1.
I told you, didn’t I, about reading to the kids in the library?
It was RIF day. The kids were all excited about getting to choose a book that they could keep. And since it was just before Halloween, the theme was monsters.
But I didn’t tell you about the boy who got scared.
The way it worked, the librarian had me walk among the kids and tap them with a monster hand when it was their turn to go get a book. This monster hand was a good gimmick. It allowed us to control the flow of kids to the book table, and it was in keeping with the monster theme.
The hand was a picture of a skeleton hand on a black background attached to a stick. And one by one I tapped the girls and boys with it when it was their turn.
2.
…until I got to the last boy left sitting on the carpet.
With a smile on my face, I walked up to him and began to tap him on the head with the monster hand.
In an instant, he stood up screaming and ran into a corner of the library.
“I don’t like that monster. I don’t like that monster!” he shouted. And he began to cry.
“Oh that’s ok,” I said. “We don’t have to do the hand. You can go get a book.” I was holding the monster hand behind my back.
It didn’t work. The poor boy ran to another corner where the librarian went to talk to him.
3.
There were lots of kids in that class. And in the end, each of them got a book.
And so there we sat on the carpet reading their books and looking at the pictures until it was time for them to leave. I stood by the door as they lined up, and as they left, I said goodbye.
And the boy at the end of the line…
It was the same boy who had been so scared. There he was at the end of the line, standing tall with a book in his arms and a beaming smile on his face. As he walked by, he gave me a wink and then a big thumbs up.