Hop Hopscotch

It’s a beautiful Fall day. The air is cool and fresh. Colorful autumn leaves fall from the trees and collect in piles on the ground.

Punky, a little girl raccoon, is walking outside and thinks about her day. What is she going to do? Who is she going to play with? She looks up and down the street and hopes to see some other KidzAnimals to play with.

She sees Kicker way down the block, walking and talking with Merkeeta and Katya. Punky runs over to them to see what’s going on.

“Can I play with you today?” Punky asks. “I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

The girls look at each other and act like they have a secret. Kicker answers for the three of them.

“We can’t play with you today, Punky,” Kicker replies. “But maybe tomorrow.”

“Bye, Punky.” Kicker says as the three older girls walk away and leave Punky alone.

Punky doesn’t like that. It’s so unfair! These girls will play with her if there’s no one else to play with. But if they have each other to play with, they forget about her. Because she’s in first grade and they’re in fourth grade.

As Punky walks down the street, she kicks the leaves on the ground. Soon she cheers herself up and makes a game of it - kicking the leaves as they fall.

She steps on the dry leaves to hear them crunch under her feet.

         One crunch, two crunch.
         Crunch, crunch, crunch!

It’s fun to make up a game she can play as she walks home.