When anyone in the village saw Mr Grumpy coming down the road, he would run into a shop or walk off in a different direction. There was a reason for this.
Mr Grumpy loved to grumble. He grumbled about the weather, his dinner, the vegetables, his neighbour’s cat, the fish he had at lunch, his health, the colour of Mrs Honey’s curtains, Miss Wilson’s dog. The list was very, very long.
One day, Mr Grumpy decided to go on a holiday. The whole village was very happy.
Mr Grumpy went off to the seaside and grumbled at the sea and the gulls, the boats and crabs, at the people bathing, children building sand castles, at the bed in the hotel, and the behaviour of the waiters!
He grumbled so much that he stumbled over a large stone that lay buried under the sand on the beach and went flying over it. Mr Grumpy found himself lying on his back and looking at the sky. He had a terrible pain in his left leg and back.
He tried to get up and yelled! The pain was dreadful. Someone had heard him scream. He found a little boy of about eight standing near him.
“What are you staring at?” asked Mr Grumpy being his usual self.
“I heard you scream, sir. Are you hurt?” asked the boy.
“No, I enjoy screaming! Stupid question! Help me get up, boy,” ordered Mr Grumpy.
“I’ll fetch help. Wait,” said the boy and he ran off.
In a while, he was back with some men carrying a stretcher and a doctor from the hotel. The doctor checked and found that he had broken a bone in his leg. They carried Mr Grumpy, grumbling all the way, back to the hospital and got bandage put on it.
Every morning, the little boy came. Sometimes he brought a book and read out stories to Mr Grumpy or recited a poem or sang a song. He even brought a game of snakes and ladders.
Mr Grumpy grumbled about the boy but the boy never seemed to notice it. After a few days, Mr Grumpy stopped grumbling. The boy’s name was Danny.
Mr Grumpy started looking forward to Danny’s visits. He played snakes and ladders with him, listened to his stories and enjoyed all the poems and songs. One day, Mr Grumpy sent a waiter to buy some new games for Danny. He enjoyed Danny’s happiness, as he opened his new games.
By the time Mr Grumpy’s holiday was over, he had stopped being grumpy!
