CHAPTER 11 — MOUNT CARING

The twins paused at the base of the first mountain before a weathered wooden sign that said OK CARING IS GIVING HELP WHEN IT IS NEEDED. They looked at Choosy Chicken uncertainly.
“All right, children,” said Choosy Chicken, “if you have any questions, please ask them now. Once we start climbing the mountain, I’m not allowed to answer questions.”
“But what are we supposed to do?” asked Tammy.
“Just make caring choices,” the purple bird replied, waving a wing, and tossing her head as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
“You mean like helping somebody up who has fallen?” asked Tammy.
“Or helping a friend with homework?” asked Tommy.
“Exactly,” Choosy answered with a smile, as she fluffed her bright wing feathers. After some time she said. “Well, if you don’t have any more questions, I guess we’d better get started. Just remember, make lots of caring choices — whenever you see a need. The more you make, the easier the climb will be.”
The twins followed the path through a rose-covered arbor, into a cool, peaceful glade. WELCOME TO THE CARING GARDEN said a small sign.
“Oh, do you see these pink flowers,” Tammy exclaimed, “they’re shaped just like little open hands.”
“Oh, yeah, and look at this flower bed over here!” said Tommy in amazement. “The flowers spell out WE WILL HELP.”
The twins wandered around, admiring the unusual sights. Tammy paused in front of a bed of pale yellow blossoms in a formation that spelled WE HEAL.
“Hmmm,” Tammy said thoughtfully, “I wonder. . .”
Picking one of the fragile blooms, she pressed it against the fading red marks on her arm where Leo Lion had grabbed her with his claws. Instantly the marks disappeared.
“Wow!” Tammy exclaimed. “Hey, Tommy, look at this!” and she hurried off to catch up with her brother.
Tommy had already left the garden and was starting up a steep mountain trail. “Wait for me!” Tammy called, and as she fell in behind him she showed him her arm and told him what happened.
“That’s amazing,” he said.
The path was narrow and rocky, and it took all their concentration to get from one rock to the next higher one.
“Tommy, can you give me a hand here?” Tammy called at a particularly scary spot.
“Aw, don’t be such a baby,” Tommy yelled back. “If I made it without any help, you can too!”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he lost his footing and began to slide, sending a shower of dirt and loose rocks down on Tammy’s head.
“Ouch!” she sputtered angrily, brushing dirt from her face and hair. “That hurts! Why don’t you watch what you’re doing? Clumsy!”
Suddenly the ground on which Tammy was standing crumbled away, and she found herself three feet lower on a narrow ledge. She landed with a thud that knocked the breath out of her.
“Now, who’s being clumsy!” Tommy jeered, and in the next moment he, too, slipped to the ledge. A sharp pain shot through his ankle.
“Owww, my ankle! It hurts!” he groaned. “What’s going on here? Where is all of this bad luck coming from all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. We were just — oh!” Tammy’s eyes widened. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“What is it?” asked Tommy. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s us!” Tammy exclaimed. “We’re where all the bad luck is coming from.” She patted his arm excitedly and said, “Don’t you see? We weren’t making anything like caring choices. We just slipped right back into our old habits and were mad and bossy with each other, like we always are. And it doesn’t work here.”
“It doesn’t work anywhere,” muttered Choosy Chicken in a voice the twins barely heard.
A sheepish look crossed Tommy’s face. “I’ll just bet you’re right,” he said in a low voice. “Anyway, we weren’t being very helpful or kind to each other, were we?”
Tammy shook her head slowly. “No, I guess we weren’t.”
“I’m sorry,” said Tommy, reaching out to brush a twig from his sister’s hair. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. My head just hurts a little, that’s all. How’s your ankle?”
“Not too bad, I guess.” Tommy stood up and tested it gingerly. “I think I can walk on it.”
“Here, I’ll help,” Tammy offered, and she took Tommy’s arm, and put it around her shoulders. She looked around. “Come on, the path is over there. Just lean on me.”
Together the two helped one another along the narrow ledge and up the rock path. With each step the soreness in Tommy’s ankle and the pain in Tammy’s head grew fainter, and before long both problems had disappeared altogether.
When the twins arrived at the top of the mountain, they plopped down on a grassy knoll. Before them was a huge wooden sign that said OD CARING IS GIVING MORE HELP THAN IS NEEDED OR WANTED.
Tammy looked around, and gave a slight gasp. “Where’s Choosy Chicken?” she asked.
Tommy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in a while.” He sat up in alarm. “Do you suppose she got hurt in the rock and dirt slide? And where’s Red?”
The twins scrambled to their feet and started down the path, calling, “Choosy Chicken!” “Red!”
They found Choosy several hundred yards down the slope, propped against a rock, gently probing one plump, yellow foot with a wingtip. Red stood close by, whimpering quietly.
“What’s the matter?” asked Tammy with concern.
“Are you hurt?” inquired Tommy.
“Oh, no, no,” Choosy Chicken assured them with a chuckle. “A slight sprain, that’s all. I’ll be right as rain in just a minute,” she said as she started to get up. She took one step and faltered.
“Here, let us help you,” said Tammy. The twins sprang forward, one on each side of Choosy.
“Just put your wings across our shoulders and lean on us,” said Tommy. “That way you won’t have to put any weight on your sore foot.”
Somehow they managed the awkward struggle up the path, with Red dashing ahead of them and pausing every few steps to bark encouragement. When they reached the top, they all collapsed in a panting heap under the sign the twins had seen before.
After several minutes, Tommy got up, motioned toward the sign, looked at his sister and said, “Maybe it’s time for a little OD caring. What do you think?”
Tammy scowled for a moment, then nodded.
Wringing his hands and looking as if he were terribly upset, Tommy turned to Choosy Chicken. “Oh, you poor, poor thing,” he said. “What can we do to help?” But before Choosy could reply, he answered his own question, “Oh, I know! A splint!”
Tommy rushed away to look for a stick, and Tammy took a turn. She reached over and felt Choosy’s feathery forehead. “Hmmm, no fever,” Tammy murmured. “Too bad we don’t have a blanket. Injured people have to be kept warm, you know. Oh, I have an idea!” She snapped her fingers and took her polka dotted handkerchief out of her pocket. Ignoring Choosy Chicken’s helpless laughter, Tammy carefully spread the cloth over Choosy’s feathered chest.
“There, that should help,” she said, grinning.
Tommy returned with a couple of sticks and some long, stringy weeds and began to wrap up Choosy’s foot.
Each time Choosy tried to sit up and protest, Tammy or interrupted her and one of them held her gently in place. “Please don’t speak,” Tammy said with mock seriousness at one point. “You’d better rest. You need to save your strength.”
“There,” Tommy said with satisfaction, holding up the completely immobilized foot. “That should do it.”
Choosy Chicken broke into a giggle and laughed so hard she could hardly speak, but she finally managed to lift her head and gasp, “It’s — it’s the other foot!”
All three of them collapsed into gales of laughter, clutching their sides and rolling on the ground, and Red ran around, licking their faces.
When Choosy Chicken was finally able to catch her breath, she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes, then said, “You two catch on fast. Most children your age aren’t very good at making caring choices. Perhaps you two are different, though.”
After a few moments, Choosy patted each twin on the arm, and said quietly, “As a matter of fact, I think you two are pretty good at making caring choices!”

Chapter 11 — THE BIG IDEA

For Chapter 11 the Big Idea is: Caring choices are things we say or do to give help when it is needed.

As they climbed Mount Caring, Tammy and Tommy made many OK caring choices for one another — and some OD caring choices for Choosy Chicken. They also made some caring choices for themselves.

Suppose you’re having a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” like Alexander in the storybook. Think about some caring choices you could make for yourself that would make your day better.

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