Long
Long came from Long Gully. Long Gully being a long way
away, in a long faraway place called Forest Creek, that seemed
to have long roads with never ending turns. Roads and tracks
that could take you a long way away from where you wanted to
go, if you were not concentrating on where you wanted to go.
Long, you might think, was called Long because of the fact that
perhaps Long was tall. Maybe even Long might be called Long
because Long had long ears, maybe even long teeth, or
perhaps even long hair. What other things can you think Long
might be named after?
Funnily enough, Long was called Long not because Long
came from Long Gully, that would be silly wouldn't it? If
everyone who came from Long Gully was called Long, then it
would indeed take a long time to find the right person because
everyone would answer yes when you called out their name.
Long was nicknamed Long because of the fact that Long took
Long lived nearby. Always late for breakfast lunch and dinner,
Long was simply late. Late for Long was normal, because Long
needed to get things right. And that always seemed to take too
long. Long also was named Long because of the fact that Long
Long was nicknamed Long because of the fact that Long took
the longest time for everything. Late for school even though
Long lived nearby. Always late for breakfast lunch and dinner,
Long was simply late. Late for Long was normal, because Long
needed to get things right. And that always seemed to take too
long. Long also was named Long because of the fact that Long
was the shortest in the family. So Long's family thought by
calling Long Long, Long might actually grow. To this day Long
is still short, no matter how many times you say Long's name.
Long loved playing one game. Soccer. But it always took Long
so long to get to the local soccer ground, even though the
soccer ground was next to the school and only down the hill
from where Long lived.
On arriving it always took Long such a long time to get changed
and out onto the ground that the game usually started without
Long. Poor Long. Long's face usually became even longer
when Long missed out on the soccer game. All the kids would
have noticed it thought PolygonPat. Slowly Long would take
the long trek back up the long hill to home in Long Gully.  
The team felt so sorry for Long that they decided to take action.
They hatched a plan. Across the road from the school and
soccer ground was a church with an outside bell tower. What if
they began to ring the bell an hour before Long needed to be
at the soccer ground? This bell would sound so noisily up the
hill that it wouldn't take Long long at all to get ready and get
down the hill. Longs' teammates, being wise, decided that the
bell wouldn't stop ringing until they saw Long at the bottom.
The plan worked. Long sprung into action.
Long was a great soccer player with only one problem. Long
took sooo long to kick a ball that by the time Long decided to
do it the ball was out of sight or down the other end. Longs'
teammates, frustrated by Long's long delays, took matters into
their own hands. Clenched firmly in each players palm was a
very loud bell. When the ball was at Long's feet the bell would
sound and before you knew it Long had sprung into action and
kicked the ball.
Long might not have been the tallest player or the quickest but
Long always tried.
After reading/discussing this story of Long, design how you think
Long looks now after being helped by the team. You can do this
by joining the dots together using basic right angled triangles,
squares or rectangular shapes to form a pattern on page 2.
Colour in your finished design. Or, you can try to imagine what
Long might have looked liked in the team colours by colouring
in Madeline and Ashylynne’s design of Long on page 3.
design by Madeline and Ashylynne
Story by Sabrina