Everyone and Everything

by William Forde

  ‘Mr Thunder gets Angry’

  (A story about expressing anger).

  Whenever Mr Thunder got angry, his tummy would grumble loudly and his voice would roar.

  When Mr Thunder got angry, he made sure that ‘everyone and everything’ knew about it.

  He would frighten the animals in the farmyard, who would cluck, quack, croak, moo and bark whenever they heard him shouting from the skies.

  He would frighten the sun so much that it would begin to frown, then hide behind the cloud until Mr Thunder got had gone away.

  When Mr Thunder got angry, he frightened ‘everyone and everything’.

  The bees would stop making honey, the flowers would stop smiling, the grass would stop growing, the birds would stop singing, and all of the people would rush inside their houses and lock their doors until Mr Thunder had calmed down.

  Sometimes Mr Thunder would get very angry and shout in his loudest voice at the world below.

  Whenever Mr Thunder got very, very, angry, though, he would frighten his next-door neighbour so much in Sky Avenue, that the wind would run away, the rain would start to cry and the lightning would flash its zig-zag teeth across the skies.

  One day all of the frightened birds, bees, animals, flowers, garden walls, trees, chimney pots and people decided to try to find out why Mr Thunder got angry so often.

  So they will all went to see all Ollie Owl, the wisest of them all. Ollie Owl listened carefully to what they all said about Mr Thunder. He then told ‘everyone and everything’ that he would think about their problem and if they returned to his tree house tomorrow at four o'clock, he would tell them the answer to what they wanted to know.

  Exactly at four o'clock, the very next day, ‘everyone and everything’ gathered around Ollie Owl to hear the answer to their problem.

  They all waited silently for the wisest amongst them to speak.

  "Now let me see," said Ollie Owl, sounding very wise indeed, "you all wanted to know why Mr Thunder got angry so often, didn't you?"

  ‘Everyone and everything’ said, "Yes, please tell us," and a woodpecker with a sore throat nodded his head.

  "The answer, of course," said Ollie Owl wisely, “is that Mr Thunder does not get angry too often. In fact, I would say that he gets angry much less often then each of you."

  "Indeed, I do not believe that he has been angry more than twice during the past year, and that isn't very often when you think about it."

  "Indeed, I would go far as far to say that ‘everyone and everything’ here today has been angry more than twice during the past year.

  ‘Everyone and everything’ each thought of how many times they had been angry during the past year, and agreed that it had been more than twice and that the wise owl was correct.

  Ollie Owl went on, "Mr Thunder is usually a very quiet person for most of the year. Indeed, he is so quiet that unless he speaks, ‘everyone and everything’ forgets he is there."

  "Mr Thunder hides his anger most of the time and that is his problem," said Ollie Owl.

  "Another old and very wise owl once told me that when you hide your anger inside your body and do not tell anyone or anything about it, it builds up and up inside your tummy. When your tummy gets full of anger it then begins to grumble and moan until the anger is ready to explode. Then, it comes out of your mouth as a big loud noise."

  "This is when you get annoyed easily and act very cross. Your mouth, hands and feet often become very naughty and you start to lose your temper. Do you ever get like that?" Ollie Owl asked ‘everyone and everything'.

  ‘Everyone and everything’ thought for a moment about what the wise owl had said. They eventually all agreed that they sometimes hid their anger and that they sometimes became very cross and made loud noises with their mouths.

  A few of them admitted that sometimes they were very naughty indeed.

  "We all show our anger in different ways," said Ollie Owl. "Some people get angry quietly and they sulk. Some people shake their bodies when they get angry and some people do not sit up straight when they get angry. Some people clench their fists tightly and some make their faces red like squashed tomatoes."

  "Some very naughty people say bad things with their mouths and throw things about, and some very naughty people even break things when they get angry."

  ‘Everyone and everything’ listened very carefully to what the wise owl said and they each thought about what they did when they got angry.

  The flower said he shook the petals off his stem. The hens said she pecked at whoever was nearest her. The frog said he became hopping mad and the water said he splashed about. The cow said sometimes she had so much anger in her tummy that it turned her milk sour.

  Eventually, 'everyone and everything’ had to agree with the wise owl, that hiding anger inside one’s tummy was not very wise thing to do as it would always find a way to escape from an angry body.

  Even Oswald Old Wall, who rarely spoke, remembered a very angry wall he once knew that could never stand up straight and eventually fell down when it moved and tried to kick a sheep that had weed on it.

  Upon hearing this, Charlie Chimney Pot decided there and then that he would not sulk again, because every time he sulked he leaned over a little more. In future, he was going to sit up on the roof as straight as any chimney pot could sit.

  Just then, Alice Apple asked Ollie Owl if Mr Thunder ever frightened him. Ollie Owl said that he was not frightened of Mr Thunder even though he sometimes woke him up from his sleep.

  "Why are you not frightened of Mr Thunder?" asked Percy Peacock, who sometimes became so frightened when Mr Thunder roared that he jumped up in the air and lost some of his colourful feathers.

  "Because," said Ollie Owl, "I am wise enough to know what to do."

  "Please tell us your secret," asked ‘everyone and everything,’ and the wise owl did.

  Ollie Owl said, "If you sit up straight and stand up straight, it will make it harder for anyone or anything to topple you over."

  "If you do topple over and fall down on the floor, make your muscles floppy like a rag doll and you will not be hurt so much."

  "When I am knocked down or fall to the ground, I take a big deep breath before I try to get up, and I get up easier."

  "When I fall down and hurt myself, I rub where it hurts and pain goes away quicker."

  “When I feel frightened about 'anyone or anything’, I put on a smiley face and think about something nice."

  "Whenever I feel angry, I tell ‘someone or something’ and I do not hide my anger inside my tummy."

  "But what about Mr Thunder?" asked Brian the Badger.

  "The next time you hear Mr Thunder roar," said Ollie Owl, "do all of the things I have told you to do: stand up straight, make your muscles floppy, taken big deep breath, put on smiley face and think:

  “It's only Mr Thunder knocking on Mr Rainbow’s door. When Mr Thunder has gone away, Mr Rainbow will come out and ‘everyone and everything’ will get much brighter."

  ‘Everyone and everything’ had got the answer to their problem that they had asked Ollie Owl about.

  As they all walked home, everyone thought about everything the owl had said.

  "That Ollie Owl really is the wisest of us all," said ‘everyone and everything’.

  Never again was ‘everyone and everything’ frightened of Mr Thunder's anger. Are you?

  The end.

  #####