Jolly Solly: Full Stop
| January 17, 2018
T he crossing guard near Moishy Morris’s school was not happy. He even went to speak to the principal about his problem. And when he told the principal why he was unhappy the principal fully agreed with him that something had to be done.
The problem bothering the guard was that although most of the schoolchildren were sensible and crossed with him at the crosswalk some of them just couldn’t be bothered walking the few extra yards. They would cross the busy road wherever they pleased even though it was unsafe. The crossing guard had tried telling them off but it hadn’t made the slightest difference. He was terrified someone would end up getting hurt.
The principal spoke to the boys about the problem at assembly. He warned them about the dangers of crossing unsafely and the situation improved for a week or two. Then unfortunately some of the students went back to their old ways. They just couldn’t be bothered walking the extra distance.
The crossing guard thought about what to do next. He could go back to the principal. But the principal was a busy man and couldn’t be expected to stand outside monitoring the road situation every morning and afternoon which was probably the only thing that would keep everyone in line. Then he had another idea.
“Aha!” he exclaimed to himself. “I think I’ve got just the thing.”
The next morning the crossing guard was in place bright and early as usual. He was muffled up a bit more than normal as though he had a cold. He took several groups of children across the road. Then from the corner of his eye he saw a pair of students up the street about to cross carelessly.
“Stop right now!” came a sharp instruction from somewhere near the pair.
They stopped short in surprise. They looked around wondering who had issued the instruction but everyone around them seemed to be minding their own business. Thinking it was just some passing busybody they tried again.
“Stop right now I said!”
The boys jumped. Deciding it was best to obey the authoritative voice whoever it was they walked the extra steps to the crosswalk.
After that some more students crossed safely with the guard until a group of rather rowdy boys appeared in the distance. They were about to cross unsafely.
“Stop! Beware! Danger!”
The boys looked around in puzzlement. The voice came from right near them. Who was it?
“Don’t pay attention. It’s just some interfering passerby ” said one of the boys. He stepped forward only to freeze at the sound of a police siren. (Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr. Issue 694)
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