~hare The Blessing with Your Child

Judy" Love

orbert t he Little El ephant had a

very sad look on his face as he slowly walked up the st ep s to hi s hou s e..

Aaj ot uls whole fife.

'lhis L t.10T~

.r h~d be en th e 'J9.

"Mom} nothing's gone right since I left for school thi s morning. ~ gr oaned 'Norbert.

"Did you miss the school aga,"

• ~e -to n»:

~ .11 -r1.a

Oller coaS\;eT

his mother asked.

"Well, I got to the coaster stop just in time,

but everyone else already had someone to sit with. So I had to sit all by myself."

"And then at lunch, all the fifth graders decided they wanted to sit at the table by the window. And that meant the only place left to sit was with Heidi the Hippo!"

"But Heidi's a nice girl/' Norbert's mother said.

"Yes, Mom, but she thinks she's my girlfriend! She was walking over to sit by me, and she tripped and fell in my mashed potatoes! Right in front of the fifth graders!"

"Then after school, I went out to play ball, and when they picked teams, there was one kid too many."

"You," said his mother, quietly.

"Yes, me. Nobody likes me. Nobody wants to pick me."

"Nor bert} ~ hi smother said, in ,her s oft est, warmest voice, "if I could use my arms to hug only one child, gu ess whi ch one r d choose."

"That's easYJ~ said Little Elephant. "You' d choose Puffy Panda. He's so-c-o-o soft, everyone likes' to hug hi m. And since Puffy is so-c-o-o bi& everybody can hug him ... all at the s arne time' ~