The Tale of the Huckleberry

           Summer and Madison the butterfly twins were resting on a cattail next to Polliwog Pond waiting for their friends to arrive.  They had both had some flower nectar for breakfast, but Summer was still sort of hungry.

            “I don’t think I ate enough breakfast,” said Summer to Madison.  “My tummy is grumbling.”

            “Maybe when our friends get here, we can find something to snack on,” replied Madison.

            Just then Audra the duck waddled up the path to Polliwog Pond.  “Good morning, Summer and Madison,” said Audra.  “What were you talking about when I walked up?”

            “Summer didn’t eat enough breakfast and now she is hungry,” said Madison.

            “Well, I passed Hayden on my way here,” said Audra.  “Maybe he knows where we can get a snack.”

            The three friends set off down the path toward the clearing and soon came upon Hayden the turtle slowly making his way toward the pond.  “Good morning, Hayden,” said the twins together.

            “Good morning,” replied Hayden.  “I was on my way to the pond to see you.”

            “We decided to come find you instead,” said Audra.  “Summer didn’t eat enough breakfast and now she’s hungry.  We were wondering if you knew of something she might be able to snack on.”

            “Oh!” exclaimed Hayden.  “You are in such luck.  I noticed this morning that the huckleberries are ripe.”

            “What are huckleberries?” asked Madison with a weird look on her face.

            “They are small dark blue berries that grow on a small bush over by the fence.  They are kind of crunchy but sweet, too,” explained Hayden.

            “I don’t know about that,” said Summer skeptically.

            “Oh, come on,” said Hayden excitedly.  “I’m sure you’ll like them if you try them.”

            Hayden told Audra and the twins where to find the bush and sent them on ahead.  He would get there as fast as he could, but he didn’t want Summer to have to wait on him before she could have a snack.  When the three friends reached the bush, they all just stood there eyeing the berries suspiciously.

            Suddenly, Xavier the frog hopped out of the tall grass and yelled, “Boo!”

            “Good morning, Xavier,” said the three friends together as they rolled their eyes at him.

            “Didn’t I scare you even just a little bit?” asked Xavier disappointed that he hadn’t made them jump.

            Audra just ignored his question and asked, “Do you know anything about these berries?  Hayden says they are really good, but I don’t know about them.”

            Xavier looked up at the bush and replied, “I’m really not a berry kind of person, but those aren’t half bad.”

            “Really?” said Madison.

            The three friends eyed the bush again.  Then Summer’s tummy made a rumbling noise.  Audra walked up to the bush and picked one of the berries and brought it to Summer.  Summer looked at it like it was poison and backed away.

            “I’m not trying that,” she said giving Audra a determined look.

            Then Audra handed it to Madison.  Madison looked at it for a moment and then popped it in her mouth.  “Wow!” she exclaimed.  “These are different than any berry I have ever had.  Hayden is right. They’re crunchy and sweet at the same time.”

            Audra then went back to the bush and picked another one.  This time she popped it in her own mouth.  “You’re right,” she said to Madison.  “I really like these.”

            With that Audra and Madison went over to the bush and started eating heartily.  Summer watched them in dismay.  She was the one that was hungry, but she hated trying new foods.  Again, her tummy rumbled, and Summer sighed in disgust.  She started to get aggravated with Audra and Madison because they were munching happily.

            “Hey!” shouted Summer.  “I’m the one that is hungry.”

            “Well come on and eat,” said Audra with her mouth full of berries.   “These berries are SO good.”

            Summer looked hard at the berries again.  She slowly walked up to the bush and picked a berry.  She looked at it and crinkled up her nose.  Then she slowly put it in her mouth.  For a minute she thought about gagging, but then she tasted the sweetness of the berry.  She picked another one and popped it in her mouth.

            “Hey,” she said surprised.  “These are really good.”

            The three friends found a big leaf and picked a bunch of the berries to take with them back to Polliwog Pond.  For the rest of the morning they played and snacked on the berries.  Summer decided that huckleberries just might be her favorite berry in all the world.

The Tale of the Breakfast Hunt

          Xavier the frog stretched his legs as the sun rose in the morning sky.  His lily pad on Polliwog Pond had to be the most comfortable place to sleep in the whole world, but now it was time to find breakfast.  Xavier scanned his surroundings.  He spotted one fly, but it was out of reach.  He really didn’t want to have to work too hard for his breakfast this morning.  He let it go.

            After sitting for quite some time, he decided a fly wasn’t going to land anywhere near him.  He hopped off of his lily pad and onto the banks of Polliwog Pond.  Again, he scanned his surroundings.  This time he spotted a fly that was within reach.  Quickly, he shot out his tongue, but the fly was too fast.  It flew up and landed just out of his reach.  Xavier stared at the fly trying to decide if it was worth the effort of the chase.  He decided it wasn’t and set off down the path to the clearing.

            All along the path Xavier spotted flies that were just out of his reach, but he just really wasn’t in the mood to have to chase down his breakfast.  He was hoping to just get lucky and catch a fly unawares.  When he reached the clearing he met Emerson the dragonfly.

            “Good morning, Emerson,” said Xavier.  “What are you doing?”

            “I saw this humungous fly just a minute ago and I’m trying to figure out where it went,” said Emerson excitedly.  “That fly is going to be my breakfast.”

            “Not if I see it first,” said Xavier trying to find the fly that Emerson had seen.

            “There it is!” shouted Emerson as he took flight.  The fly had just taken off into the air and Emerson was in hot pursuit.

            Xavier just grunted when he saw how far away the fly was and decided to just let Emerson have that one.  Before long, Emerson came back with a huge smile on his face.  “That fly was delicious,” he said.

            Xavier gave Emerson a nasty look and then hopped to the other side of the clearing.  He was starting to really get hungry now.

            Just then the butterfly twins flew up.  “Good morning, Xavier,” they said at the same time.  Xavier thought it was so annoying when they did that.

            “Good morning, Summer and Madison,” said Emerson as he flew up next to them.  “I just had the most delicious fly for breakfast.”

            “We found some sweet nectar in a flower patch over by the fence,” said Summer.  “What did you have for breakfast, Xavier?” asked Madison.

            “Nothing, yet,” said Xavier grumpily, “and if you will excuse me, I need to find me some.”

            Xavier headed back down the path toward Polliwog Pond looking everywhere for an easy catch for his breakfast.  He was looking so hard that he nearly ran over Audra the duck as she made her way to the clearing.

             “Oh!” shouted Xavier as he looked up to see Audra right in front of him.

            “Good morning, Xavier,” said Audra pleasantly.  “What are you doing?”

            “I’m trying to find some breakfast,” said Xavier.

            “Oh, I saw a bunch of flies down by the pond,” stated Audra.  “I’m sure you can find some breakfast there.”

            Xavier thanked her and went back to the pond.  Sure enough, there were plenty of flies but none of them were an easy catch.  Suddenly, Xavier’s tummy began to rumble.  He was really starting to get hungry now.  Maybe he should pick a decent size fly and hunt it down.  If he kept waiting for an easy catch, he might not get any breakfast at all.  Just then, a large fly flew by his nose and Xavier decided that was the one.  He set out in hot pursuit.  It took him a few minutes, but his efforts were rewarded.  Soon his tummy was all full.

            Xavier made his way back to the clearing to play with his friends.  For the rest of the morning they played hide and seek, and when lunchtime came, Xavier decided to go on the hunt right away.  Waiting for his meals to come to him only made for a hungry frog.

The Tale of the Boring Afternoon

Illustration by Nick  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

          Emerson the dragonfly sat on a cattail next to Polliwog Pond.  He was bored.  He wished his friends would come to Polliwog Pond so that he could play with them, but they were nowhere in sight. 

            Finally after sitting and waiting longer than he could stand, he set out in search of his friends.  He found the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison, in the clearing.  They were making flower headbands.

Illustration by Amelia  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            “Hey guys,” Emerson called.  “What are you doing?”

            “We’re making flower headbands for Audra’s birthday party tomorrow,” said Summer.  “She wants everyone at the party to have one.”

            “Oh,” sighed Emerson.  He figured they would be too busy to play with him.

            “Have you seen Hayden and Xavier?” asked Emerson hopefully.

            “We saw them a couple of hours ago,” said Madison.  “They said something about pretending to be pirates.  Hayden was going to be the ship, and they were going over to the other side of the pond to look for buried treasure.”

            “Oh,” signed Emerson.  He really didn’t want to fly all the way across the pond and going around would take too long.

            “Well I guess I’ll leave you guys to your work,” said Emerson as he flew back to the pond. 

Illustration by Neely  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            He landed on the same cattail he had been sitting on before.   He sighed.  Then he started getting angry with his friends for being gone or being busy.  Then he started feeling sorry for himself because he was so bored.  He sighed again.

            After he could stand it no longer, he decided he would fly around.  At least it was better than sitting and pouting.  He flew over the tall grass hoping to find something interesting, but all he saw were rocks, grass, and dirt.  He landed on a rock and sighed again.  He went through the same thoughts he had had on the cattail, but it didn’t make him any less bored.

Illustration by Brooke  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            As he sat there going through all the reasons his friends had abandoned him, he began to notice the rock under him.  It reminded him of a tower on a castle.  Then he remembered all the rocks he had seen as he flew over the tall grass, and an idea began to form.  He flew back to the tall grass and began to bring rocks to the tower rock.  He carefully placed them to make walls.  He placed some in such a way that they formed a gate.  He worked and worked until he had made a rock castle fortress.  When he was satisfied with his new creation, he flew back to Polliwog Pond to see if Hayden and Xavier had returned from the other side of the pond.

Illustration by Presieya  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            As he reached the banks, he saw Hayden with Xavier riding on his back swimming toward him.  They had all kinds of rocks and other treasures that they had found on the other side.

            “Har! Maties!” called Xavier when he saw Emerson.  “Who goes there!”

            “Hey guys,” said Emerson excitedly.  “I’m so glad you are back.  Come see the rock fortress I made this afternoon.”

Illustration by Jamaree  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            Xavier climbed down from Hayden’s shell when they reached the shore.  Then the two friends followed Emerson.  When they reached the rock castle fortress, Hayden and Xavier just stood there with their mouths open for a few minutes.

            “Did you make this all by yourself?” exclaimed Xavier obviously impressed.

            “This is the coolest castle I have ever seen!” said Hayden as he stared in wonder at Emerson’s creation.

            “Hey, why don’t you guys put your treasure in the castle, and we can pretend we are defending it against invaders,” suggested Emerson.

            Hayden and Xavier liked that idea a lot.  The boys went into the castle and defended it from invaders for the rest of the afternoon.  That castle became one of their favorite places to play.  Emerson was so proud that he had made it all by himself.

The Tale of the Copy Cat

Illustration by Xander  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

          Audra the duck, Xavier the frog, Hayden the turtle, and Summer and Madison the butterfly twins were all playing tag along the banks of Polliwog Pond.  After a while, everyone decided to take a break and sat down in various places along the banks.

            “Wow! That was fun!” exclaimed Audra the duck.

            “Wow!  That was fun!” echoed Hayden the turtle.

            Audra gave Hayden a funny look but decided to just let it go.  Then she slid into the waters of Polliwog Pond and began floating on the water.  “Ah, this feels good,” she stated.

Illustration by Helaina  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            Hayden the turtle lumbered over to the water and crawled in as well.  As he floated on the water, he said, “Ah, this feels good.”

            At this point, Audra looked at Summer, Madison, and Xavier with a weird look on her face.  Her three friends returned her weird look, but still didn’t say anything.  Then Audra began to swim around and Hayden followed her.

            “Hayden, what are you doing?” asked Audra just a little bit aggravated.

            “I’m just swimming around,” stated Hayden plainly.

            “Why do you keep doing everything I’m doing?” asked Audra getting more aggravated by the minute.

            “We just happen to want to do the same things,” explained Hayden.

Illustration by Caelyn  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            “Well, go do something else,” said Audra.  “You are getting on my nerves.”

            With that, Audra set out for deeper water, but so did Hayden.  Then she swam back to shore, and Hayden followed her.  Audra was just about to explode and start yelling at Hayden when Summer landed on the end of her nose.  Summer whispered something in Audra’s ear, and Audra began to smile wickedly.  She glanced back at Hayden with that same wicked smile on her face.  Hayden just tried to act normal, but he did have a worried look come across his face.

Illustration by Colby  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            Just then, Audra set out for the deep water again.  Suddenly, she put her head under the water with her tail stuck up in the air.  Hayden tried to copy her, but ended up flipped over on his back.

            “Help!” Hayden cried trying to keep his head up out of the water.

            Madison flew over and landed on Hayden’s stomach.  “Are you going to quit trying to copy Audra?” she asked sternly.

            “Yes, yes!” he replied.  “I promise.  Just, please help me get back upright.”

            Madison looked over at Xavier and nodded.  Then Xavier jumped into the water and swam under Hayden.  He grabbed Hayden’s tail and pulled down hard flipping Hayden right side up again.

            “Thanks, Xavier,” said Hayden.

            “You’re welcome,” said Xavier, “but why in the world were you copying Audra like that?”

Illustration by Avelina  Age:  6
Ms. Ashley Miles 1rst grade class

            “I don’t know.  I just wanted to.  I thought it would be fun,” answered Hayden.

            “Well, let me suggest you never WANT to do that again,” said Audra very sternly.

            “Okay, “ said Hayden.

            For the rest of the afternoon, the five friends played follow the leader and made Hayden be “it” quite a bit.  They wanted to make sure he completely understood how annoying it is to have someone copy your every move.  It didn’t take Hayden long to understand their point of view, and he decided being a copy cat would probably never be a good idea again.

The Tale of the Vine Catastrophe

Illustration by Logan
Harrelson 2nd grade

           Audra the duck was playing chase on Polliwog Pond with her friends, Xavier the frog, Emerson the dragonfly, and the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison.  Audra loved playing chase as long as she could be in the water.  She was a fast swimmer, which gave her an advantage.

            After a while four of the friends became tired and decided to rest for a little while.  Audra was the only one that didn’t seem to be tired at all.  She continued to zip back and forth on the water.

            “Hey guys, come back out and play,” pleaded Audra.

            “Give us a minute,” panted Xavier.  “It’s hard work hopping from lily pad to lily pad.”

            “Yeah, give us a minute,” said Emerson.  “My wings are tired.”

            “We need a break,” said the twins together.

Illustration by Elias
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Well, hurry up then,” stated Audra.  “I’m not tired at all.  In fact, watch this”

            With that Audra zipped away across the water going as fast as she could.  She turned her head to see if her friends were looking and didn’t notice she was heading straight for a large cluster of lily pads.             

            “See guys, I’m still full of energy,” said Audra.

            Then the butterfly twins screamed, “Watch out!”

            When Audra turned her head back around, it was too late.  She plowed into the cluster of lily pads and became helplessly tangled in the underwater vines.  The more she struggled, the more tangled she became.  When she finally stopped struggling, she could barely move any part of her body.

Illustration by Marshall
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Help!” screamed Audra.

            Emerson, Summer, and Madison flew to her as fast as they could while Xavier hopped to the shore closest to her.  However, when they arrived, they just looked.  None of them had any idea how to get Audra untangled.

            “Why are you guys just standing there!” screamed Audra in frustration.  “Help me!”

            Summer looked at her friend with wide eyes and said, “I don’t know how in the world to even begin.”

            Madison flew over and landed on Audra’s back to get a better look.  “Summer, Emerson, and I can’t go underwater,” she stated plainly.  “Xavier, this one is all up to you.”

            Xavier dove into the water and swam around to assess the situation.  It was bad.  This would take a while to even figure out where to begin.

            Xavier came back up to the surface.  “It’s bad,” he said with wide eyes.  “I don’t even know where to begin to untangle that mess.”

Illustration by Jacob  Age:  8
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Audra began to cry, but she couldn’t struggle anymore.  “What am I going to do?” she wailed.  “I can’t just stay here forever.”

            “Is there any way to cut the vines so we can pull you out of the water and then untangle you?” suggested Summer.

            “Maybe we can find a sharp rock that Xavier can use to cut the vines,” added Emerson.

            This sparked everyone into action.  Emerson, Summer, and Madison all flew away in search of a sharp rock.  Before long, Emerson returned with one that would work.  Then Xavier went right to work.  He dove down close to where the vines went into the bottom and began to cut.  After he had cut three of the vines, Audra began to wiggle making Xavier’s job more difficult.

            He came to the surface and said, “Audra, you will have to be very still if you want me to finish cutting all these vines.”

            “Sorry,” said Audra regaining her composure.

Illustration by MacKenzie
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Xavier dove back under and before long, he managed to cut the rest of the vines.  Then he grabbed the vines and helped pull Audra onto the shore.  Audra lay on the shore still unable to move very much at all.  For a moment her friends simply stared at her trying to decide where to begin.

            Finally, Madison decided someone would have to take over so she grabbed a vine and started giving orders.  “Summer, grab that vine and pull it out from under this one.  Now, Emerson, grab that vine and untwist it from the vine Summer has.”

            Before long Madison had managed to untangle the mass of vines and Audra was free.  Audra stretched out her wings and danced around happily.

Illustration by Conner
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Thanks, guys,” she said as she gave each one a hug.  “I have never been so scared in all my life.  That was awful.”

            “You’re welcome,” said all her friends together.

            “Next time you want to show us something, “ said Madison, “please look where you are going.”

            “You got it,” said Audra sheepishly.

            For the rest of the afternoon the five friends sat on the banks of Polliwog Pond and talked about their big adventure that day.  They all decided that Madison was the best puzzle solver in the world, and that Xavier deserved a medal for his diving feats that day.  It was a day they would never forget.

The Tale of the Great Whine

Illustration by Leyex  Age:  5
Ms. Jana Bruce's Kindergarten class

          Emerson the dragonfly sat on a cattail next to Polliwog Pond.  He was not happy.  He had wanted a certain fly for breakfast, but it got away, and he had to settle for a much smaller fly.  Then we he went to find his friends, no one was out yet.  This just had not been his day.

            Finally, Xavier the frog came hopping down the path toward the pond.  “Good morning, Emerson,” said Xavier.  “Where is everyone?”

            “I don’t know,” said Emerson.  “Seems like no one wants to play with me today.”

            “Well, I’m here,” said Xavier.

            “Yeah, but what can just two do,” whined Emerson.  “I wanted to play tag, and that’s no fun with just two people.”

            “Well, why don’t we play something else until everyone else gets here,” suggested Xavier.

            “I don’t want to play if we can’t play tag,” said Emerson.

Illustration by Morrigin  Age:  5
Ms. Jana Bruce's Kindergarten class

            Xavier was just about to get angry with Emerson when Summer and Madison, the butterfly twins, flew up.  “Hey guys,” the twins said together.  “What are you doing?”

            “I’m trying to suggest something to play,” said Xavier, “and Emerson is whining about everything.”

            “I am not,” stated Emerson.

            Xavier just ignored him and said to the twins, “What do you guys want to play?”

            “Let’s play hide and seek,” suggested the twins.

            “But I want to play tag!” exclaimed Emerson.  “I’ve been waiting all morning for enough people to get here so we could play tag.”

            “Maybe we don’t want to play tag,” said Madison giving Emerson a stern look.

            “You guys never want to do what I want to do,” whined Emerson.  “I hate hide and seek.  If you don’t want to play tag then I don’t want to play with you.”

            “Fine!” exclaimed the three friends, and then they all took off for the clearing leaving Emerson sitting on the cattail.

            For a while, Emerson sat on the cattail complaining to himself about how his friends always mistreat him.  Then Hayden the turtle lumbered up to the pond and said, “Good morning, Emerson.  Where is everybody?”

            “My so-called friends left me here to go play hide and seek in the clearing,” complained Emerson.

            Hayden very quickly realized Emerson was in one of “those” moods and tried to figure out how he could go find his other friends without making Emerson even worse.

            “Okay,” said Hayden cautiously.  Then he said nothing for a little while.

            “Fine!” exclaimed Emerson all of a sudden.  “I guess you want to go play with them, too.  Go ahead!  Nobody loves me anyway!”

            Hayden didn’t know how to deal with Emerson when he got like this so he decided to just start heading for clearing.  When he arrived at the clearing Xavier and the twins were happily playing hide and seek.  Hayden joined them as they started a new round.

            For a good long while Emerson sat on that cattail telling himself about all the horrible things his friends had ever done to him.  He had just about convinced himself that he had no friends at all when he suddenly looked around.  He realized he was all alone.  He listened and heard his friends’ laughter from the clearing.  All at once, he felt very lonely and wanted more than anything to be with his friends.

            Slowly, he flew in the direction of the clearing.  He landed on a piece of tall grass on the edge of the clearing and watched his friends play for a few minutes.  Then he got up enough courage to speak to them.  “Hey guys, can I play, too?” he asked.

            “Do you want to play hide and seek?” asked Madison.  “Or are you going to whine at us until we play tag?”

            “I’ll play hide and seek,” said Emerson in a small voice.

            “Then you can play,” said Xavier.

            Emerson joined his friends, and before long his mood improved greatly.  He forgot all the horrible things he had thought and said about his friends while sitting on the cattail.  He was having way too much fun now.

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.