Transcript for Parent Storytellers
Oni Pepperoni was having the most wonderful summer day. He had just finished listening to his friend Chatta Max tell amazing stories about his alphabet adventure to Mexico, and now Oni was ready for his own adventure.
“Today feels like a perfect day for swimming!” Oni said to himself as he put on his favorite orange swim trunks. He grabbed his swimming goggles and headed to the big community pool in town.
When Oni arrived at the pool, his eyes grew wide with amazement. There were so many people there! He started counting: “Ten, twenty, thirty, forty…” There were nearly one hundred people splashing and playing in the huge swimming pool.
“Wow!” Oni exclaimed, feeling excited. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Oni found a spot near the shallow end and jumped into the cool, refreshing water. He felt happy as he splashed around with all the other swimmers. There were kids playing water tag, adults doing laps, and teenagers taking pictures with their underwater cameras near a special glass viewing cage in the middle of the pool.
Oni was having a great time when suddenly, something unexpected happened. Through the crystal-clear water, he could see dark shapes moving toward the pool.
“Look!” called out a girl named Nora, pointing toward the deeper end of the pool. “What are those?”
Everyone turned to look, and Oni felt his heart start beating faster. Swimming into the pool were three friendly-looking sharks! But these weren’t scary sharks – they had big smiles and gentle eyes.
“Sharks!” someone yelled, and suddenly Oni felt a rush of fear. It was a cold, fluttery feeling in his tummy that made him want to run away.
Almost everyone in the pool felt the same way. People started scrambling out of the water, their faces showing worry and fright. Oni felt scared too, and he climbed out onto the pool deck with most of the other swimmers.
“I feel afraid,” Oni said to himself, putting his hand on his chest where his heart was beating fast. “That’s okay – being scared is a normal feeling when something surprising happens.”
But not everyone got out of the pool. In the middle of the water, there was a group of teenagers inside a special glass cage that let them stay underwater and take pictures of sea life. They looked curious and excited rather than scared.
“Look at them!” said Nora, who was standing next to Oni on the pool deck. “They seem brave.”
“I think they feel curious,” Oni observed, watching the teenagers. “Curious is when you want to learn more about something, even if it seems a little scary at first.”
The teenagers in the cage were indeed feeling curious. They had their underwater cameras ready and were taking pictures as the sharks swam closer and closer. The sharks seemed to be swimming faster now, circling around the cage in a playful way.
Oni noticed that his scared feeling was starting to change as he watched. “I’m beginning to feel less afraid,” he said. “The sharks look friendly, and they’re not trying to hurt anyone.”
As the sharks swam around the cage, something amazing began to happen. The sharks started to change! Their fins began to stretch and grow until they looked like legs, and they could walk on the bottom of the pool just like people!
“That’s incredible!” Oni gasped, now feeling amazed instead of scared. “I feel wonder – that’s when something is so cool that it makes you feel happy and surprised at the same time!”
The teenagers in the cage were taking lots of pictures as colorful fish started swimming around them too. There were bright yellow fish, purple fish with silver spots, and orange fish that reminded Oni of his pepperoni spots.
“It’s beautiful!” said Nora, and Oni could see that she was feeling the same sense of wonder that he was.
Some of the other people on the pool deck started to feel differently too. A girl named Betty, who Oni recognized from previous adventures, came over to join them.
“I was feeling worried at first,” Betty said, “but now I feel excited. Those sharks with legs are the coolest things I’ve ever seen!”
Oni nodded. “I felt scared when I first saw the sharks, but now I feel curious and excited too. It’s okay to feel different emotions as things change.”
The shark-leg creatures were now walking around on the bottom of the pool, playing with the colorful fish. They looked so friendly and playful that more and more people started to feel comfortable again.
“I think I feel brave enough to go back in,” said Nora. “Brave is when you do something even though you felt scared before.”
“Me too!” said Oni. “But let’s go slowly and see how we feel.”
Oni, Nora, and Betty carefully climbed back into the shallow end of the pool. Oni noticed that his scared feeling was completely gone now, replaced by excitement and curiosity.
As they got closer to the amazing scene, one of the shark-leg creatures walked over to them. It had the kindest eyes and the biggest, friendliest smile.
“Hello!” the shark-creature said in a gentle voice. “I’m sorry we scared everyone at first. We’re actually here to play and make friends!”
“You can talk!” Oni exclaimed, feeling delighted. “I feel happy and surprised!”
“We love meeting new friends,” the shark-creature continued. “We came here because we heard there was a boy who goes on amazing adventures. Are you Oni Pepperoni?”
“That’s me!” Oni said proudly. “I love adventures, and I love meeting new friends!”
The teenagers in the cage swam up to join them, their faces glowing with joy. “This is the best day ever!” one of them said. “We feel so grateful that we got to see something this special!”
Soon, more people started getting back in the pool. Everyone was feeling different emotions – some people felt excited, others felt amazed, and some still felt a little nervous, but in a good way.
Oni spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing with the shark-leg creatures and the colorful fish. He felt so many wonderful emotions: joy when he played water tag with a purple fish, pride when he helped a younger kid feel brave enough to meet a shark-creature, and contentment as he floated on his back looking up at the blue sky.
As the sun began to set, the shark-leg creatures and the fish started to swim away. “Thank you for being such wonderful friends,” they called to everyone. “Remember, it’s always okay to feel scared at first – that just means you’re being careful. But don’t let fear stop you from discovering amazing things!”
Oni waved goodbye, feeling grateful for the incredible day he’d had. As he dried off with his towel, Betty and Nora came over to talk.
“That was amazing,” Betty said. “I learned that it’s okay to feel scared sometimes.”
“And I learned that feelings can change,” Nora added. “I went from scared to curious to excited to happy!”
Oni nodded thoughtfully. “I learned so much about emotions today,” he said. “Let me think about everything we felt and learned.”
As Oni walked home, he thought about his emotional journey. “Today I learned about so many different feelings,” he said to himself. “I felt excited when I first got to the pool, then scared when I saw the sharks, then curious when I watched them change, then amazed when they grew legs, then brave when I went back in the water, then happy when I made new friends, and finally grateful for the whole adventure.”
“I learned that all feelings are okay to have,” Oni continued. “Being scared helped keep me safe at first. Being curious helped me learn new things. Being brave helped me try something new. And being happy and grateful made the whole day even better.”
Oni also realized something important. “I learned that feelings can change quickly, and that’s normal. You might feel one way at the beginning of something and completely different by the end. The most important thing is to notice your feelings and know that they’re all okay.”
When Oni got home, he told his mama all about his adventure. “It sounds like you had quite an emotional journey,” she said with a smile. “And it sounds like you learned a lot about understanding and managing your feelings.”
That night, as Oni got ready for bed, he felt peaceful and content. He had learned that emotions are like the weather – they come and go, they can change quickly, and each one teaches us something important.
“Tomorrow I might feel completely different emotions,” Oni said as he snuggled into his bed. “And that’s perfectly okay. Every feeling has something to teach me, and every day is a new adventure for my heart.”
And with that thought, Oni Pepperoni fell asleep, dreaming of friendly shark-creatures, colorful fish, and all the wonderful emotions that make life such an amazing adventure.