8 Short Stories for Children Page 8

  Going on a Picnic

  Ronald is a six year old boy who likes to play with his friends from school. His best friend is Billy. Ronald’s mom has just read a letter from the school asking for permission to go on a picnic the next day. Ronald says, “Mom, can I go please?” and mom says “I have to ask your father first. So mom goes to the garage and asks dad. “What do you think? Should we let Ronald go on the picnic with the rest of his class?” Dad looks at the paper and then at Ronald behind his mom. “I suppose that it will be all right.” he says. “Whoopee!” Ronald shouts. Then he runs back to his room.

  Mom shrugs and smiles at dad, then turns to walk back to the kitchen. Dad gets back to washing the car. Mom signs the form and puts it on the counter so that Ronald can take it in the morning. The rest of the day Ronald can only think of the field trip to go on a picnic the next day. He looks for his boots that he wants to wear. They are brown and have laces which he still can’t tie as yet but he keeps trying. He finds a flashlight and puts it on the floor next to the boots. Then he pulls out his back pack and dumps out the stuff that is crammed in there. Out falls some stuffed toys that he put in when he was playing big game hunter along with a few plastic soldiers and a dinosaur. “There it is.” said Ronald and he picks up the dinosaur and throws it at a toy box but it falls short and lands on the floor in front of the open lid. Ronald picks up the flashlight and puts it in the back pack.

  He takes the toy soldiers and puts them in as well. When night time came his mother walked into the bedroom and said to Ronald, “Ronald, put those toys away and get ready for bed. You have a big day tomorrow.” Ronald moaned but picked up the stuffed animals and throws them into the toy-box. ”I can’t sleep. I have to get ready for the picnic.” he said. ‘Alright, settle down now and get your PJ’s on.” so Ronald got into his PJ’s and came and said good night to his mom and dad. As he lay there in bed before he fell asleep his mom came in and tucked him in. “Good night little man.” she said and turned the light off and closed the door till it almost was all the way. There was a little light showing through. Ronald was still afraid of the dark so mom knew that the door should stay open just a little. Ronald tossed and turned a few times but soon he was asleep and dreaming of his big day in the morning.

  Ronald is up early as usual and his mom comes and helps him get dressed for the picnic. She ties his big brown boots for him and takes his back pack out into the kitchen. There she makes him a sandwich and puts it into the back pack along with some other snacks. She also puts two orange drinks in for him. Ronald puts the back pack on and walks out to the front yard. There at the curb is Billy his best friend with a back pack of his own on his back. “Hi.” says Billy to Ronald. Ronald gives Billy a wave and stands next to him at the curb. “My mom gave me a sandwich to take along.” says Ronald to Billy. “Mine too.” says Billy. Before they can say anything else the school bus comes around the corner and stops in front of them.

  The bus driver opens the door and Billy gets on first. Ronald turns and waves to his mom who is standing in the door way waving back. Ronald climbs on to the steps and gets into the bus. He moves to the back and sits next to Billy who is waving out of the window at his own mom. “This is going to be fun.” says Ronald to Billy. “Yeah, I hope we see some wild animals.” says Billy. Ronald looks at Billy and says “Maybe a bear or tiger.”

  “Are there tigers around here?” asks Billy. “I don’t know but I bet there are.” says Ronald. “If I see one I’ll throw some rocks at it and it will go away.” he says. The bus pulls away from the houses and moves on to another street to pick up some more kids. After a while it goes to the school and comes to a stop at the front door. Ronald and Billy get off and go to their classroom and sit in their chairs. There is a lot of noise as the whole class is talking at once about the picnic. “OK class, quiet down.” The teacher shouts to them. Ronald turns to face the teacher. “I need those forms we sent home with you. “She says and the class brings the forms up and gives them to her. “That’s great. It looks like everyone is going on the picnic today.” The class starts to get loud again and the teacher says “OK, let’s get in line so we can go out to the bus for our trip.” Ronald and Billy get up first and are in front of the line when the teacher marches them out to the bus. They all get on with Ronald and Billy in the front seat. The bus pulls away from the school and starts down the road to the forest area where the picnic will be held.

  As the bus parks at the picnic area Ronald and Billy are the first out and run to the tables that are set up for their picnic. The teacher follows and the rest of the children come with her. “All right children, let's stay together now.” The yells from the children rise and fall as they run around playing tag and just having fun. Ronald hides from Billy and then jumps out from behind a tree and scares him. “OK. Now it’s your turn.” says Ronald. Billy runs and hides behind a building not far away from the tables. Ronald counts to ten then turns and looks for his friend. The playing goes on for another hour. “I’m getting tired.” says Billy as he walks back to the tables. Ronald watches Billy go to the table where he takes his back pack off and sits down. Ronald shakes his head. “I’m not tired. I guess I will go and look for some wild animals in the forest.” and so Ronald walks off to the trees a little way from the rest of the children. Ronald moves into the forest and pretends that he is in Africa just like the books his mom reads to him. He wanders off and climbs onto a bolder then up onto a small hill to see what he can see from there. It takes some time but he makes it to the top and then looking around he sits down to rest. After a while he gets up to go back and as he moves his feet his shoe lace has come undone. Ronald tries to tie them but he can’t. He steps off to go back and trips over the laces and rolls down the hill on the opposite side from the others. When he comes to the bottom he tries to get up but he has sprained an ankle and cannot stand. “Help!” he cries but his voice doesn’t carry over the hill to the teacher and the other children. He tries again and again but it hurts too much. He starts to cry. Soon he is so tired that he falls asleep.

  The teacher calls the children together after they eat so they can go back to school on the bus. When the bus comes the children get on. Billy looks all around but he can’t find Ronald. “Teacher.” Billy says. “Ronald is not here.” The teacher looks at all the children but sees that Ronald is nowhere to be found. “I will look for him.” she says and leaves the children with the bus driver. She goes back to the tables and starts to call Ronald’s name. “Ronald!” but there is no answer. Meanwhile, Ronald wakes up and now it is a little darker here in the forest. He moans because his ankle is sore and hurts when he tries to get up. As he sits back down there is a noise from the bushes just in front of him. Ronald thinks about the wild animals he wanted to see. He pulls the flashlight from his back pack. “Will it be a tiger or bear.” he thinks out loud. The bushes part and there in front of him is a man dressed in green clothes and hiking boots. “What have we here?” the man says to Ronald. Ronald looks at the man and then starts to cry. “Don’t be afraid.” the man says. “Are you hurt?” and Ronald shakes his head yes. “My ankle hurts.” he says. The man comes over to Ronald and looks at his foot. “Oww.” says Ronald and jumps a little. The man says “You need to see a doctor. How did you get here?” he asks. “I fell off the hill. We are on a picnic and ...” Just then the man hears a women calling. “Ronald!” “Is that your name, Ronald?” he asks. “Yes.” Says Ronald. The man picks Ronald up and climbs the little hill. At the top he sees the teacher. “Over here.” he calls. The teacher seeing them runs to the hill and asks Ronald, “Are you OK Ronald?” “I hurt my ankle.” says Ronald. I can carry him. Where shall I take him?” the man asks. “Over to the bus if you will.” says the teacher. The man carried Ronald to the bus and sat him in the front seat next to Billy. “What happened to you?” asked Billy when the man got off the bus. “There were wild animals after me and I ran and tripped and hurt my ankle.” said Ronald. “Wow.” was all Billy could say. The t
eacher thanked the man and then the bus drove back to the school.

  The bus left the school and the teacher stayed on with Ronald. “I hope you will be OK Ronald.” the teacher said. When the bus got to Ronald’s house the teacher carried Ronald off the bus. Ronald’s mom called to her husband and the two of them met the teacher at the front door. After explaining what had happened Ronald’s father looked at him and said. “I hope you have learned a lesson Ronald.” Billy followed the teacher to Ronald’s door and said “He almost got eaten by a bear.” Ronald’s mom looked at Billy and said “Sure Billy.” The story of Ronald and the bear was spread around the school the next day and Ronald became a celebrity. He never said there wasn’t any bear and everyone thought not to ask.

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