Everyone felt pretty good after the assembly. As we walked
back to our homeroom, I patted my pal, Dude, on the back.
"You did it, Dude. You saved the day!"
Dude smiled and shook his head. "I, um, you know, like..."
We
were definitely going to have to figure out a better way
for me to understand him, but for now I pretended I didn't
mind the strange looks everyone gave me as I did the flamingo-hop
down the hall. "It's not that simple, Johnny," Dude was
saying now that I was in the correct position. "Peace takes
a lot of work. This is a start, but it's just the beginning!
It's going to take a lot of effort by everybody. Peace is
a process - it doesn't just happen in the twinkling of an
eye."
Dude was definitely right about peace not being that easy.
Before we even made it back to homeroom, we saw three arguments
just beginning to brew. But he was wrong about the "twinkling
of an eye" part. We made a whole lot of peace that day "in
the twinkling of an eye!"
"Told
you we've got a lot to do," Dude sighed as I could almost
feel the red-slimers squishing down the hall, leaving a
trail of angry kids. The closest set of arguers were my
friends Artie Taylor and Merle Martin. The argument was
heating up fast. Though I couldn't see it (I'd given Dude
back the rose-colored glasses), I knew the red-slimers were
oozing all over both of them at that very moment.
"Like,
man, Quick!" Dude said. "Um, like, you know, um, well, grab
my watch." Dude adjusted the dial between my fingers and
when I looked up I realized that time had frozen still.
Everything, that is, except for us. I let go of Dude's watch
and we walked towards Artie and Merle.
"Like,
um, you know, like you guys, like..." Dude whispered in
their ears. Then he looked at me. I knew he wanted me to
say something. I felt nervous at first, but what the heck.
I gave it a try.
"You
guys are best friends. Do you want to ruin your friendship
over something that really doesn't matter that much?" I
whispered. "Of course you don't, guys," I said reassuringly.
"You can find a way to work this out!"
Dude smiled and had me hold on to his watch again. The next
thing I knew, time was back to normal. From a few feet away
we watched the anger in Artie and Merle's faces fading quickly.
"Hey,
what are we fighting for?" Artie exclaimed.
"Beats
me!" Merle answered. "Sorry, man." Then they high-fived
and headed off to class.
Wow, did I feel proud. I felt a hundred feet tall. I could
have stood there basking in the good feeling forever. But
Dude pulled me down the hall. "Great job, Johnny, but we've
got, like um, tons to do!"
He wasn't kidding. We zipped up and down the hall, whispering
peaceful thoughts and ideas into kids' ears as they stood
there frozen in time. Then Dude adjusted his watch a little
more and we REALLY zipped faster, back and forth and upstairs
and down.
Then we zipped out the front door and down the street, whispering
to frightened passers-by and angry drivers and lazy workers
and teary-eyed mothers.
Faster and faster we sped until I was quite certain we'd
covered the entire town. Maybe even the whole world - we
went so fast and whispered so much I wasn't sure how many
people's emotions we'd calmed.
Finally, just when I thought my head would explode, we were
standing back in the school hallway and time was back to
normal. Except it seemed so different somehow. Everything
looked brighter and more hopeful. And it seemed like everybody
was smiling.
I stared over at Dude. He had a big green smile on, too.
"Um, like, well, you know, like..." Tiredly I raised my
foot, tilted my head and squinted. "You did GREAT, Johnny,"
he beamed, and he high-fived me.
"I
did, didn't I," I thought. Even though I knew it would be
harder to help people calm down in real-time, it could be
done, and anyone can do it. World Peace wasn't going to
be easy, but it sure was possible -- one person at a time.
I stood there smiling, but then Dude reminded me that we
had to get to class. I was so tired. "Do you think we could
speed the day up, just a little, so school would be over
and I could go home and take a nap."
"Like,
um, you know, well... considering all that we've been through,
I suppose we could," Dude agreed.
Squinting and with one foot high in the air, I held on to
his watch. He turned the dial and I realized I was really
going to like the Fifth Grade after all. Even if I did have
to spend it looking like a flamingo.
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