Jumping Rope

Booker-T came to Midge's house and peeked into the doggie door and looked around the kitchen. No one was there so he crawled into the house.

“Midge!” called Booker-T. “Where are you?”

“Hi Booker-T,” greeted Midge as she walked into the kitchen. “What are you doing this morning?”

“I wanted to say hi to Snappy,” said Booker-T.

“Sure,” smiled Midge. “Come on, lets go see him.”

“Hey Snappy!” called Booker-T as he entered the living room.

Snappy looked up and crawled across his little log and pressed his nose to the side of the tank. “Hi Booker-T.” said Snappy. “What are you doing this morning?”

“I haven't seen you in a few days so came to say hi,” said Booker-T.

“It's nice to see you again,” said Snappy. “I see Midge every day.”

“I know,” said Booker-T. “We miss you when we go to the pond at the park.”

“I miss swimming with you too,” said Snappy. “But I sure like my new home here in the tank. The weather is always good and I have plenty of food and our owner gives me fresh pond water here.”

“I know,” said Booker-T. “You have a really nice home now. The pond area of the park has changed and now there are lot of kids around it.”

“Some of them were mean to me,” said Snappy. “So am happier here in the tank.”

“And safer,” said Midge.

“What are you going to do today?” asked Snappy.

“I don't know,” said Midge. “We are waiting for Jake to come.”

“Is he coming here today?” asked Snappy.

“Is who coming here?” asked Jake as he poked his head through the door. “Hi Snappy.”

“Midge said you were coming,” said Snappy. “It is good to see you too.”

“We miss you at the pond when we go,” said Jake.

“I miss you too,” said Snappy.

“I can pull you in the wagon to the pond if you want to visit,” suggested Jake.

“I know,” said Snappy. “But I think it is better I stay here.”

“We have the little pond in the back yard that our owner put in,” said Midge. “We can all go play in the pond together. Jake could carefully carry you out to the pond if you want to play with us and he will carry you back.”

“Thanks,” smiled Snappy. “One day, I might go out there to swim a little.”

“Okay,,” said Jake. “I will take you out there if you want to go.”

Midge ran to the bedroom and came back dragging a rope. “Lets go outside.”

“What are you doing with the rope?” asked Jake.

“I want to jump rope,” said Midge. “You and Booker-T can make the rope go round and round and I will jump in.”

“You tried that once Midge and you got twisted up in the rope,” laughed Booker-T. “I'm too short to make it go round and round with Jake. He is taller than I am.”

“You can stand on the chair and Jake can stand on the ground,” said Midge. “The chair will make you taller.”

“We can't make it go round and round good enough for you to jump on it,” said Jake.

“Please try,” begged Midge. “I just know I can jump over it when yo do.”

Booker-T grabbed the end of the rope and started to the door. “Come on Jake, you know Midge will keep wanting to try it until we give in.”

Jake grabbed the other end and followed Booker-T out the doggie door. They went to the front where the chairs were on the porch. Booker-T jumped on one of the chairs and Jake stood on the ground in front of the porch.

“Okay,” said Midge. “Now make it go round and round.”

Jake tried to get the rope to go up and around, but all he could do was make it go back and forth. “This isn't working Midge,” said Jake. “Can you jump over the rope with it going back and forth instead of round and round?”

“I will try,” said Midge. “Keep going.”

Midge stood back and counted to three. “One, two, three,” counted Midge. “Here I come.”

She ran toward the rope that was going back and forth and jumped and landed on top of the rope.

“I don't think that worked too good Midge,” laughed Booker-T.

“Let me try it again,” said Midge.

Jake and Booker-T started flipping the rope up and down.

“What are you doing?” asked Midge. “The rope is going up and down but not round and round. Can you make it go round and round?”

“No,” said Jake. “We can only make it go back and forth or up and down but not round and round.”

“Oh,” sighed Midge. “I can't jump it if it is going up and down.”

“Maybe this isn't a good thing to do for dogs,” said Jake.

“But I saw dogs jumping a rope on TV,” said Midge.

“Who was making the rope go round and round when that dog was jumping?” asked Jake.

“Two humans did the rope,” said Midge.

“They can make it go round and round,” said Booker-T. “We can't do it.”

“I think I remember seeing the kids turning their arms to make the rope go round and round,” said Jake. “We can't do that with our heads.”

“I really wanted to jump rope,” said Midge. “It looked like fun.”

“You need to find something else to do,” said Booker-T. “Lets go see if the circus is setting up in the field yet,”

“Are they coming to town again?” asked Midge.

“I saw on the news last night when my owner was watching it, that this will be their last time performing here” said Booker-T.

“Why?” asked Jake. “They won't come anymore?”

“They are not coming anymore after this weekend,” said Booker-T.

“What will all those elephants do?” asked Midge.

“I don't know,” said Booker-T. “Lets go see if they are there.”

Jake and Midge said okay and the three started walking toward the field where they set up their tents.