Jones’s Toys and the Great Race

Once upon a time there was a big boy named Jones, and he had a lot of trouble with his toys. They were excellent toys but they could be extremely competitive. Every time he turned his back they would get into a wrestling match, or a bathtub diving competition, or a bake off, and they would leave an absolute mess behind them. Jones’s parents, because they were grown ups and had forgotten some things about childhood, did not believe that toys could make their own messes. Because of this Jones was always bearing the brunt of the complaints about the messes his toys would leave behind. At the rate Jones’s toys were making messes he often felt like he spent all his time just cleaning up after them and never had any time to actually play with them. Jones’s T-rex, his red hot wheel, and his chameleon were the worst offenders. Those guys ALWAYS left a mess wherever they played, and they played EVERYWHERE.

That’s why one Sunday morning after a particularly destructive rainy day at home for the toys, Jones decided it was time to give his toys a healthy outlet for their competitiveness. The first thing he needed was a clearly marked path for the toys to run. He got some painter’s tape out of a cabinet in the garage and used it to make a trail through his room and through the hallway and into the kitchen, where the race would finish. The path was sometimes straight and sometimes curving, and it had big hill that went from his floor, up a pile of teddy bears, onto his bed, and back down. “That will really get them out of breath,” he thought. Because of the curves in the path Jones needed some cones in addition to the painter’s tape to mark out the route so that the competitors wouldn’t get lost. He made some excellent cones by rolling some of his mom’s Post-It notes into a cone shape and sticking them closed with a bit of tape. He ensured they would stay upright and in place by propping them up over little lego stands that he made.

Next Jones needed race officials - one to start the race and one to act as judge at the finish line and report who had won. As the start official Jones chose a his monkey with cymbals. Clanging the cybals would be the perfect way to start the race to ensure that everyone would hear and get the same chance at a good start. As the official for the finish line, Jones chose Sir Topham Hat. Sir Topham Hat looked very official so Jones thought the toys would be likely to respect his decision about who won the race, plus all the toys liked him. Sir Topham Hat also didn’t really enjoy running - he mostly travelled by train - so it wasn’t like he would be missing out on participating in the race. 

Once all that was arranged and the course was set, Jones opened registration for the race. Most of Jones’s toys decided that they would be spectators in the race. This was probably because Jones had never held a race for his toys before, and since they never came with Jones so they didn’t know to expect. Sometimes when there’s a new activity toys can feel more comfortable if they watch someone else do it first, and Jones thought that was probably what was happening here. The toys that signed up to participate in the race were, of course, the most competitive of all: Jones’s T-rex, his red hot wheels, and his chameleon. 

Each of the toys that signed up for Jones’s race thought they had a good chance of winning and were very vocal about that, bragging to other toys about how they would win. 

“Hot wheels and chameleon will be left in the dust” said T-rex.

“T-rex and chameleon won’t see my coming, but they’ll sure see me going” said hot wheels.

“Hot wheels and T-rex won’t know what hit them,” bragged chameleon. 

Each toy appeared very confident in their chances, but Jones knew that on the inside each was also nervous to prove himself and worried about falling short in front of his friends. 

When it was time to race, all three competitors gathered at the start line and a hush fell over the crowd, which was lining the race course in Jones’s room, into the hallway, and crowded around the finish line in the kitchen. Jones’s train had set itself up next to the course, and ticket holders would have the chance to watch the whole race as the train would run alongside the racers to give them the best possible view throughout the whole race.

At the start line, red hot wheels revved his engine. T-Rex let out a blood-curdling roar. Chameleon flashed his colors from his usual brownish green to a bright red and blue to show his excitement. A hush fell over the crowd. The monkey with the cymbals did a little dance, looked meaningfully at the competitors, slowly pulled the cymbals apart and then snapped them shut with a loud bang. They were off! 

They started out neck and neck as they headed toward the big hill. There, T-Rex gained an advantage by jumping straight up to the top of the bed and then bouncing off and landing almost all the way at the door to Jonas’s room while Chameleon and hot wheels had to climb up the stuffies. Once they were onto the bed Cameleon pulled steadily ahead while hot wheels had to slow down or risk getting his back wheels caught up in Jones’s bedspread which would be a disaster. As Chameleon reached the door to Jones’s room hot wheels was hot on his heels and he could see T-Rex already halfway down the hall. By the time Chameleon was halfway through the hallway hot wheels had overtaken him and was about to overtake T-Rex at the doorway to the kitchen. That’s when an accident happened. When hot wheels drove off of the hall rug onto the slick tile of the kitchen he fishtailed - his back end swinging around in front of him as he spun out of control. At the same time, T-Rex who had been mid-stride, put his foot down on top of hot wheels which caused T-Rex to totter - he grabbed desperately at a dish towel hanging from the oven handle in an attempt to save himself but the tea towel came loose and R-Rex fell onto his side while hot wheels spun further out of control. Meanwhile hot wheels, spinning further out of control from being stepped on, had nearly righted himself when he drove right into the falling tea towel which immediately became tangled up in his spinning back wheels, trapping him. T-Rex tried to push himself up but could only manage to get part way up before falling again due to his tiny arms. 

Chameleon, seeing his opportunity to win in the chaos, put on his camouflage and sped by his opponents completely undetected. As he neared the finish line and Mr. Topham Hat though, he realized that he did not feel as good as he thought he would in this moment. He thought of his friends and how hopeless and frustrated they must feel - speedy hot wheels stuck in the tea towel with his wheel still trapped and mighty T-Rex fallen in front of all of Jones’s watching toys, unable to even push himself up with his tiny hands. Chameleon still wanted to win, but not like this. Keeping his camouflage on, he returned to the scene of the accident and tried to free hot wheels but found he was not strong enough to lift the tea-towel alone. So he went instead to T-Rex, and by pulling down on one of T-Rex’s feet he was able to help the dinosaur stand upright. 

T-Rex, seeing that chameleon was camouflaged and hot wheels still trapped, lifted his foot to run again - this was his chance to win, and no one would even know that he had help from Chameleon! But then he set the foot back down. He had felt so embarrassed and helpless when he had been trapped - he thought surely hot wheels would be feeling the same thing. He saw the tea towel begin to move as chameleon, still camouflaged, again attempted to free the trapped hot wheels. Slowly, T-Rex turned and went over to help. Strong as he was, he was able to lift the tea towel while chameleon disentangled it from hot wheels’s hot wheel. 

Hot wheels, feeling himself free, revved his engine prepared to take back the win and show everyone once and for all who was the fastest toy. But when he looked back into his rearview mirror he saw T-Rex still holding the tea towel and saw the pull of the tea-towel where chameleon, still camouflaged, was holding it, and he stopped. He wanted to show all the toys how fast he was, but at the same time he felt growing in his engine a deep gratitude for his friends. Either of them could have taken the opportunity to win the race but they didn’t, choosing to help him instead. He heard Chameleon say, “you guys go ahead. You were winning before the crash.”

Hot wheels and T-Rex looked at one another and hot wheels said, “Naaaaah.” 

T-Rex shook his head. “We’re sticking with you bud.”

Chameleon, feeling proud of himself and happy at this show of friendship, showed his bright colors and the three went hand-in-hand (and wheel) to the finish line, crossing together. Jones’s polaroid camera snapped a photo finish and Sit Topham hat, upon careful analysis of the photo, declared for all the gathered toys that it was a three way tie. “Today’s winners,” he announced, “are kindness and friendship.”

All of the toys cheered. At dinner when Jones’s parents complained of the mess that had spilled from Jones’s room all the way into the kitchen, Jones didn’t even mind. He was proud of his toys and the friendship they had shown to one another that day. He didn’t even mind tidying them. 

That’s all for tonight friends. In this story, all of our friends decided that kindness and their friendship were more important than winning a race. There are lots of ways to be kind. Can you think of a time when you were extra kind? If you would like to share about a time when you showed kindness, have your grown up send an audio file to makedupstories@gmail.com and we will share it with other Maked Up Listeners.