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Today's story is a throwback episode.
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The Great Playground Leap The playground was full of shouts and hollers and bouncing basketballs.
Under it all ran the wild drumroll of sneakers on grass and blacktop.
It was finally spring, and you could feel it in the air.
It was warm and breezy with the scent of fresh flowers and rich mud wafting all around the school.
It was finally spring, and the crazy herd of outdoor recess was back.
Sam ran with the rest of them, her hair bouncing behind her as she squealed and dodged in a game of tag.
Finally she got tagged out and went to rest against the fence with the other kids waiting for the next game to start.
Hey, Sam said Darnell when she crashed into the fence next to him, making the chain link shake and ring.
Darnell and Sam were in the same class, and they'd been friends since the beginning of the year.
Pretty good moves out there.
You almost got away.
Thanks, Sam said to him, still panting and catching her breath.
I went to soccer camp all last week, and we did a lot of weaving and footwork drills.
Nice, you can totally tell.
Hey! cried Violet, crashing into the fence next to them.
The metal rang and sproinged.
Violet was another of Sam and Darnell's good friends.
She always seemed to have a lot of energy.
I missed you so much.
How was your April vacation?
Pretty good, said Sam.
How about you?
It was amazing.
I went to my Nana's house and hung out with all my cousins.
I have like 10 first cousins and we all played in her pool and then had a big sleepover in the living room.
We stayed up way later than we were supposed to.
It was so much fun.
Sounds awesome, said Darnell.
Yeah, sounds like fun, agreed Sam.
That's nothing, came a loud voice from further up the fence.
Oh, no, said Violet.
Here comes Brandon.
Shh, be quiet.
It's too late, Sam said with a sigh.
He already heard us.
Sounds like a fun week, Violet, said Brandon.
But mine was even better.
The kids rolled their eyes.
Brandon was in their class too, and he was always telling big stories that were basically never true.
Like after Christmas when he told everyone he had to help Santa deliver presents.
Or last summer, when he claimed he spent a month living with some wolves after his parents forgot him at a national park.
Sam, Violet, and Darnell all thought it was pretty annoying.
Brandon stood there, looking at them expectantly.
How was yours better?
Violet asked finally.
Well, I went to my Nana's too, but she lives in a mansion, a giant one, and she has a pool too.
It's huge, and she actually has two pools now that I think about it.
Yeah, two pools and there's a water slide that shoots you from one to the other.
Plus, I have like 20 cousins and they're all older and really cool.
They taught me how to do a super secret pool dive that no one knows.
Oh, and my nana actually got duplicated, so now I have two nanas.
Violet rolled her eyes again, but Darnell had to ask.
What do you mean your nana got duplicated?
Brandon's eyes widened for a second, and then he continued.
Well, you see, there was this cloning lab that she was working at, you know, like as part of her retirement.
They wanted to clone her chocolate chip cookies because she invented them, did you know that?
Anyway, she invented them and hers are the best ever, and they wanted to clone them.
But she tripped when she was carrying the tray and fell right into the cloning machine.
And now I have two nanas, darnel violet and sam exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Right, said sam, trying to change the subject.
Darnel, how about you?
How was your break?
Oh, mine was so cool.
We took a day and drove to an amusement park and they had this roller coaster called the Swirly Bird and it went upside down and everything.
I rode it with my dad, and we both screamed the whole time.
Sam and Violet laughed, but Brandon cut in again.
I went on a roller coaster too.
It was actually even crazier than that one, Darnell.
You said you went to your Nana's house, said Violet.
Brandon's eyes did that wide thing again before he responded.
I did, but that was only one day.
The next day we went to an amusement park and I rode a coaster that did double loops and has the highest drop in the world.
Really, said Violet.
What was it called?
It was called, um, The Swirly Bird 2.
That's right, Darnell.
It was the sequel to your roller coaster, and it's even crazier.
Sounds cool, Brandon, said Darnell.
He knew that if he tried to argue with him, Brandon would just dig in with more lies and it wouldn't make any difference.
So he just kept talking about the real Swirly Bird.
Mine was really scary because right before we got on it got stuck and the people had to wait at the bottom of the loop for 10 minutes.
I don't know what I would have done.
I would have been like freaking out.
Violet started to say something, but Brandon cut her off.
That's nothing.
While I was in the middle of the double mega loop, my seat restraint thing actually came undone.
I fell right out of the roller coaster car and started falling.
Everyone was losing their minds, but the car finished the loop without me and then caught me again at the bottom.
They all stared at him.
No way, said Violet, shaking her head.
She was frustrated.
Brandon was always trying to one-up everyone with crazy lies, and she was sick of it.
There's no way that happened.
Just tell the truth, Brandon.
I am, said Brandon.
I got a picture from the coaster cam and everything.
All right, said Violet.
Go ahead.
Where's the picture then?
She stared sharply at him and he stared right back, his cheeks reddening.
Um, I don't have it.
Security stole it from me because they didn't want anyone to know that someone fell off the ride.
They were afraid the news would do a story and then no one would go anymore, so, you know.
Sam sighed again.
She definitely understood why Violet was frustrated.
Brandon's lies always got on her nerves too, but she knew it wasn't worth arguing with him about it.
He always had another lie to back up the first one.
She and Darnell caught eyes, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing.
Change the subject and avoid the fight.
How about you, Sam?
Did you do anything besides the soccer camp? said Darnell, trying to redirect Violet and Brandon.
I went to see a baseball game, Major League.
It was awesome.
We got hot dogs and we almost caught a foul ball.
Violet said, relieved to be talking about something else.
But before anyone could say anything more, Brandon was already launching into another story.
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Oh, after my Nana's in the amusement park, I went to a game too.
I got two hot dogs and an ice cream and I actually did catch a foul ball.
Oh, of course you did. said Sam.
She couldn't help it.
She was disappointed in having her story ruined by Brandon again, and she felt all of her patience drain out of her at once.
It was like she was an egg someone had cracked.
If Brandon always had another lie, Sam would see how far it would go.
So you caught a foul ball?
That's all?
I thought you were going to say something cool happened, Brandon.
Brandon's face turned red again as he heard the tone in her voice change.
No, that's not all.
I did way more.
I actually went onto the field and I got to meet the players.
The tag game was almost over now, and the group along the fence was getting bigger.
A small crowd gathered, listening as Brandon bragged louder and louder.
Yeah, he said, more confident now that his audience was bigger.
I met everyone and then they asked me to be the bat boy.
I did such a good job that they asked me to do it every day, but I couldn't because of school.
He was on a roll now, loving the attention he was getting.
One day, all the players got hurt, and they needed a pinch runner.
Since I'm so good, they asked me to fill in.
Wow, said Sam with a sly smile.
Did you run?
Were you safe?
It was close.
They wanted to tag me, but I jumped.
I actually jumped all the way from first base to second base in one jump.
I was safe, and we scored a run.
Afterwards, the whole team hoisted me up on their shoulders and chanted my name.
Brand done.
Brand done.
Best day ever, basically.
The kids listening all started to murmur to each other and some of them congratulated Brandon and clapped him on the back.
He was beaming with pride.
No way, said Violet over the noise of the other kids.
He's lying.
That's totally impossible.
You didn't jump that far.
Violet was starting to get angry again.
Some of the crowd shouted in agreement.
I totally did.
Maybe it would be impossible for some people, but I guess I just have superior jumping skills.
You can call me the Jump Master 5000.
That's me.
Okay, Brandon, said Sam.
Jumpmaster 5000, he corrected her.
I'm not calling you that.
How about JMaster5K?
Enough, said Sam.
If you're the Jumpmaster, then do it again.
Right here, right now.
Her voice rang out over the suddenly silent kids.
The entire group looked from her to Brandon and back again.
Now? squeaked Brandon.
Well, now I don't know.
I mean, now isn't the bell about to ring?
The bell isn't going to ring for another ten minutes, said Sam.
It won't take ten minutes to jump, will it?
I mean, no, said Brandon, trailing off hopelessly.
I think you should show us, said Violet.
Yeah, show us the jump, Brandon, said Darnell, and other voices echoed his.
Show us the jump.
Come on, jump.
Soon everyone was chanting, jump, jump, jump.
Seeing no way out, Brandon let himself be dragged over to the baseball diamond and thrust onto first base.
The chanting continued and Brandon took a step back, planting his feet.
I don't know guys, the dirt here is a little different and I don't have my lucky cleats that I got from Bryce Harper and um, He trailed off seeing no one was listening.
Eyes wider than ever, as though he couldn't believe what was happening.
Brandon took two giant steps and then leapt into the air.
It was a great leap, a mighty leap, a leap that, in any other circumstance, would have been just terrific.
But he didn't come anywhere close to second base.
Instead, he fell hard on his butt, right in the muddy base path.
For a moment there was nothing and Brandon wondered if maybe he actually had made it or maybe nobody saw and everything was fine.
But then the crowd burst into laughter and he turned bright red and laid back in the mud covering his face with his hands.
Maybe if I wait here long enough, he thought, I'll just sink into the ground and disappear.
He had never been more humiliated in his life, and he knew it was his own fault.
The crowd slowly drifted away, no longer interested now that the show was over.
Sam watched Brandon hiding behind his hands on the baseball diamond and her smile faded away.
She had wanted to stop Brandon's lying, but she hadn't wanted to embarrass him.
Not like this.
Come on, guys, she said to Darnell and Violet.
Let's go get him up.
Her friends nodded.
Sam could see in their eyes they felt the same way.
Hey, Brandon, she said.
That was a pretty great jump.
Go away, he said.
Come on, play tag with us, said Darnell.
Yeah, Violet chimed in.
There's still like eight and a half minutes of recess left.
He sat up slowly, brushing the mud from his clothes and hair.
You, you still want to be friends with me?
Even though I can't really jump all the way to second base?
Sam laughed.
We never cared about that.
We just wanted you to tell the truth.
We like playing games with you.
It's the stories you make up.
It's like you're always trying to be better than us.
That's the part that feels bad.
Brandon stood up, cleaning himself off and shaking his head.
It's just that I'm always worried that people will think my real life is boring.
Like over vacation, I built some new shelves for my comic books with my dad and then reorganized them.
That's really lame, so I made up stories that wouldn't make me look like such a nerd.
Dude, Sam said, looking from Brandon to Violet and Darnell and back again.
We love comics.
That's why we all became friends in the first place.
Darnell saw my Wonder Woman pencil case, and then I saw Violet and her mom at the theater when the movie came out.
So now we all sit together and talk about superheroes at lunch.
Really?
Brandon asked.
I didn't know that.
Well, no, of course not, said Darnell.
We didn't know you liked comics either, because you're always talking about your cookie-making grandmother and her clone.
When would we have found out?
I guess you're right, said Brandon, a sheepish smile spreading across his face.
This is the best conversation we've ever had, said.
Violet bouncing on her tiptoes and clapping her hands gleefully.
So you want to come and play tag?
Sure, he said, smiling wider.
Say, did I ever tell you guys about the time I played tag with a robot?
Brandon!
Oh, sorry.
Old habits die hard.
Let's go play.
They laughed together and then leapt into the game.
The End.
Today's story, The Great Playground Leap, was written for you by Daniel Hines and performed for you by me, Amanda Weldon.
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