You can name me Toby
…………………….and you can name me Tiggles
Toby was roaming around trying to find something to do. His four siblings took off this morning to go play and left him behind because he was sleeping. He was not a morning fox by ANY means, and would never get up with everyone else, even if it meant he had to play by himself all day. He remembered his mommy went to the store and bought some cool chalk, so he went behind the family den to the storage area and found it. He was excited to use it because it was made with glitter and would shimmer in the sun…and the sun was shining bright today!
Toby pranced over to the sidewalk and decided he would draw a hopscotch outline. He didn’t want to use just ANY design though; he was going to count out to 15 and make it fancy. He used all his glitter chalk colors. His favorite color was blue and used that color more than the others.
When his outline was complete, he stepped back and admired how great it was. “One of my best hopscotch outlines ever! Too bad my siblings aren’t here to play with me,” he said aloud but then shrugged his shoulders, knowing he could still have fun by himself. He was about to jump on his masterpiece but remembered he needed a rock in order to start the game.
Toby trotted across the field to find the perfect rock. He was hoping to find one with pretty colors in it instead of a boring brown or gray one. As he was looking around the rock trail just over the hill, he noticed a green rock with lines on it. He walked closer to the rock and investigated it by sniffing and nudging it with his paws. Toby pulled his leg back a gave it a good kick just for fun. Just then he heard the rock yell, “OOF!” as it started to roll. This scared Toby and he let out a yelping noise! He backed away from the rock and continued to stare at it. A little head poked out from the rock and stared right at the Red Fox.
As fast as the head poked out, it went back in the “rock” just as quickly. It was then that Toby realized that it wasn’t a rock that he found, but a TURTLE. That was a turtle shell he mistook for a rock. He knew smaller animals were afraid of foxes because foxes were known to eat small animals. But Toby didn’t want to eat this turtle, he wanted to play with him.
Toby got closer to the turtle and said, “I’m sorry I kicked you. I thought you were a rock. I was going to use you to play my hopscotch game. I’m Toby. What’s your name?” The turtle listened to the fox. He sounded nice, but he was afraid to stick his head back out, in fear of being eaten. He knew the fox wouldn’t be able to hurt his hard-green shell, but the rest of him would be gone if the fox wanted it to be.
Toby tried talking to the turtle again, “I promise I won’t hurt you. I was hoping you could forgive me and maybe play a game with me. All of my siblings left me for the day and I’m all alone.”
With this information, the turtle cautiously stuck his head out into the world, slowly exposing the rest of his body. “I’m Tiggles,” the turtle slowly said. Toby smiled and patted the turtle on his shell. “Hi Tiggles. I’ve got a hopscotch game waiting to be played and my mommy just bought me a jump rope. It’s actually the same colors as you. If you want, you can hold the rope and I can jump….and then we can take turns. I’m really sorry if I hurt you. Do you want to be friends?”
Tiggles smiled back saying, “I would love to play both games and it’s nice to have a new friend!”
Tiggles and Toby walked across the grassy field, chatting with one another like they’ve known each other forever. When they got to the sidewalk where the hopscotch outline was, Toby said he would be right back so he could grab his new green and yellow jump rope. When Tiggles saw the jump rope, he laughed and said, “You’re right…it IS the same colors as me!”
A couple hours later, after Toby and Tiggles made the hopscotch outline even better, and then wore out the chalk lines from nonstop play, Toby’s siblings headed back to their den and saw Toby and Tiggles playing just over the hill. Toby’s older sibling blurted out, “Is that really Toby playing with a turtle? Foxes don’t play with turtles! We EAT them!”
Toby’s younger sibling thought about this for a minute and then said, “True… but they look like they’re having fun together. Maybe Toby made a new friend since we left him all alone this morning.” All four of the siblings walked over to Toby and his new friend. When Tiggles saw this, he shivered and recoiled back into his shell to hide. Toby turned around and said to his brother and sisters, “Don’t sneak up like that! Tiggles is my friend! He played with me all afternoon.” Toby then looked at the shell and said, “Tiggles, it’s okay. These are my brother and sisters. They won’t hurt you. They’re just curious who I’m playing with.” Again, Tiggles slowly stuck out his head and looked directly at five pairs of eyeballs looking right at him. Their red hair and fluffy tails were all standing straight up like they were going to pounce on him at any minute. However, instead of anything scary happening, everyone smiled and said hello to their brother’s newfound friend.
“Why are we just standing around and doing nothing??? I think it’s time for a team hopscotch game. Tiggles and I made a really good one and it needs a little fixing up!” With this, Toby looked at his new friend and winked at him, so excited to have found him today.
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