Dave the Stigmatized Dinosaur

Once there was a dinosaur named Dave. Dave had a secret none of his friends knew about. Every time he heard a bell ring, he would leap into the air. Sometimes this made things hard for Dave, but sometimes he almost forgot about it.

Then one day Dave was with his friends when one said, “Look at this bell I got for my birthday!” and held up a shiny new bell. The bell rang, and Dave jumped.

“Hey, look!” Dave’s friend called out as he rang the bell again. “Dave is a bell jumper!”

“No, I’m not,” Dave protested as he jumped.

“It’s okay,” his friends told him. “No one will mind.”

News spread quickly throughout Dino Town, and soon everyone knew that Dave was a bell jumper.

The next week, Dave went to the Leaf Store to find a job. When he asked the owner if he could work in the store, the owner shook his head sadly and said, “Sorry, Dave. Customers ring a bell when they need service, and I do not want you to break things when you jump.”

So Dave went to another store and asked for a job. This owner shook his head sadly as well and said, “Sorry, Dave. We don’t have any bells in here, but I heard that bell jumpers may jump when doors close loudly—and that happens a lot around here.”

By this time Dave was very discouraged but decided to try a third store anyway.

“Why Dave, you look so unhappy,” the store owner said. “Everyone who works here needs to look happy for the customers; so we cannot hire you.”

Deeply saddened, Dave returned home. “I guess dinosaurs just do not like bell jumpers,” he sighed. “Is it so bad to leap when I hear something ring? Maybe they dislike bell jumpers because what the store owner said is true. I might start springing high into the air when I hear almost any sound. The mayor of Dino Town is very smart and wise. If I talk to him, perhaps he can help me.”

That afternoon, Dave went to city hall to talk to the mayor of Dino Town. “Why hello, young Dave,” the mayor greeted him. “How are you this fine day?”

“Not so good, Mayor,” Dave admitted. “Now that everyone knows that I am a bell jumper, no one wants to hire me. Is it because I will start jumping when I hear other sounds, too?”

“I do not think so,” the mayor replied. “If bell jumpers jumped at other sounds, they would be called bell and other sound jumpers. Maybe the other dinosaurs just do not understand bell jumping well.”

“You’re right!” Dave cried. “I should tell them more about bell jumping. Then they will understand. Thank you, mayor.” He ran off with a smile.

A group of three dinosaurs watched Dave run out of city hall. “I wonder what Dave was doing in there, “ one dinosaur said.

“He was probably talking to the mayor,” said another.

“Oh dear,” said the third. “The mayor? Something serious must have happened. Could his bell jumping be growing worse?”

“We must be careful not to embarrass Dave by making him jump too much,” the first dinosaur replied. “It would be terrible to upset him.”

All that night, Dave prepared a speech about how bell jumping is not so bad. The next morning, he confidently walked up to a group of dinosaurs and told them, “Good morning. May I talk to you about bell jumping?”

But the dinosaurs said nothing. No matter what Dave did, they never spoke or made any noise at all. All the other dinosaurs did the same. Whenever Dave drew near, the dinosaurs of Dino Town fell silent for fear of making him embarrass himself or break something by jumping.

Confused and sadder than ever, Dave went home and cried himself to sleep. The end.