Just Ask Dennis

Lisa was very excited as she came down the stairs for breakfast. In front of her was a new, unopened, box of cereal, which had a toy inside. She’d seen it in the supermarket while out shopping with her mum, and though there were lots of cereal boxes, there was something about this box that made her want it. She had begged for it to be bought and promised that she wouldn’t open it until she had eaten the other cereals that she’d begged her mum to buy, before. Mum agreed, and today was the day

Lisa sat down at the table and carefully opened the box. As she started to pour out the cereal, the toy fell into her bowl. 

“Yes! I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” She cried, picking up the tiny toy and placing it on the table. Just then, Lisa’s mum came into the kitchen.

“Hurry up darling,” she said, “or we’ll be late for school.” Within minutes, Lisa, her mum, and her new toy were out of the door and on their way.

When they got to school, Lisa kissed her mum and ran off into the playground.

“Bye-bye, darling,” mum shouted, “I’ll see you later,” but Lisa was gone; she couldn’t wait to show off her new toy to the others.

“Look Kemi, look what I’ve got,” Lisa said proudly. To her surprise, Kemi had one too. In fact, nearly all of Lisa’s friends had one, and each Cereal Toy looked different from the others. 

For most of the day, Lisa kept looking at the toy, and found it hard to concentrate. When her class teacher, Mrs. Head-chuck, asked Lisa what she was looking at, she hid it and said “Nothing!” 

“You really do need to concentrate Lisa,” said Mrs. Head-chuck, “You’re going to miss so much if you don’t listen.”

After lunch, the children were allowed to paint, so Lisa decided she would paint a picture of her Cereal Toy. As the children finished, Mrs. Head-chuck called them to the carpet for storytime. The children loved this end-of-the-day treat, because they were allowed to choose their favourite toy from the cuddly corner to sit with them. Lisa put the finishing touches to her painting, wiped her hands and joined the others. Mrs. Head-chuck was very pleased, because it was unusual to see Lisa come as close as she did. Lisa didn’t normally like storytime. Usually, she’d sit at the back of the room and talk non-stop. Today, however, she sat in the middle, next to her friends Kemi and John. Once everybody had stopped fidgeting and settled down, Mrs. Head-chuck began.

A little way though the story, Lisa was finding it hard to focus again. She turned to Kemi and whispered, “Wanna play a game?” Kemi didn’t answer, so Lisa tried again: “Kemi. Do you want to play a game?”  

Kemi slowly turned, placed a finger on her lips and said, Ssshh! Mrs. Head-chuck is reading!” Lisa crossed her arms and sat still until the end of the story.

As Mrs. Head-chuck stood up to get another book she looked at Lisa sitting quietly and said, “You’ve been a very good girl this afternoon, Lisa. Your listening skills are getting much better.”

“Does that mean I can have a treat today?” asked Lisa. 

“The treat is in the listening and the learning,” said Mrs. Head-chuck, “the listening and the learning.” Then she walked over to the bookshelf.

Most of the class followed to help choose the next book, but Lisa and John stayed on the floor. John looked at Lisa and said with a snigger, “Mrs. Head-chuck isn’t going to give you a treat. She’s always saying that you don’t listen and you’re always getting into trouble.”

Lisa didn’t look at John, so he shuffled over to her.

“If you’re so bad,” he said, “then I dare you to put this on Mrs. Head-chuck’s chair,” and he placed a big drawing pin on the carpet in front of her. Lisa still didn’t look at him. “If you do,” he continued, “you can dare me to do anything you want to for two whole days.”

That offer was too good to resist: Lisa picked up the drawing pin, leaned over to Mrs, Head-chuck’s chair, and… suddenly everything went quiet, and everybody froze. As she looked at the pin, Lisa heard a voice say, “Don’t do that!”

Lisa looked around and everybody was still.

“Who said that?” she stuttered, as her bottom lip trembled.  

“Don’t be scared Lisa, look down here. My name is Dennis.”

Lisa turned, and standing behind her on a desk was her Cereal Toy. Slowly, she began feeling in her pockets.

“You’re the toy I got out of the cereal packet,” Lisa said. “How can you speak?” Suddenly, Dennis began to grow. He grew and grew until he was as big as Lisa. Lisa stepped back.

“I’m here to help you make better choices and to keep you safe from harm, Lisa. If you put that pin on the chair, you will hurt your teacher. Didn’t you know that?” Dennis asked.

“Umm, yes… Yes, I did know that,” Lisa said, “but how…”

“Then why would you do it?” asked Dennis, sounding disappointed.

“Because John told me to, he dared me.” Lisa looked down and shuffled her feet.

Dennis looked carefully at Lisa and said, “Do you know why he dared you and why he didn’t do it himself?” Lisa thought for a moment then shook her head, “Lisa,” he continued, “you have to really think about things before you do them, or you’ll get into serious trouble. John didn’t do it himself because he didn’t want to get into trouble.”

Dennis sat Lisa on the chair and explained all of the things that could have happened if Lisa had put the pin on Mrs. Head-chuck’s chair. Lisa listened to every word. She wanted to know if everyone else’s cereal kids could do what Dennis did, but before she had a chance to ask him, the classroom began to move again.

Mrs. Head-chuck came walking back to her seat with the rest of the children following quickly behind her. She arrived just in time to see Lisa place the huge pin carefully on the table.

“Well done Lisa,” exclaimed Mrs. Head-chuck loudly. “Class, I think we should all thank Lisa for her brilliant efforts in making sure our classroom is safe. Someone could have stood or sat down on this drawing pin, and if they did, it could have really hurt them. I think you deserve a gold star, Lisa.”

Mrs. Head-chuck had a huge smile on her face as the others cried out, “Thank you Lisa!”

Lisa turned to thank Dennis but he was gone. He’d disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived.

As Mrs. Head-chuck was reading the second story, Lisa poked out her tongue at John and then felt a wiggle in her pocket. She put her hand in and pulled out the small figurine. “Thank you, Dennis,” she whispered. “I will do better and listen more in class…”

“Sssh Lisa. You need to listen to the story now!” said Mrs. Head-chuck. Lisa didn’t get angry or frustrated. She just settled down, turned to her teacher and said,

“Yes Mrs, Head-chuck.”

The End

Follow-up questions

Re-read the part where Lisa is talking to John on the carpet. 

• What would have happened if Lisa had put the pin on the chair?

• Why do you think her friend John asked her to do it?

• Is John a good friend?

Look again at the part when Dennis appears in the room.  

• Why do you think Dennis told Lisa to stop what she was doing?

Think about the character Dennis.

• Why do you think Dennis was there to help Lisa?

• What other ways could he help Lisa?