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Joshua Wants a Whistle

“I want a whistle,” said Joshua one day.

“OK. Take the magic nickel and get a whistle,” said his mother. Joshua got the magic nickel.

“Whistle, whistle, whistle,” he said.

Poof! Joshua had a whistle in his hand. He blew into it.

“Tweet, tweet!” went the whistle. He blew into it again.

“Tweet, tweet!” went the whistle again.

“Joshua, why don’t you take your whistle outside? It is a little loud,” said Joshua’s mother.

“OK,” said Joshua, and he went outside with his new whistle.

“Tweet, tweet, tweet,” went the whistle as Joshua blew into it. Joshua started to walk around out in front of his home blowing on his whistle.

“Tweet, tweet, tweet,” went the whistle. After a little bit, Joshua looked back and there were two flowers following him and the whistle.

“Why are you following me?” Joshua asked the flowers.

“We like your new whistle,” said one flower.

“It makes us feel like walking,” said the other flower.

“You are flowers. You should not be walking,” said Joshua.

“We know that, but the whistle must have put us under a magic spell. Can we please keep following you?” asked the first flower.

“I think that would be OK,” said Joshua. So

Joshua kept walking out in front of his home blowing on his whistle.

“Tweet, tweet,” went the whistle.

After a little bit, he looked back. Now there were ten flowers and three trees following him.

“Trees, you should not be walking,” said Joshua.

“We know that, but your whistle makes us want to walk behind you,” said the biggest tree.

“Well, OK,” said Joshua. You can walk behind me if you want. Joshua started walking down his street and blowing on his whistle again. After a little bit, he looked back.

Now there were 100 flowers, 20 trees, 15 shrubs, and all of the grass in his yard following him and his whistle. He could see his yard way back where he had started. There was nothing there but

dirt.

“This is so cool to have a plant parade,” said Joshua. “I think I will walk all the way to school with my plant friends.”

“Yes, we should all walk to school,” said the flowers.

“We want to walk to school, too,” said the trees.

“This is going to be fun,” said the shrubs.

“We want to go, too,” said the grass.

Joshua and the plants started to walk to school.

They had walked about 10 steps when Joshua heard his mother yell.

“Joshua, what are you doing?” yelled his mother.

Joshua’s mother saw the long line of plants behind Joshua and came walking up to him.

“We are having a plant parade,” said Joshua with a big grin. “We are going to walk to school.”

“Joshua, you can’t walk to school with all of these plants. There is only dirt in our yard now.

These plants need to get back to their job of growing,” said Joshua’s mother.

“Well, OK,” said Joshua. “We can have a parade back to my home.”

“Tweet, tweet, tweet,” went the whistle as Joshua led the plants back to his yard.

“Thanks for letting us have a plant parade,” said the plants as they jumped back into their spots in the yard. Soon all of the dirt in the yard was covered back up, and the plants started to grow again.

“That was fun even if we didn’t get to walk to school,” said Joshua.

“I am glad you had a good time,” said his mother.

“Now come inside. It is time for lunch.”

Former special education teacher from Spokane Valley, USA. Committed to empowering young readers with free stories, ebooks, and educational resources.