The Skipper

"One, two, one, two ..."

Johnathan perched on the edge of the swing, holding the chain and digging his heels in the ground so as not to move at all. It wouldn't do for them to see him before he had decided whether he wanted to join their game or not.

There were six of them – three boys, three girls. The oldest two, a boy and a girl, were at the front of the lines, then two girls, then two boys. They were marching in time - "One, two, one, two ..."

It looked boring, just marching around. What sort of kids were these, couldn't they come up with a better game? He recalled the games he had played in his old neighbourhood, with Krista and Robert and Jody and Elle. Then he shook himself. His parents had decided to move, he was in a new neighbourhood, his old friends were far away ...

"One, two, one, two ..."

He made up his mide and stepped off the swing.

"One, two, I'll join you, join you," he chanted loudly, slipping in behind the two boys.

Everyone stopped.

Six pairs of eyes stared at Johnathan. Johnathan stared back at the oldest girl. It looked like she was the leader.

"I'm new around here," Johnathan said. "I want to join your game."

"But who'll you pair up with? It's very important to have a marching partner."

"I'm small. I'll fit in between these two - like this - and it'll look like there's still only two people here."

The oldest two raised eyebrows at each other, then nodded simultaneously.

"One, two, one ..."

After the first round of the park this way, Johnathan felt he had to do something different.

"One, two ..."

"THREE FOUR FIVE SIX," Johnathan shouted. "Company, halt!"

Everyone stopped. Six pairs of eyes stared at him again.

"Listen, let's do more stuff," he said. "Not just march."

"Like what?" the oldest boy, Aarya, couldn't help being inteested."

"Like let's add moves. Skipping moves. One, two - march. Three, four - skip like this. Five six, skip backward -- sorry, did I hurt you?"

It took a couple of tries, but they got the moves down. It looked and felt great, as they 'march-skipped' around the park.

"Now let's add hand moves ..."

"Now the head ..."

"Now we sing along ..."

Six months later, a group of seven children, Johnathan and gang, got the 'golden buzzer' on America's Got Talent, for innovative singing and dancing.

Prompt ▼

Studies of natural leadership show that in groups of kids, a potential leader first strives to fit in and follow the group consensus before suggesting action where their leadership takes hold. Write a short story or poem about leadership. Make one of the genre Relationship.