Run Your Own Race

When Coug got to school, he looked for Bixie.  When he saw Bixie at the big Kidz playground, he walked over to her.

Bixie saw him and looked worried, and quickly tried to find some friends to talk to.  She just didn’t want Coug to say anything mean to her.  Or to tease her for being a turtle, or call her a cheater again.

Coug came up to her anyway.

“Bixie, I’m sorry about all the things I said to you yesterday.  I was a poor sport.”

He reached into his backpack and took out the special ribbon he had made just for her.

“You were the winner of the marathon.  You worked hard to win and deserved first place,” he continued.

Coug handed her the award. “You won the race fair and square.”

Bixie read what he had written – “Number 1, Most Determined Turtle.”

A huge smile came over her face.  She couldn’t believe that Coug had made such a nice ribbon for her. Bixie was proud to be a turtle, so she liked it more than the first-place ribbon she had won the day before.

“Friends?” she asked him.

“Friends,” Coug agreed.

And that is how Coug and Bixie ran the race, learned some lessons, and became good friends.