SEESAW

Seesaw was written as a tool to help children deal with the loss of a friend or loved one. It was written in the style of Dr. Seuss to help children understand. It's fun, sad, and then happy.

SEESAW

By Vince Cleghorne

This is Enid O’Toole, whom you might not have heard

Was once really quite tiny, at least when compared

To her classmates at Toot Elementary School,

Who were all a lot taller than Enid O’Toole.

 

Then one night something happened; it happened one night,

Enid went to her bed, feeling strange and unright.

There she fell asleep frowning and scrunching her face,

Rolling, tossing and twisting across her bed space.

 

Then her bed space was less space, then no space at all,

As her jim-jams grew tighter but did not grow small.

You see, Enid O’Toole (who just hours before

Had been really quite tiny) was tiny no more.

 

"She’s huge and she’s massive, she’s awkward and gangly,

Ungainly, and crooked, lopsided and dangly,"

Were things, Enid feared that her classmates might say,

So, from that day her classmates were no-mates, no way.

 

Enid watched from the sidelines as kids played their games:

Hide and Seek and I Spy, games with lots of game names,

Wishing so much to join in the laughter and play

But afraid that her no-mates might say, “Go away!”

 

Enid’s mother, a student of positive thought,

Tried her best to impart little things she’d been taught.

Saying, “Enid, embracing your height is the trick;

It’s a natural thing that you’re growing so quick.”

 

But young Enid O’Toole would embrace nothing more

Than a handle attached to a rusted seesaw,

Stood across, cross the schoolyard, then more yards away

From young Enid’s once classmates, now no mates, at play.

 

And beware those that tried on that seesaw to sit

For young Enid O’Toole was not standing for it.

And when classmates, now no-mates, approached, she would say

In the loudest of voices, “No-mates, GO AWAY!” 

 

“GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! I implore!”

“GO AWAY! Don’t you dare, dare come near this seesaw!”

“GO AWAY! It’s my one game, and I will not share!”

“GO AWAY! Find your own seesaw, find it elsewhere!”

 

And her classmates, now no-mates, would scatter with fright,

Running into the sandpit, or plain out of sight,

Leaving Enid O’Toole on the rusted seesaw,

All alone on a thing that was meant for one more. 

 

Then, one day (it was Monday or Tuesday at most)

As young Enid was munching her way through some toast,

A huge shadow fell on and along the seesaw,

Casting darkness where light had been moments before.

 

And as Enid looked skyward, she heard the word “Hi”

As the brightest of smiles blocked her view of the sky

From the face of a boy who was new to the school,

A boy even much huger than Enid O’Toole.

 

“GO AWAY!” shouted Enid, “I’ll not let you play

On this seesaw! I’ll not let you on it, no way!

Just keep walking, for as I’ve warned no-mates before,

You’re not welcome to play on this rusted seesaw!”

 

But before she could finish the boy climbed aboard

And a seesaw that once had stood rusted seesawed,

Lifting Enid way up like a bird in the sky

Before bringing her down with a bump and a sigh.

 

Then she lifted again and she lifted some more

Then bumped down once again bumping down to the floor

As the seesaw, once rusted, now shone silver bright

Like the armour of knights in an old jousting fight. 

 

“What’s your name?” the boy asked. “Enid,” Enid replied.

“My name’s David,” said David, his eyes flashing wide.

And right there for the first time in such a long while,

On the mouth of young Enid appeared a warm smile.

 

So, for three days at lunchtime they see’d and they saw’d

As they giggled and chuckled and snickered and roared.

And young Enid began to believe, there and then,

She might never be lonely, not ever again.

 

Then on Friday as Enid and David were playing,

A small girl named Asia walked up to them, saying:

“May I have a turn on the seesaw today?”

And while David said, “Yes.” Enid yelled, “GO AWAY!”

 

Little Asia ran off just as fast as she could,

Causing David to frown and say, “That wasn’t good.

Shouting at little Asia was way out of line,

Not to mention the fact she’s a cousin of mine.”

 

“You should try to make friends with the kids in this school,

Let them see what I see in you, Enid O’Toole.

They aren’t bad kids, you just need to give them a chance

And stop judging their motives so way in advance.”

 

Enid nodded and truly looked full of remorse,

Although deep down inside, she was acting, of course.

For she’d already found the best friend that she could 

Ever wish to be friends with, in bad times and good.

 

So, a month of fun lunchtimes was had all around,

Enid touching the air, David bumping the ground.

Till one day, David’s side of the seesaw was bare;

Enid looked high and low but could find him nowhere.

 

And the following day, and the day after too, 

Enid sat on her own feeling let down and blue.

Until one day when two weeks had passed, maybe more,

David suddenly showed up next to the seesaw.

 

But his face was now thinner, and much paler too,

And he struggled and winced just to force a smile through.

Although, there was no smile that could erase all trace 

Of the I’m disappointed look on Enid’s face. 

 

“I’m so sorry,” said David, “I haven’t been well.

And my doctor insisted that I stay a spell

In a hospital bed almost ten miles away

In the hope that the treatment might cure me some day.”

 

But young Enid O’Toole didn’t hear what he said 

About not being well or a hospital bed.

She just wanted to hear him say this on his own

“I will never leave Enid to seesaw alone.”

 

So, a promise was struck between her and her friend,

And for one year it seemed the good times couldn’t end.

Through the seasons, their lunchbreaks would hold so much more 

Than two friends playing on a once-rusted seesaw. 

 

Then one day in the playground, before winter break

Enid sat unaware of the coming heartache,

Staring up at the school clock as minutes went by,

Slowly counting each one with a tear in her eye.

 

David hadn’t appeared, and as lunch reached its end

Enid’s thoughts grew so angry towards her best friend.

She thought, This time I’ll not be so quick to forgive

My best so-called best friend, not as long as I live.

 

Then the darkest of shadows fell onto the school, 

Creeping over the playground to Enid O’Toole.

And as Enid looked up, there in front of her stood,

Sobbing loudly, the school principal Mrs. Wood. 

 

“I’m so sorry,” she said, “it falls on me to say 

That last night in his sleep David Li passed away.

After such a long time fighting bravely, their son,

Said his parents, had lost and his illness had won.

 

Enid didn’t hear Mrs. Wood walking away

Or the words that were said on the funeral day.

All she heard was a voice crying out in her head

That she’ll play all alone now. Her best friend was dead.

 

So, the next day in Toot Elementary School,

All alone on the seesaw sat Enid O’Toole

Staring at its far end, wishing David were there,

Thinking how life was cruel and so very unfair.

 

Then as Enid sat thinking, two boys half her size, 

One with sticky-out ears, one with spectacled eyes,

Just appeared and climbed onto the seesaw to play,

Causing Enid to bellow a huge “GO AWAY!!!”

 

But as Enid grew angry, she suddenly spied

A small girl had walked over to stand by her side.

And on turning, young Enid was angry no more

As she knew she had chased this small girl once before.

 

“Your name’s Asia,” said Enid. “Asia, that’s your name

You’re the cousin of David, the one and the same.

I’m so sorry I said ‘go away’ once before;

I was wrong and won’t say ‘go away’ anymore.”

 

Asia smiled with a smile that made Enid’s heart sigh,

Like the same smile that once blocked her view of the sky.

The smile David had smiled when first greeting his friend

That same very same smile he had smiled to the end.

 

And instead of a bellow that would shake the school,

A kind hand-up was offered by Enid O’Toole

To her friend’s cousin, whom she’d once scared off before

But was now helping lift up onto the seesaw.

 

Asia sat, and the seesaw made one creaking noise

Before starting to lower her and the two boys,

Before starting to lift Enid higher than high,

Before lifting her up like a bird in the sky.

 

And the four children cheered as they see’d and they saw’d,

As they giggled and chuckled and snickered and roared.

And a promise was honoured, for David had shown

He would never leave Enid to seesaw alone. 

The End

 

“When a loved one passes, we say they are gone from our lives.

But they’re still here, if only in the smiles that appear

when we think of them.”

Vince Cleghorne

 

Author's Note

I do hope this story/rhyme gets its point across in the way it was meant.