However, before long Emerson spotted a seed on the ground and tossed it into the air.  Xavier shot it with his tongue sending it flying through the air.  Before long, the boys were hard at it again.  Emerson threw a seed up and Xavier would send it flying.  Summer was just about to march over to them to make them stop when she noticed that one of the seeds was heading straight for baby Lyla.  As quick as she could she placed herself in front of the seed taking a direct hit on her wing.  Summer crumpled to the ground cradling her injured wing.
                  Madison flew over to the boys in a flash.  “Look, you finally hurt someone,” she scolded.  “Are you happy?”  Then she flew over to check on her sister.
                  Xavier and Emerson looked over at Summer lying on the ground crying.  They didn’t mean to hurt anyone.  The boys looked at one another and then walked over to Summer and Madison.
                  “I’m sorry, Summer,” said a pathetic Xavier.  “I didn’t mean to hurt you so bad.”
                  ‘Yeah, Summer,” said an equally pathetic Emerson.  “I hope you will be okay.”
                  Summer tried to stretch out her wing but grunted in pain.  Madison went and collected baby Lyla in her arms and helped Summer limp her way home.
                  For a while Xavier and Emerson sat in silence.  Hayden came over to where they were but also sat in silence.  None of them had ever injured their friend like that before.  They weren’t sure what to do.  After what seemed like an eternity, Madison flew up to where they sat.
                  “Good news,” Madison started.  “Summer’s wing is not broken.  It’s only sprained.  She will have to take it easy for several days.  However, Mom and Dad are not going to let baby Lyla come back out with us until she gets bigger.  You do understand you could have hurt her much worse than you just hurt Summer.”
                  Xavier felt awful.  “I am so sorry, Madison,” Xavier apologized.  “We should have listened to you when you told us to settle down.”
                  “I’m sorry we messed up you getting to bring baby Lyla out to play with us,” said Emerson.  “I know you have been looking forward to that for so long.”
                  Madison looked at her friends for a moment before she answered, “I hope you two have learned a good lesson.  You HAVE to be gentle around little ones.”
                  “Yeah, we have,” said Xavier.  “Please tell Summer we are so sorry and hope she feels better soon.”
                  As Madison flew back home, the three boys sat on the banks of Polliwog Pond.  For a while they discussed what had happened.  They made a pact to always listen when someone was telling them they were being too rowdy and take their rowdy play somewhere where it wouldn’t hurt anybody from now on.