Always Tell The Truth

It's not always easy to tell the truth... That is why I wrote this true story of what happend to me when I was little. It was written for my children and now it's used for my grandchilren.

 Every day Anne and her brother John walked to school together.

It was a very long walk.

One day Johny and Anne discovered a short cut. It was through a yard with an old abandoned house on it. They loved running through the house and across the uncut grass.

A few weeks later when John and Anne came running through the yard, they noticed some builders had come to fix up the old abandon place.

When John and Anne came home from school, they clouldn't wait to complain to their mother about not having a short cut once the old house was fixed up.

Their mother had no idea they been taking a short cut to school. Then she told them not to go into old buildings. She explained to them that they could get hurt.

The next day Anne was going to walk the long way. Her brother John said, "No, let's just go the short way, while we can still run through the old building.

Anne was scared and said, "No, we should go the right way." John replied, "Oh come on, don't be such a baby! Nothing bad will happen. No one will ever have to know we took the short cut. Besides, we are running late...Come on!"

As they were going through the building John ran ahead of Anne. Anne wasn't watching were she was stepping because she was too busy trying to catch up to John. Just then Anne accidentally stepped on a rusty old nail which was sticking out of a piece of wood.

John was way ahead of Anne. He turned around to see where Anne was, then he yelled, "Come on Anne! What is taking you so long?"

The nail was stuck in Anne's foot. She lifted up her foot to show John the problem.

John came running back to help Anne pull the nail out of her foot.

As John and Anne were walking the rest of the way to school, John said to Anne, "Don't you tell anyone about stepping on that nail! Besides, you are fine now. This will have to be our little secret."

As John and Anne walked on, Anne promised John that she would not tell anyone about their secret.

Anne's foot hurt all day while she was at school. Anne did not tell anyone about stepping on the nail. She did not want to get into trouble.

That evening Anne wanted to go strait to bed after she had eaten her dinner. She was hoping the pain would go away and that she would be all better in the morning.

As Anne and her family were eating dinner, Anne's dad said, "Let's go to the airport and watch the airplane fly by."

Everyone in the family except Anne was excited about going to the airport.

While Anne was walking around the airport, it became harder and harder for her to walk. Anne's mom said, "Anne why are you walking so strange?"

Anne was scared to tell the truth. At first she was trying to think of a lie to keep her and her brother out of trouble.

Anne then thought that it was better if she told the truth. Anne told the whole story about the rusty old nail and how it had stuck in her foot.

Anne's dad said, "Stepping on a rusty old nail can be very serious. We'd better get you to the hospital."

The doctor told Anne it was a good thing she had come in. Then he told her the nurse would have to give her a shot so she could get better.

That night when Anne went to bed her leg still hurt, but she felt good inside because she had told the truth. Since Anne had told the truth the doctor was able to help her get well again.

*This story can also be used for why it's important to be obedient and why sometimes it's okay not to keep secrets.

(By the time we got to the doctor my leg was stiff and had started to turn purple.  It was a good thing I had told the truth or I would not have made it.)

Written and Illustrated By: Anne-Mette Howland