Sir Pants Tries to Tell A Story

Sir Pants said to Sir Reddy one day, "I want to tell you a story."

Sir Reddy said, "Great, great." He waved his red flag at a passing bird. Sir Reddy was quite proud of his bright red flag because it was new and not faded like the flags of lots of other knights he knew.

Sir Pants sighed. Trying not to use a whiny voice, he said, "I don't think you're really listening to me."

"Yes, a story, great," said Sir Reddy. He was still waving his bright red flag at the bird. It did not show any sign of stopping to admire his flag. But maybe if he waved harder, it would come back to take a look.

"I want to tell you the story of how I got to be this bronze color all over," said Sir Pants.

"Hello!" shouted Sir Reddy.

"Hello," said Sir Pants, but Sir Reddy was not talking to him after all. Sir Reddy's face was pointed straight up at the sky.

Sir Pants sighed again. "I have to go get my lunch very soon, so I'm going to tell you the story now. Please pay attention to me."

"Okay," said Sir Reddy. He smiled at Sir Pants to encourage him to go on.

Sir Pants said, "Once, I was a little boy."

Sir Reddy looked back up at the sky. If he squinted his eyes, he could just barely see a black dot in the sky that was the bird. It had flown very far very fast. It didn't seem to think much of Sir Reddy's new red flag.

"...and my papa said there was no way to get another one and I would have to do without," said Sir Pants.

"Oh, that's too bad," murmured Sir Reddy. He realized he had missed part of the story. He had no idea what Sir Pants was talking about.

Sir Pants frowned.

"Why are you always frowning?" asked Sir Reddy. "We have the best job in the world. We dress up in armor and wave flags around and get free meals and everyone thinks we're pretty neat. Just relax and enjoy it. I always do."

"I don't always frown," said Sir Pants, looking sad.

"To me you always look mad or sad," said Sir Reddy. "You should smile more."

"Easy to say," said Sir Pants.

"Hard to do?" guessed Sir Reddy.

"No, actually," said Sir Pants, "it's pretty easy to do. I smile when I'm happy."

"I guess you're not happy now," said Sir Reddy. "Your forehead has lines in it."

"No, I'm not very happy now," said Sir Pants. "I wanted to tell you a story about my bronzeness but you didn't listen to me. I asked you to pay attention, but instead you paid attention to the bird flying by."

"Oh," said Sir Reddy. "Yes, I paid a lot of attention to that bird. It didn't pay any attention to me, though." He frowned.

"You see," said Sir Pants, "you are frowning yourself, now."

"Yes," said Sir Reddy. "I didn't like it when I couldn't get the bird's attention."

"And I didn't like it when I couldn't get your attention," said Sir Pants.

"I'm sorry," said Sir Reddy. "I don't want you to be unhappy. I want you to be happy. I didn't pay attention to you today, but I'll never do that again."

"Let's not get carried away," said Sir Pants. Then he smiled.