Short Stories

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THE NEON TIGER

All of the other tigers in the grasslands had one goal-to blend in. Their colour, and their behaviour caused them to do just that. Their orange and black stripes blended in against the light brown grass and its shadows. This was a problem, for it was the tiger's job to protect the grassland from the greedy birds that would eat up all the grain, They flew in flocks of hundreds, hunting and pecking and nibbling seed after seed, destroying the once vast, lush grassland.

Until one day, a new tiger camw to town. His name was Isaiah. Isaiah had a hard time blending in. First of all, he had a loud, powerful, authoritative roar, and he used it, Secondly, Isaiah was not an orange tiger, he was hot pink. Upon meeting Isaiah the other tigers pointed their paws at him, and laughed, "Look at him" one giggled, "he's pink, hes soo weird!" Another put her paw to her face and whispered to her neighbor, "I hear he has a big M O U T H and some of his words offend," Just then, Isaiah marched up to them. "And I heard all them pesky little birds is scared of me, because they can actually see me and HEAR my b ig M O U T H! And with that, Isaiah the tiger let out a huge roar, and swished his neon and pink and black striped tail. All of the birds, that were once carefree and destructive, fled in fear! By the hundreds they filled the skies, leaving the grassland. "And DON'T come back!" Isaiah roared,

And with a dust of his paws, and a swish of his tail, he walked away.

Behind him, a young tiger called his name, "What you want, little fella?" Isaiah asked. The cub answered him-"you really scared those birds away today. How did you do it? Were you scared? Can I scare birds too?" "Well, you see, little guy," Isaiah answered, "the reason those birds were afraid of me is because I stood out, You and your kinfolk over there is orange, and ya'll look and act alike, You look just like that grass that those birds have been picking on. They aint afraid of you. And one of these days, if you continue to blend in, and be quiet, them birds is gonna peck you too! They gonna win, and ya'll just gonna be some scared tigers with your tail between your legs, like a dumb ole dog." The tiger cub hissed "I don't want to be like a dumb ole dog, I wanna be pink, like you!" Isaiah smiled. "You don't gotta be pink, you gotta think pink." When those pesky little birds come back again, what you gonna do?" "I'm gonna ROAR and they gonna be scared. I'm gonna be different!' Isaiah smiled. He took his pink paw and patted the little cub head. As the cub trotted off, Isaiah laughed. The cubs hair, where Isaiah had patted him was neon pink, Isaiah sat down and swished his tail. He looked up to the sky and whispered, "make em different." the end

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