The Girl With the Braid

OH little girl with a long, thick braid.
Challenging the boys at their playground games.

They all think they are "king of the mound,"
But their ideas shatter with this girl around.

"See that big tree, I can beat you there."
"We'll see," says the girl with the braid in her hair.

READ, SET, GO! They both run hard,
The girl is the first to reach the end of the yard.

She looks back and sees the boy clear her dust.
"You cheated!" he yells, "Man this is a bust."

"I'm a boy, you're a girl, you can't beat me.
You cheated, you cheated on the way to the tree."

"You're a boy, I'm a girl, this much is true,
but I don't need tricks to outrun you."

"Well, I know one thing girls can't do,
I know they can't do it, not even you."

"It's a big tree we're standing by now.
I can climb higher, 'cause I know how."

The little girl looks way up high,
Thinking how fun it would be to fly.

She looks back at the boy, "I'm ready now.
I'' try to do it, but I'm not sure how."

"It's easy," he says, "use your hands and your feet.
If you're still not sure, just follow me."

Now the tree has branches going up on two sides,
stretching like arms, real big and real wide.

The boy, on one side, thinks he's got it made.
On the other side looking nervous, is the girl with the braid.

They take off climbing with all of their might.
The girl keeps thinking of a bird in flight.

She reaches the top even though she's scared,
and was surprised when she looked and could see everywhere.

She looked down, saw the boy stuck on a limb
and thought, "Now what's the matter with him?"

She climbed back down and saw his leg bleeding bad.
"Do you want me to get your mom or your dad?"

The boy said no, so together they sat.
"My name's Monique." "My name is Matt."

Then the girl said she had a secret to tell.
She can do lots of things but she can't swim well.

The boy said he could swim like a fish.
And he could teach her how, if she wished.

"You take a deep breath, hold it as long as you can.
Then you move around with your feet and your hands."

"Com on let's try it, hold your breath with me.
Just take a deep breath on the count of three."

One. Two. Three. They both suck in air.
Facing each other they begin to stare.

'He has an orange speck in the middle of his eye.'
'She has freckles on her nose, oh what a surprise.'

Then Whooosh, the little girl let all her breath out,
and the boys eyes got real big as he jumped about.

The little girl smiled and looked at her new friend.
"Finally I did it, I knew I could win!"

It was a small thing but I want you to know,
that from that moment on, their friendship would grow.

They talked and they laughed and they had fun.
They were friends now, it doesn't matter who won.