| Character
Crew
Character Crew — Honesty
Story — Too Many Bad Things
Daniel waved at
his mother who was watching from the kitchen window. She waved back. He tossed
his new football into the air and caught it again.
He was having fun without being bad. That was good.
That was before Daniel saw the neighbors’ big, gray cat.
He watched it crawl along the top of the wooden fence that divided his back
yard from the neighbors’.
"You mean old cat!" Daniel shouted.
Daniel didn’t like that cat. He had tried to pet it once and got a big
scratch.
The cat yawned, then scratched the top of the fence. Tiny pieces of wood floated
down to the grass.
"Stop wrecking my daddy’s fence!" Daniel demanded.
"You’re in big trouble," Daniel said. He took the football and
threw it with all his might.
At the last possible instant, it jumped out of the way. The ball flew over the
fence, passing right where the cat had been.
"Wow!" Daniel whispered. He couldn’t believe he’d come
so close.
Then he heard a SMASH!
"Oh, no!" he groaned.
Daniel crept toward the fence and peeked through a crack. He saw his football
lying by the wall of his neighbors’ house. And right beside it was a big
blue flowerpot cracked on one side. "Oh, no!" Daniel moaned. What
am I going to do?
Daniel walked around to the gate.
I should ask for permission to go into our neighbors’ yard, he
thought. But then Mom will find out about the bad thing I’ve done.
Daniel shook his head. He didn’t want that to happen. Instead, he checked
the latch. Good, it’s not locked.
Opening the gate, Daniel walked inside.
He ran toward his football and quickly picked it up. Staring at the broken flowerpot,
he wondered what to do.
Whatever I do, I better hurry, he thought. I shouldn’t be here.
Daniel stuffed the pieces of pottery into the pocket of his sweatshirt.
"This is really bad," he mumbled.
Grabbing the flowerpot with both hands, he spun it around until the broken spot
faced the wall. He smiled. The bad thing was hard to see.
Now I’ve got to hide the pieces, he thought.
Closing the gate behind him, Daniel searched for a place to hide the broken
pieces.
"Daniel, where have you been?" Mom asked as she headed up the sidewalk.
"I’ve been
looking for you."
Daniel wanted to say that he’d been playing in the front yard. He wanted
to lie.
But that would be another bad thing. He remembered his first bad thing: throwing
the ball at the cat. He felt bad about the second bad thing: smashing the flowerpot.
Then there was the third bad thing: going into the neighbors’ yard without
permission. He suddenly realized his fourth bad thing: trying to hide the broken
flowerpot.
And now Daniel wanted to hide all his bad things with a big lie.
No, that would be really bad, he decided.
"Mom, would you still love me, even if I told you some bad things I’ve
done?" he asked.
His mother smiled. "Of course, Daniel." She knelt beside him, so she
could listen better.
Daniel took a deep breath and pulled a hand full of pottery out of his pocket.
Mom could see the broken pieces, but that was okay. This would be good.
Discussion Questions
- At what point did
Daniel have to choose between honesty and dishonesty?
- What caused Daniel to choose honesty?
- What might have happened if Daniel had chosen to be dishonest?
— Manfred Koehler
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