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The toys were confused. Nobody had ever acted this way
before. All of the toys got along and were friendly with each other. After a
few days, some of the animals got together and tried talking to him. He just
looked at them and then walked away.
This wasn’t just unfriendly, this was rude. The animals had
had enough so they went to Horace to ask what they should do.
“He’s not just unfriendly with us, he’s rude. We try to talk
to him, and he just walks away. We don’t think he’s very happy to be here. What
do we do, Horace?”
“Let me try to talk to him and see what’s happening. Maybe
he just needs more time to get used to being here.”
Together, they walked back the barnyard. The animals went
back to hanging out and playing while Horace looked around for the new toy. He
found him out back, munching on some dinner. Even when the tiger walked up and
stood next to him, he didn’t stop.
“Hi there,” said Horace.
“Hmph,” muttered the other toy.
“I just stopped by to see how you’re doing and if you’re
happy here.”
The toy looked up from his dinner and sighed.
“You’re some kind of welcoming committee? I’ve had enough of
that.”
“No, I’m just Horace. I like to make sure that everyone is
happy.”
“Don’t you know who I am? I am the goat.”
“Yes, I know that you’re a goat.”
“No, I’m the goat.”
“But, there are other goats who live here. Have you met them
yet?”
“You don’t understand. Goat. Greatest of all time.”
“The greatest at what?” asked Horace.
“Everything.”
“Oh…well, the annual toy games are coming up. Maybe you
would like to compete.”
The goat nodded and went back to eating. Horace walked away,
puzzled by his behavior. Nobody had ever acted that way in the toy store
before. Everyone was friendly and cheered for each other. Nobody thought that
they were better than anyone else.
The day of the games arrived, and all of the toys were
excited. There would be races and jumping contests and all sorts of games. Everyone
gathered at the first event, the long jump. They couldn’t wait to see who could
jump the farthest. The competitors lined up and on the count of three, they all
ran and jumped as hard as they could.
The goat won and everyone cheered for him. Horace gave him
his medal and then they all moved to the next event. This was the big race.
This year, the cheetahs, Harley, and the goat were all competing. While they
waited, the goat told everyone how he was going to win. The other toys just
smiled and took their places.
Then the whistle blew, everyone took off and ran as hard as
they could. As usual, the cheetahs got tangled up in a ball and rolled right
off of the track. They giggled and laughed as they tried to untangle themselves
and get back to the race. Harley started off slow, but she was moving quickly
around the track. In the front was the goat. It looked as if he was going to
win.
Then, it happened. Suddenly, he stopped running and grabbed
one of his legs. Harley came running up and stopped next to him.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I have a cramp in my leg,” the goat whimpered.
“Let me help you.”
With that, she rubbed his leg until it felt better and then
together, they ran across the finish line. Everyone cheered for them, and they
both received a medal. Before Harley could leave to go to the next event, the
goat stopped her.
“Why did you help me? You could have won,” he asked.
“It wouldn’t be right if I won while you were injured. We
help each other here,” she answered.
“My name is really the GOAT. It’s Frank. I think I’d like it
if you called me that.”
“It’s good to meet you, Frank. Shall we go see how the baseball
toss is going?”
“I’d really like that.”
After that, Frank got along with everyone, and everyone
became his friend. He still competed, but he no longer thought he would win at
everything.
When we were young, we all knew that being King of the Hill
was the highest honor that there was on the school’s playground. Whoever was
king got to walk at the front of the line wherever we went. They decided which
games we played at lunch. They were the unspoken ruler of our class.
Regal was just a small kitten when he started going to
school. Like most kittens, he would watch the recess competitions to see who
would win. King of the Hill didn’t happen every recess. It only happened a few
times during the year, so whoever won would be king for at least three months.
It was a very big deal at our school.
Every time there was a challenge, Regal would be there
watching. He really wanted to be king, but you had to be at least a third
grader before you were allowed. Third graders never won though. It was almost
always a fifth grader. Regal didn’t care though. He practiced whenever he had a
chance. Unless there was a competition happening, the hill was empty. Every
recess we would watch Regal running up and down it. To become king, you had to
be the first cat up the hill.
Regal did this for over a year. He grew bigger and all of
the practicing made him really fast. He was so fast that he was the first
kitten chosen to be for any race. As soon as someone yelled go, he’d be the
first kitten off of the starting line. It didn’t matter if it was a regular
race or one that had hurdles. He would fly down the track and always came in
first.
When he was in third grade, he knew that it would be his
chance to be king. He’d trained for it. He’d worked so hard. He knew that he
was ready and that he could win. He just had to wait for lunchtime. The morning
seemed to go on forever. He had a hard time paying attention during math and
instead was doodling pictures of him running up a big hill. Lunchtime was even
harder. He didn’t want to eat the turkey
and gravy that the cafeteria was serving. He just wanted to get outside to race
up that giant hill.
As soon as the bell rang to release us from the lunchroom,
Regal was the first of us out the door. He ran right to the bottom of the hill
and started stretching. Tons of other kittens joined him. A few of us climbed
up the hill so that we could judge who made it to the top first. Then, once
everyone was in place, a whistle was blown, and the kittens were off!
Some raced as fast as they could, but then slowed down about
halfway up the hill. Others took off slowly and actually passed those who
slowed down. But, where was Regal? At first we didn’t see him. Then, as the
crowd thinned out, we saw him. He had passed those who gave up halfway up and
was passing those who had taken off slowly at first. He was already almost to
the top!
Then, just as we were all sure that Regal was going to win,
a grey cat named Swiffer ran right past him and up to the top! Swiffer was a
fifth grader and had won King of the Hill the year before. When Regal got to
the top, he was disappointed to see Swiffer there, but still clapped and
cheered for him. When I talked to him later, he said there would always be more
races and he wasn’t going to give up.
Except Regal didn’t win any of the races that year. Swiffer
won every single one of them. We all thought for sure that Regal would give up,
but he never did. He kept training and he kept racing. The next year, he was
right there at the front of the pack when the whistle blew.
He took his time getting up the hardest part of the hill.
Once he got past that though, he took off so fast! He was a cream blur as he
ran past the other kittens. As he got to the top, he almost ran right past us
and back down the other side but came to a sliding stop just in time. Everyone
clapped and cheered for him. He had worked hard and now was king!
In fact, he was the longest reigning king. He was king for
all of fourth grade and all of fifth grade. Nobody really minded though because
he was always super nice. He listened to everyone and when he had to make a
decision, he always thought about what everyone wanted to do. He may be the
greatest king that we ever had at our school.
Now that we’re all much older, a lot of us still live near
the school. Regal is now in charge of all of us who live in the area and I like
to think that he’s such a good leader because of the kind of king of the hill
he was all those years ago. Sometimes we sit around and we talk about those
days, but mostly Regal is always looking for ways to make our lives better now.
Hi, all! Long time no Wordsmith Wednesday, eh? There's lots of life that's been happening, but I am so, so pleased to be back this...