One more fable

Day 3 (and all other picture days): A picture of you and your friends

"He's a paragon schizophonic."
"You mean a paranoid schizophrenic?"
"Yeah, whatever."

Christmas was approaching and the children of Pasta Primary were getting very excited. As is the tradtion, many of the little pastas had bought Christmas cards to give to their friends. One such girl was Tortellini.

Now, Tortellini was not a wealthy girl. She couldn't afford any of the fancy Christmas cards, but neither could she make her own cards - being a dumpling shape, dexterity was not her strong point. So, she went to the convenience store and with her pocket money she bought a budget pack of 9 Supr Special Christmas Cards!! Not all of the cards were particularly cute or pretty, but Tortellini knew that her friends would understand; it was the thought that counted, after all.

The last day of school arrived. Tortellini brought her cards in, all signed and smiley-faced, and one by one she handed them out to her friends. The last girls to receive a card from Tortellini were Penne and Spaghetti; they thanked her excitedly and rushed off to open them.

Spaghetti, a wiggly, willowy pasta, was thrilled with her card. Penne was not.
"Look at this," she said to Spaghetti. "Look at the picture! What does it look like to you?"
"It's a, um, it's a winter tree..." stammered the taller girl.
"It's a dead tree in a cornfield!" Penne snapped. "Who gives their friends a card with a dead tree in a cornfield?"
"She, ah, she probably just -"
"She obviously doesn't like me!" Penne cut over Spaghetti's stutter. "She gave you something nice, didn't she? Reindeers in santa hats?
If she liked me, she would've given me a nice card. She clearly doesn't and she just doesn't have the guts to say it. Well two can play at that game!"
Penne stormed past the stricken Spaghetti, and for the rest of the day refused to catch Tortellini's eye.

Tortellini, bewildered by Penne's cold treatment of her, asked Spaghetti if she knew what was wrong.
"Um," wobbled Spaghetti, "Um, Penne thinks... Penne doesn't really like the picture on the card you gave her."
"Oh, is that all?" smiled Tortellini, relieved. "I thought I'd done something really awful! Well, I did tell everyone earlier that I might have to give them an ugly card. I'll go talk to her again. Thanks, Spaghetti!"

But Penne was nowhere to be found; rumour had it she had driven off with a meatball on a motorbike.
Hmm, thought Tortellini, well I'll see her next year, anyway.

Unfortunately, Penne transferred to Carbonara College the next year, and she and Tortellini never spoke again.

Moral of the story:
Trees are not a symbol of regeneration.

As usual, based on a true story. This happened between three friends of mine when I was in year 2.. things like that were such a serious issue back then. But I guess we still fight over a lot of inconsequential stuff :)