Devin woke up full of excitement. Today was the day that his father was taking him to the fair. Devin loved spending time with his father.
God had made Devin different than the other children. Sometimes his body would jerk or weird sounds would come from his mouth. Devin never knew when this might happen, it just did! Some of the children would laugh and stare at him. They didn't know that when they did that, it would hurt Devin's feelings. Devin's father had told him that they just didn't understand.
When Devin was very young, the doctors had told his parents that he had what is known as Tourette's Syndrome. That's what caused the strange jerks and sounds. Devin's father told him that this happened because he was so full of spunk. Sometimes it just had to come out.....
Devin loved the sound of the fair. The music coming from the carnival rides, along with the children's screams and the laughter. Watching people playing games and all of the excitement along the way. As Devin and his father walked through the midway Devin spotted something strange. There was this stand that had goldfish hanging in plastic bags of water. They were hanging all around the outside of the stand. But there was one that caught Devin's eye, it wasn't gold at all. It was a dull ugly brown color. The other fish weren't moving much at all. But this little brown one was swimming from side to side, turning over, dipping to the bottom and then rising to the top again. It looked very plain hanging with the rest of the of the sparkling fish. You had to toss a ring around a bottle to win a fish. Devin ask his father if he could play that game. Devin already knew the fish he wanted to get if won. His father paid the man for ten rings for Devin to toss at the bottles. This meant that he had ten chances to win. It wasn't looking like Devin was going to win. He was down to his last toss, he sent the ring spinning through the air and it landed firmly around the bottle. The man told Devin to pick out the fish that he wanted, so Devin chose the little brown one. The man asked Devin "Are you sure you want that one?" "All of the others are much prettier." Devin pointed again at the little brown fish and said "That is the one that I want!" Devin looked up at his father and said "I already know what I am going to name him, I am going to call him Spunky." His father then asked Devin "Why?" "Why did you pick that fish?" and "Why did you name it Spunky?" Devin's answer was "He's like me Dad. God made him different and out of all of those fish he was the one that had all of the spunk." Then Devin asked "Dad do think that God gave us extra spunk because he knew that being different was going to be hard for us?" Devin's father answered "I'm sure He did son, after all God knows everything."
Spunky is now living outside in their goldfish pond. Devin goes to visit him often. All of the other fish in the pond loves Spunky. He is still full of spunk and sometimes you can see him jump up out of the water as some of it overflows.....
(Spunk: is someone with a lot of energy and spirit.)
(Tourette's Syndrome: is a neurological disorder that causes quick involuntary movements (tics) and vocal sounds (phonic). Tourette's was once considered rare but is becoming more commonly known.)
This was written to help introduce children to the condition. I wrote it after having a dream about it the night before.
L.G.V.
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