Growth

There were once four young friends; Polly Python, Roger Rhino, Elinor Elephant and Harry Hippo.  They were very young and quite different but they managed to find games to play that they all enjoyed and they talked and talked about what it would be like when they grew into adults.  Then one day it was time for them all to join the 'Growth Club', "Now we shall find out the answer to our questions" they agreed.

And, sure enough, they started to grow.  Roger, Elinor and Harry grew tall and round with strong, sturdy legs. Polly got longer.  Roger, Elinor and Harry were concerned about Polly.  She didn't seem to be growing in the 'right' way.  They looked at each other and, of course, they were different in some ways but what seemed pretty obvious was that growing involved getting tall and round and having sturdy legs.  Polly was doing none of these things.  Polly wasn't growing.

Initially, being friends, they all encouraged Polly but as time went on and Polly got a bit longer but not tall, round or with sturdy legs.  It seemed to the others that she wasn't trying hard enough.  Polly, knew what her friends were thinking and she so wanted to grow tall and round with sturdy legs, just like the others but she only got a bit longer. 

As time went by; Roger, Elinor and Harry found other growers like themselves, some (like Gerry) were even taller whilst others, like Wally, were even rounder, although it has to be said that few had quite as sturdy legs as the threesome.  Roger, Elinor and Harry could really respect and learn growth from growers like Gerry and Wally.  These were animals who could lead them, teach them.  These were animals to imitate.  And as good growers they also tended to avoid the less good growers. It was a case of keeping in with the A-team, so that they didn't pick up bad habits.  Polly, as far as they could see, was not growing. She wasn't getting tall and she was really a very sorry thin, sort of round and as for her legs? Well...

Polly noticed what was happening, and was sad to begin with but then she thought "Well I am growing longer!" But the others in the "Growth Club" only saw that she hadn't grown tall, she hadn't grown fat and round and she hadn't grown sturdy legs.  She wasn't growing in any recognisable way. And, as the growth counsellors said, "If you're not growing you're sliding backwards".  The threesome stopped talking with Polly and Polly stopped talking with them.

Her sadness turned to anger "I am growing... longer! Can't you see it?" After a while, she started to find the growth club a lonely place, a disapproving place.  She found that the growth club was going out into the plains so that they could grow and so that the trees didn't get in the way. Polly liked trees, she could curl around trees. The Growth club were suspicious of trees, which, as they pointed out were full of small animals and birds - not the right place at all for a growing member of the Growth Club.  It wasn't that Polly stopped going to the Growth Club, just that they tended to be in different places to where she was spending her time.

One day, Roger, Elinor and Harry were chatting, remembering the old days and their friendship with Polly.  They reflected sadly about their lost friend, commented (sadly) about how she just hadn't grown like them and how, she wasn't even coming to Growth Club any more.  If you don't grow, you'll slide backwards they agreed sadly. Polly had backslidden, but then... what would you expect of a snake?

Comments

[jon birch]

your stories are wonderful... i so understand polly... i know alot of polly's and i may even be one myself. thanks for this.

[Caroline]

Thanks for visiting Jon, and thanks for the encouragement about the stories - I find them a helpful way of playing around with issues that I don't understand fully.

By the way, I do hope that any visitor to this site will click on your name and follow the link to your site - those pictures are so sharp and powerful. Thank you for them.

[jonny]

jon put me on to your story - wonderful site. thanks. i have linked to it and will hopefully send a few readers your way!

[Blair]

And I'm one of those readers Jonny sent! Great story. I was intrigued that the growers made their own decision as to what growth was. I wanted to hear about the the mentors (snake or otherwise) who challenged those assumptions along the way.

=) B

[Caroline]

Funnily enough, Blair... I'm not sure that the story is about growth... but then again...

To see where the story grew from you need to read a couple of earlier posts "the two teenagers" and "just a little more than I can handle".

I think that I was playing around with the problems of different communities not being able to communicate or appreciate where the other is coming from.

and if any of you are interested, I am tall, very round and have sturdy legs, sigh :-(

[David]

I'm another reader that Jonny sent over - great story. I love it. Will also link to it...

[Pootle]

Awesome! I found this helpful, thank you.

[Caroline]

David and Pootle

you're most welcome and thanks for the encouraging comments.

Isn't it funny, I think that I preferred the other two stories (they were all written within a couple of hours of each other) and yet this is the one that is resonating with folk.

only thing in this world stranger than a reader is a writer!
:-)

look forward to furthe comments