Chester Learns a Lesson

I tried my hand at a children's story

In the town of Primrose, where the hills were green and the air smelled of lavender and honeysuckle, there lived a shy little possum by the name of Chester.  He wasn’t the type of possum to go outdoors and play or join a conversation.  He kept to himself and was afraid of his own shadow, though deep down, he really longed to have friends.

When Chester was younger, he wanted to play with the possums in the neighborhood, but they all laughed at him.  He often came home in tears, which didn’t make things any better for him.  They called him “crybaby” and laughed as he ran home.  Chester felt sad as he watched the other possums play.  He wanted so much to join them, but he knew they wouldn’t accept him.  He didn’t think there was anything ‘special’ about him.  He was just an ordinary possum. 

          One night, feeling very lonely, Chester curled up in his snug, little bed and found he could not sleep.  While tossing and turning, he noticed a bright light out of the corner of his eye.  Knowing the moon wasn’t normally that bright, and being very curious, he went over to the window to investigate.  Chester leaned out of his window to get a better look, and as he looked up into the blinding light, he began to feel different somehow.  Lighter.

          Chester looked at the ground and saw he was floating.  As the ground grew farther and farther away, he was so frightened that he shut his eyes very tight and counted to himself to calm down.

           “One….two….” he counted as he floated higher and higher.  “Three….four…”  His tummy was feeling woozy as he floated even higher.  “Five…..six….seven….”

           When he felt the ground under him once again, he wondered where he could possibly be.  Chester opened his eyes and found himself in a round, green room.  He was face to face with two alien creatures.  They stood on short legs, had plump, round tummies, spidery long arms, and short, course, purplish blue hair covered their bodies.  Chester was fascinated and terrified at the same time.  He nearly fell to the floor to ‘play possum’, but one of the creatures spoke.

          “I’m sorry if we scared you.  Don’t worry, we don’t want to hurt you.” said one creature, as if reading Chester’s mind.  “This is Stanley and I’m Sebastian.  We’ve never seen a creature like you and wanted to bring you to our ship to meet you.”

          “Why me?  I’m not very interesting.”   Chester said as he shuffled his feet and looked at the ground.    

          “Not interesting?!  I bet you have very interesting stories about your kind.”  said Stanley.

Chester explained how the possums in his neighborhood didn’t like to play with him, and about how he spent most of his time alone.

          “I don’t even know how to play games.”  Chester said and sighed.

          “We can teach you some fun games!”  the creatures said.

          Stanley and Sebastian taught Chester all kinds of fun, new games he had never seen before.  Chester laughed, he tumbled, he roller skated, and even played Xorbaz, a fascinating outer space game.  He had lots of fun with his new friends. 

          When the day was over, Chester was so excited he didn’t want to go to sleep.  He was so happy to have made friends who didn’t pick on him or laugh at him.

          In the morning, the creatures told Chester it was time for him to go home.

          “Your parents will worry if you’re not home for breakfast.”  Stanley told him.

“I‘ve had so much fun.  I wish I didn’t have to go.”  explained Chester.

 After they all said their sad good-byes, a door opened and Chester floated back down to his window below.  This time, he wasn’t scared at all. 

After breakfast, Chester sat and looked out the window as he normally did.  He noticed the possums were sitting quietly in the field instead of running and playing as they normally did. 

Meeting Stanley and Sebastian had done something to Chester.  He worked up some courage and went outside. 

          “I wish we had some new games.”  said Rocky, the big possum.  “I’m so tired of playing the same old thing.”

          Upon hearing this, Chester thought of all the fun games Stanly and Sebastian taught him.  Though he was very nervous, he walked over to the group of possums.

          “What do you want?”  snickered Tommy, the big, bully possum.

          Gathering every bit of courage that he could, Chester finally answered nervously, “I heard you say you have no good games to play.”

         “What’s it to you?” asked Mike coldly.

 “I can show you a really fun game.”  Chester stammered.

          Bryttnie rolled her eyes as she looked at the other possums “Oh, yeah?  What can you teach us?”  she said, as they all chuckled.

At that, Chester took from his pocket the marbles and spinxers Stanley and Sebastian gave him.  The group was mesmerized by the colors and shapes.  They watched as Chester taught them how to play Xorbaz. 

      The possums had so much fun, and were grateful to Chester for showing them such fun things to do.  They lifted Chester up onto their shoulders, and while they cheered and paraded him around, Chester looked up into the sky.  He saw a bright light flash like a star.  He knew it was Stanley and Sebastian and he smiled.  He learned a lot about games and how to have fun; but the most important lesson he learned, was that he didn’t have to be ‘something special’ to make friends and have fun.  Just being Chester possum was special enough.

Author's Note

I invite you to leave your thoughts. Thank you :)

Reviews

[The Perfectionist]

"was afraid of his own shadow. (period) Deep down, though, he really longer to have friends"

"long, spidery arms" sounds better than "spidery long arms"
"Just being Chester was special enough"

It's a good children's story, which generally means someone my age hates it. That's okay though, because I think the presumed target audience would go over very well with this.

There's one thing that I don't think a six-year-old would catch, but I'm going to say it anyway. Stories like this generally have a moral, and yours seems to be "just be yourself" or something like that. Good enough. But you don't keep that consistent.

In the beginning of the story, Chester doesn't want to be special. He wants to be normal, and wonders why they tease him and why they think he's special. At the end, you say he's not special, and that he "didn't have to be something special". That implies that he wanted to be, when you set it up that he didn't. You may want to fix that.

[Samuel Dickens]

A good moral, a good lesson for youngsters, and a very good effort on your part. I like your choice of the possum, too. They are soooo funny when they play dead. (I saw one do it just recently)

[Coyote Poetry]

You did very well with the children story. I like the characters and his story. It was easy to read and had a very good ending. That is a good story for the kids. Photo made the words come alive. A outstanding story.
Coyote