Angela, 7, of Berlin was in tears today as two of her best friends, Nicolas and Evangelos, again failed to either play with her, or return her skipping rope and bouncy ball that she lent them some months ago.
Angela told the teacher, Mr Barrosso: “They PROMISED to play with me – I even said I’d lend them my Barbies as well – the WHOLE class heard them promise. Nicolas just IGNORED me and went back to playing with Carla who has no toys and is only TWO. And Evangelos just fiddled with his beads, like a GIRL.”
“Come here boys – now Nicolas and Evangelos, did you promise to play with Angela?” said Mr Barrosso. “Yes, yes, yes” said Nicolas. “But my brother Francois took the skipping rope and so HE can play with Angela.” “I don’t even know where the bouncy ball is, I think Alexis might have lost it” said Evangelos.
Mr Barrosso got the whole class together: “Now I want EVERYONE to play nice with Angela – and if you borrow her toys and don’t want to play, you have to give them back. Otherwise there will be chaos, and you will be expelled from class. Does everyone understand?”
“But Angela’s games are BORING BORING BORING” said Francois. “We want to play a more fun game, that everyone can enjoy but she needs to give us more toys – we know she has lots of them”. “I don’t want to play with Angela and I want to go to another class anyway” said Alexis. “We FLUSHED Angela’s bouncy ball down the DRAIN, along with all the other toys we conned off her.”
“QUIETEN DOWN” said Mr Barrosso. “And stop smirking in the corner David. Now, Angela, please tell the class all about the family trip to Poland you are going on …”
