Once upon a time there was a perfect village that was nestled in a beautiful forest of tall pines and green growing things. Every house was perfect, every yard was a green velvet blanket, every flower bloomed radiant and beautiful in the perfectly manicured gardens. Not a single weed was EVER seen in any yard.
The people of this village were very busy people who bustled around every day - to jobs, to work, to shop and to do whatever people of villages did during the day. Clocks ticked, cars ran, people ate, people slept in big soft beds that were perfectly made with linens that cost a fortune.
The children of this village all joined together to play through the forest, running and laughing, hiding behind trees, and jumping out to scare each other. Their cries of happiness and giggles could be heard drifting on the air throughout the village. Their parents would just nod happily, knowing their children were safe and being cared for by the highest qualified child care expert that money could buy.
It was a perfect village ..... except for one flaw. At the edge of the forest, set way apart from the village was an old house made of logs, with a thatched roof that constantly drooped and needed patching. This small house did not have a blanket of velvet green grass, nor did flowers grow in pretty rows in a flower bed. Instead, the grass grew willy nilly, here and there, and blankets of flowers grew in every tiny crevice that they could latch onto. Their colors were spilled out into the forest in blinding colors of the rainbow. BUT they were not in their proper flower beds, nor were they the expensive flowers that the villagers preferred. But around this small house, a glow of joy radiated from every corner, bouncing off flowers and grasses.
The tiny house was home to a creature that the villagers preferred to pretend did not exist. He was the Purple Polka Dotted Snaggle Toothed Sonda. The parents whispered behind their hands about him, and people kept their distance from "that snaggle toothed creature." Poor old Sonda was so lonely, even surrounded by the rainbow of flowers and the green grass that grew and climbed over every empty space. As the children were brought to the forest to play by the highly qualified child expert, he would sadly sit on a rock in the warm sunshine and watch the children giggle and run and leap and play.
He never played, he never talked to them, but he yearned to be part of that free flowing group of screaming happy children. Many times, he pretended he could play with them, and thought up wonderful games that he could teach them to play. But with a sigh, he would go back inside his tiny home, when the expert rounded up all the children and took them home in the evening. As the sun set, Sonda would rock in his chair, dreaming about having friends who loved him and being able to belong to a group such as the children belonged to their group of friends.
ONE DAY - the unthinkable happened to the perfect village. The highly qualified child expert was promoted to a job in another town, leaving the village without any highly qualified expert to care for their children. The parents were in a dither, and they met at the edge of the village to discuss this horrible problem. As the parents shouted over each other, the din became so loud, that Sonda got off his rock and crept closer to where the parents were ranting and raving and arguing. Listening carefully, he finally understood what had happened. His heart was just crushed. Without a highly qualified child expert, the children would no longer come to the forest. He would no longer be able to listen to them giggle, watch them swing and make up pretend games in his mind to play with them. His life would turn from a rainbow of color to the gray of a rainy, damp day.
Sonda could stand it no longer, and timidly approached the group of arguing parents. As the parents became aware of Sonda standing there in all his purple polka dotted snaggled toothed glory, their words died out to a silence where not a sound could be heard. Sonda, shaking all over, managed to finally get the words out of his mouth that he wanted to say. He told them that he knew they were very upset because they had no one to care for their children. He told them that he knew every one of their children by name, what they looked like and what their favorite games were. He knew which child could swing the highest, which child could find the most beautiful rocks, and which child had the most giggliest giggle.
The parents' mouths fell open. No one spoke at all for many minutes, while poor Sonda struggled to figure out what to say next. Finally, he reached down into his heart and pulled up every ounce of courage he had. What he proposed to the parents had them backing away and shaking their heads. He wanted to be the highly qualified child expert that would watch their children for them. After all, as he said, he loved them all. He knew what they liked to do. He knew which children needed to take a rest every so often so they would not be sick. He knew which children like peanut butter sandwiches and which children hid their vegetables so their parents never knew they hadn't eaten them. He would watch them. He would finally get to play those games with them that he had planned in his mind so carefully for so long a time.
No parent would say yes, no one would even meet Sonda's eyes until a tiny child who had been watching from the edge of the forest, walked quietly to Sonda's side. The tiny little girl looked up at Sonda, took his hand and said, "I will play with you." Another child joined her, and took his other hand and smiled up at Sonda's snaggled toothed face. Sonda thought his heart would burst with joy. Would they let him? Little by little, all the children gathered around Sonda, holding onto his arms, or his legs or just sitting by his feet. They clearly had made their choice. But would the parents agree?
Sonda realized he had been holding his breath. Should he beg? Should he plead? Or should he just go back to being the lonely creature, sitting on a rock and longing to be part of all the fun. After all, he WAS different, so maybe he didn't belong at all.
One parent finally came forward, gazed at Sonda for a bit, and then looked at the beaming children gathered around Sonda. He announced to the parents that he had made his decision. If his children loved Sonda, and would play with him, that was a good enough recommendation for a highly qualified child expert for him! Other parents echoed his thoughts and slowly came forward to join the group around Sonda. When the children realized that Sonda would now be their highly qualified child expert, they let out a cheer that made the birds fly squawking into the air. Sonda's heart was filled to overflowing. He would no longer be lonely. He could play. He did not have to sit on a rock any longer because he was different. His life was now just as beautiful as the riotous flowers blooming all around his house. He belonged.
