Chapter 1: Soccer Try Outs
It was the day of soccer try-outs in Nigeria.
Smidgeon was playing her best.
There were lions and panthers with shiny smooth fur.
The lions only picked other lions.
The panthers only picked other panthers.
Smidgeon never got picked.
She was a leopard with fuzzy spotted fur.
The lions would trip Smidgeon when she had the ball.
The panthers would block her and knock her down.
The lions and panthers did not like her.
Smidgeon left the tryouts crying.
She rushed home.
She just wanted to fit in.
She was a talented player.
But the others did not care.
“Why can we not all play soccer together?”
“I do not want to be different.”
“I am tired of having spots,” she cried.
She did not see a sticky pile of gooey gunk on the ground.
When she got home, the gooey mess was stuck to her fuzzy spotted fur.
Smidgeon tried to wash it off with soap and water.
She scrubbed and scrubbed on her fuzzy spotted coat.
Half of her fuzzy spots were gone.
“Oh no! I look even funnier,” she gasped!
She wiped off with a towel.
She looked again at her coat.
Half of her fuzzy coat had no spots.
She was now shiny and smooth on one side.
Smidgeon smiled and thought to herself.
If she could get more of this gooey gunk.
She could make all her fuzzy spotted fur go away.
She would be as shiny and smooth as the soccer team.
The lions and panthers would surely let her play.
Smidgeon looked at her computer.
She found out that the gooey gunk was called gum.
She noticed that the stickiest gum was along the coast near Spain.
She would need to get a large amount of this gum.
She would be able to get her fuzzy spotted fur off and keep it off forever!
“I need to go to the Atlantic Ocean and take a boat to Spain,” Smidgeon said to herself.
She packed her backpack.
She got her maps.
She was excited about this new journey. She would finally get to fit in.
Renee Oelrich 
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