People, Parades & Special Spots

“Come on, kids,” said Justin’s dad, “everybody in the van.”

“I’m so excited!” Jessie told her friend Justin. “I’ve never seen a big parade like this one.”

“Yeah, my mom said it’s got big floats and balloons and clowns and stuff,” said Justin.

“I wanna see da clowns! An I like balloons!” Ellie said cheerfully.

The two families rode together into the city. Justin looked out at the tall buildings. “Hey! I can’t see the top of this building,” he said, turning his head to look up.

“Look at all the people!” Jessie exclaimed. “Are they all here for the parade?”

“Yes, I think so,” said Jessie’s dad.

“Lotsa peoples,” said Ellie. “One peoples, two peoples, fwee peoples.” Ellie tried to count each person they drove past. Finally, the van stopped, and everyone jumped out.

“Now hold onto an adult’s hand,” said Jessie’s mom. “There’re so many people. It would be easy to get lost.”

As the group walked through the crowd, Ellie tried to look around, but all she could see was everybody’s legs and feet! That person had blue jeans, this person had striped socks, and someone else had red polka-dot sneakers. Finally, Ellie had enough. “Daddy!” she hollered. “I don’ wanna see legs anymore.”

Ellie’s dad stopped. “I’m sorry, Princess,” he said. “I forgot that you couldn’t see much down there.” Dad picked Ellie up and set her on his shoulders.

“Yay!” Ellie exclaimed. “I can see da peoples now!”

They continued walking to the street where the parade would come by. “Hmmm,” said Jessie’s mom. “Where should we go?”

“How about over there?” asked Justin’s mom, pointing to a good spot. They began to move in that direction. But just as they were getting close, another family got there first.

“Aww,” said Justin. “We almost had a perfect spot.”

Jessie stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the adults lined up by the road. “I can’t see a thing,” she said.

“I can’t either,” said Justin’s mom. She jumped up and down, trying to see over people’s heads, which made the kids laugh.

Suddenly, Justin’s dad stopped. “Hey! I just thought of something. Let me make a phone call.”

The little group huddled together, out of the way of the crowd pushing past them. Justin turned to look up at the tall buildings. “Wow! Jessie, look at that one.” Justin let go of his mom’s hand and pointed to the building. Before he knew it, Justin was being pushed along by the crowd.

“Whoa! Wait! Stop!” he hollered. Justin struggled to turn around and walk back to his family, but no one paid attention to him. They were all rushing to find a place to see the parade that would start soon.

“Justin! Oh no!” shouted his mom, still holding on to Ellie. Meanwhile, Justin’s dad was talking on the phone, so Jessie’s dad dove into the crowd to go after Justin.

Justin couldn’t see where he was going, but he knew he was being pushed and shoved farther and farther away from where he was supposed to be. It seemed impossible to turn around, but out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw the window of a toy store. He quickly turned and moved sideways through the crowd toward the store.

“Phew!” He breathed a sigh of relief as he pressed up against the window, and the people hurried past him. “At least I can stand still now,” he said to himself. Justin remembered his parents telling him, “If you ever get lost, stay where you are.” So, Justin stayed right where he was, leaning against the toy shop window until he heard Jessie’s dad shouting his name.

“Justin!”

“Uncle Dave!” Justin cried out.

Jessie’s dad pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed Justin up in a big hug. “Praise God, I found you, Kiddo! Good job getting out of the crowd and staying put.”

Justin held tightly to Uncle Dave’s hand as he moved forward, clearing the way. “Excuse us. Pardon us. Sorry,” he murmured, as he pushed back through the people, pulling Justin along behind him.

Finally, Justin heard his mom’s voice and felt himself being squeezed so tightly, he almost couldn’t breathe. “Oh, Dave,” said his mom to Jessie’s dad, “thank you sooo much.”

“Of course. I’m glad I could help.”

Then Justin’s dad put his arm around Justin’s shoulder. “You all right, Son?” he asked. Justin nodded.

“Okay, then,” said his dad. “Let’s go see the parade. Everyone grab a hand and follow me.” He led the way to an apartment building and knocked on a door.

A man opened the door and smiled. “Hey there, everyone!”

“Everybody, this is my friend Robert.” Justin’s dad introduced the group then said, “Thanks again, Robert. This is great!”

Robert laughed. “No problem. I love having friends over.” Robert showed everyone around. “Here are some snacks, and there’s the balcony where you can step outside and watch the beautiful floats go by.”

The kids eagerly grabbed some snacks and went out to the balcony. They peered down to the street below just as the parade was coming around the corner. “Cool!” Justin and Jessie exclaimed. “We can see over everybody up here. Thanks, Mr. Robert. This is a great spot!”

Ellie clapped her hands. “I can see da pawade! And da balloons! And da clowns! Thank oo, Mistuh Wobert!”

“You’re welcome,” Robert replied. “This’ll be your special spot whenever there’s a parade.”

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