The Race Won by Inches

 Hello, Friday Fiction Fans,

    I've been busy. I've actually been getting something written every day so far this week and I'm oh, so close to reaching the end of "Lake Wood" (Woodbreak Book 3)! Pray that I can actually finish it before the end of the month because next month I have other things I HAVE to work on.

    Another thing I've been doing this week is blog posts! Since I know later this year is going to be super busy, I'm trying to get as many posts done and scheduled ahead of time for Read Another Page as possible. At least I have all the posts for the rest of the year figured out even if I still have to write them.  One set of posts I have been working on are my Five Fall Favorites. :) Stay tuned for more information on that.

    Let's see, what else did I do this week? Oh, I spent almost all day Tuesday helping my brother pack orders for Light of Faith. But I took a break after lunch and went swimming with my nieces and nephews in their pool. I haven't been swimming (sitting in a kitty pool with my nieces and nephews a few years ago doesn't count) since I was probably 8 or 9. It was fun and very nice to cool off from the heat of the day.

     Today's story is especially for any young siblings. It's a short story, a retelling of a famous fable. I wrote it many years ago, and when I went to find something to post, I thought I'd do this story. I think we can all learn a lesson from it. Don't you?

 

The Race Won By Inches

 

            One beautifully sunny morning, Cecil Centipede stopped to laugh at Inez Inch Worm slowly inching himself along the ground.

            “Ha, ha!” he jeered. “You are so slow! You can’t even make it across the sidewalk before I have crossed it ten times! You are the pokiest, loiteringest, slowest insect I have ever seen!” He continued to taunt as Inez humped along.

            Now Inez was growing irritated because Cecil Centipede kept bugging him day after day about his speed. That morning was the last Inez Inch Worm could tolerate.

            “Would you like to race?” he questioned, pausing half way across the sidewalk.

            “Race!” Cecil howled with laughter. “You’re not just slow, you’re stupid too. Ha, ha! Sure I’ll race. I’ll be at the finish line before you have even started! Ho, ho!” Cecil accepted the race as a joke because he thought it would be no contest.

 

            Well, the race was planned. Spencer Spider and Anthony Ant were finally chosen to act as the judges, and the race course was carefully chosen. The day of the race was perfect, not too hot or too cold.

            “Racers, take your places!” Anthony Ant bellowed. “On your mark, get set, GO!”

            The race had begun! Right from the start Cecil Centipede took the lead; his hundred legs working so fast that the onlookers could scarcely see them. Inez Inch Worm was soon left in the dust, slowly but steadily humping his way along the track.

            Cecil was gloating to himself as he ran of how easy this race was when all of a sudden one of his legs became tangled with another, and before he could stop, he fell. There he lay, his hundred legs all hopelessly tangled in one great big knot! How he squirmed. How he wriggled. But the more frantically he tried to free them, the more impossibly tangled they became. He comforted himself, however, with the thought that Inez was so far behind that he would never catch up.

            Inching down the track, Inez spied the tangled legs of Cecil off to one side. He decided not to say anything, but continued on his way one inch at a time. Before long the finish line was reached and cheers erupted on all sides.

            “Inez Inch Worm wins the race!” shouted Spencer Spider. “Three cheers for the winner!”

The exuberant cheers reached the ears of Cecil Centipede just as he finally succeeded in freeing the last of his legs. He leaped to his feet and raced to the finish line.

            “I demand a re-race!” he shouted indignantly, but no one heard him.

 

            Thus it was that inch by inch Inez the Inch Worm won the now famous and much talked of race.

 

The End

Are you eager for me to finish "Lake Wood"?

Are you more like Inez or Cecil in the story?

Do you have younger siblings to read this story to?