Detlef and the sports day

Characters

Detlef – Reindeer who moved from Finland to Africa

Dora – Detlef’s sister

Children:

Chris – Crocodile

Molly – Monkey

Helena – Hippo

Eliot – Elephant

Gertrude – Gazelle

The class teacher:

Miss Morris-Roe - African grey parrot

When his parents decided to move from the cold snowy mountains of the North to the wide plains of Africa, Detlef wasn’t a big fan of the idea.

Besides leaving his friends and everything he knew behind; their new home was going to be so different.

No more white and cold just sun and sand everywhere, thought Detlef. But his sister Dora was excited and could not wait to get there.

When they started school a few weeks later, Detlef was soon homesick. He longed for the cold classroom and having fun with his friends in the break.

His mum asked when he got home from school one day. ‘Why the long face, my dear?’

‘I’m missing my friends and home,’ he said a bit teary.

‘This is our home now, but I know my dear it isn’t easy.’

‘Everything is so different here. Even the food isn’t the same.’

‘I tell you what,’ his mum said with a smile. I’ll make your favourite treat.

‘Blueberry pie!’ Detlef smiled.

His eyes sparkled at the thought, stopping a big sob.

When dinner came around Detlef was in better spirits. He even polished off his vegetables waiting for the pie to come after it.

At last, something that smelt and tasted like home. It was so good, he couldn’t stop at one slice, he had to have one more.

‘Thank you, Mum,’ said Detlef. ‘That cheered me up a lot.’

His mum smiled, but dad asked. ‘Are you having trouble at school, son?’

‘No trouble, Dad. I’m just feeling homesick,’ Detlef replied honestly.

‘I see. We all feel like that sometimes, but I promise, it won’t be long before you feel at home here too. Speaking of which, I heard the school is organising a sports day soon.’

Detlef’s eyes lit up once more. He loved the sports day back home.

He was good at skiing, skating and ice hockey. And he had a lot of medals to show for it.

‘Are they really?’ he asked. ‘I haven’t heard.’

‘I saw the poster outside the hall when I was picking up your sister. They will announce it tomorrow, I think.’

That night, Detlef was feeling a little lighter. With a belly full of pie and the hope of some active fun, life wasn’t looking that bad after all.

The next day Miss Morris-Roe made an announcement about the sports day. She told them about all the competitions they were planning to organise.

At first Detlef seemed excited, but as he listened to the list, he soon turned disappointed.

He waited for skiing and snowball fights and ice hockey and all, but none of those were on the list. Instead, there were sports he never heard of: swimming, tree climbing, running and barrel rolling.

How am I supposed to compete, he thought to himself, I don’t know how to do any of these.

I’ve never swam in my life or climbed a tree, and I don’t think I’m strong enough to roll those heavy things.

With a long face he went home and told his mum about it all.

‘I’m so sorry my dear, I thought you would like it. Maybe you could learn to play the sports they compete in. I’m sure it would be fun,’ his mum said, but Detlef was too upset to hear much of it.

Reluctantly, the next day he asked Chris if he could join the swimming team, but when he was asked the question, ‘can you swim?’ he gingerly answered, ‘maybe you could teach me.’

‘I don’t think we have time for that. Maybe you can join us next year, Detlef,’ he said.

He asked Molly to show him how to climb a tree, but she said, ‘Maybe another time, Detlef. Right now, I’m a little bit busy.’

One by one they all said no and Detlef was even more deflated than before.

It was only three days before the sports day, and Detlef accepted that he would only be watching when Miss Morris-Roe came into the classroom with some concern on her face.

‘I don’t know how to say this, children, but the weather forecast is not looking great for the sports day. We have never seen a forecast like this before, but they are telling us we might even have SNOW.’

The children turned to each other muttering when Molly raised her hand and asked. ‘What is snow, Miss?’

Detlef sat up straight at the sound of the question and quietly said, ‘I’ve seen snow before. I can tell you a bit about it.’

Everyone turned to him, even Miss Morris-Roe and they listened intently as he continued.

When he finished, they wanted to know more, they were excited but still a little scared of the snow.

‘Well, we hope it won’t come as they’re predicting. It could be a disaster really,’ said Miss Morris-Roe. And the class was dismissed to go home.

Detlef ran all the way home and burst into the kitchen shouting ‘Mum!’

‘What’s the matter, my dear?’ she asked.

‘You won’t believe what they told us in school. That in two days we might get snow.’

‘I’ve heard something as strange as that, but I thought it was an April fool’s joke,’ his mum said.

Detlef eagerly waited for the next two days, watching the clouds and sniffing at the wind.

He was hoping that something would come of it.

The air turned colder, and huge white clouds gathered.

In the classroom the children were wearing layer upon layer huddling together.

‘We may have to cancel the sports day,’ said Miss Morris-Roe. The children started saying, ‘oh, no!’

‘I know this is not what any of you wanted to hear, but it’s too cold to swim or to do anything.’

Just as she finished soft white flakes appeared. They floated from the sky like marshmallow bits.

At once all the children ran to the window and mesmerised, stared at the falling snow.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and in an hour the whole ground disappeared under the white cover.

The children huddled together and only Detlef was eager to go out.

‘Where are you going Detlef?’ asked the teacher. ‘Outside,’ he said. ‘Come on! I’ll show you, it’s so much fun.’

Most of them still unsure, but the more curious ones decided to follow. ‘I’ll show you how to ski and have a snowball fight,’ said Detlef with so much joy.

He fastened two long pieces of wood to his feet and slid around on top of the snow having a great time.

When more children came out, he helped them to learn. Even Miss Morris-Roe was having her turn.

They assembled two teams and had a big snowball fight. Having a great time, they were all out of breath by the time the parents arrived.

When the day was done the children said, ‘we could have our sports day after all. Thank you Detlef for teaching us how to love the snow.’

Detlef was beaming with pride and glad he could show the others a great time.

Sharing something with them he only knew how to do was a great boost to his confidence and banished a bit of the homesickness too.

The snow didn’t last long and after a week it disappeared. Detlef was a little sad to see it go, but he wasn’t too disappointed.

He was keen to take up his new friends on their offers to teach him how to swim, climb, run and roll the barrels.

This was a different place for sure, but he soon started to feel at home in it.

He made great friends and enjoyed school, and he even got good at tree climbing.