The Boy Who Couldn't Tell Time

There was a little boy, and there was a little girl. They lived under a red moon. The boy's name was Sherwood, the girl's name was Stephanie.

They did everything together; swung on swings, played basketball (Stephanie always won their games of HORSE), ate picnic lunches together, and played and played. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the best of friends.

One evening after they played, Stephanie told Sherwood she had to go home. Since they were having so much fun, Sherwood asked her why.

"Because it's my dinner time and I also have homework to do," she said. Sherwood looked puzzled. He looked at the sky. It was still light out, plenty of sun left to play under.

"Come on, just a little bit longer," he begged. "Nope, I gotta get home," Stephanie said.

Sherwood was left alone. He slowly moped home. When he got there, his mom was mad. "Do you know what time it is?" she asked him. To tell the truth, he didn't. Sure, it was true for his last birthday Sherwood's parents had given him a watch. It had a gold face and leather band. But Sherwood didn't know how to read the watch to tell the time. More than that, he didn't understand the concept of what time meant. To him, yesterday was the same as today, and tomorrow probably would lead to the same place as yesterday or today.

That evening, Stephanie called. "Do you want to walk with me I to school tomorrow?" she asked him, He sure did. "Meet me at 7:30," she said.

He looked at his watch. He saw a seven but he didn't see a thirty. None of it made any sense to him. He was sad.

The next day arrived and Sherwood went over to Stephanie's house. "You're too late," her mom told him. "She already left for school."

He followed her foot steps. When he got to school, everything seemed as it was the day before. The grass was green, the sky blue, the wind whistled through the leaves of the trees. Everything was the same except Stephanie. She didn't talk to him. He watched her play with the other children instead. Sherwood decided he would learn to tell time. He didn't know how, but he knew it was important. That night he had a dream. In his dream he asked the grass to teach him how to read his watch. "We just grow when it's time," the blades told him. "We don't have to know how to tell the time,"

Next he asked the sky. "Today is like tomorrow. At night it gets dark and the next day the sun appears," the sky said, "I don't have to tell time, I just have to be here." Sherwood awoke from his dream. He still didn't know how to tell time.

He felt lost. He looked at his watch. It was hopeless. The next day he called Stephanie and asked her if she wanted to play. She said yes. They agreed to meet at 10:00.

As Stephanie finished her morning chores, she noticed she lost her watch. She didn't know what time it was. "I wonder if I'm too late to play with Sherwood,' she asked herself. "Now I know what it is like not knowing how to tell the time." She went over to Sherwood's house but he was gone. She skipped along the path that led to the playground. She saw him sitting alone. "What are you doing?" she asked him,

A smile lit his face. "I was just waiting for you," he said. "Are you mad at me?" he asked her,

"No I feel the same as always," she told him. He scratched his chin. What difference did the time make now? Time had passed and there was plenty more ahead. They were together again and that was what was important. "Let's play," he said. And that is what they did.