Little Green Coat

Little Green Coat

One blustery fall day,
I walked to school and began to pray,
“Please don’t let people make fun of my coat.”
“They won’t,” I assured myself, “They won’t.”

People seemed to enjoy pointing out what I wear.
The kids at my school would tear their eyes away just to look at me.
Instead of whispering quietly amongst themselves, they’d stare.

As I approached the red brick building, a tall girl came up to me.
“Why is your coat green?” She asked, “It makes you look like a big, ugly tree.”
I felt frozen like ice,
Stuck in the same spot; I couldn’t move, and it did NOT feel nice.

I felt like the frozen fool with an unfashionably foul coat.
The wind howled with laughter.
I shuddered from the cold and walked away so she wouldn’t gloat.

People always talked badly about me, and I never said a word.
I wished I could have more courage, because then for once I would be heard.
As the wind whipped around wildly and pulled at my coat.
I suddenly felt stronger than before and I turned around, awoke.

With all of the courage I could muster, I whirled around. “You can’t treat me this way!”
“Just because my coat is green doesn’t mean you get to make fun of me!” I shouted.
To my surprise, the girl looked frightened by my outburst and hurried away.

I beamed as bright as the sun.
I had stood up for myself, and I had won.