Gary’s Exams

This is quite a long story - Worry suggests you download it and read it offline

Gary scuffed his shoes on the pavement on the way home from school. He was worried - very worried. Once home, he dropped his bag in the hall and headed upstairs to find his brother Mark.

Mark was in his room, lying on the bed listening to some loud music and reading a school book. Mark was four years older than Gary, and always his first call when he had a problem.

Gary tapped politely on Mark’s door before going in. He stood forlornly in the doorway.

"What’s up, kiddo?" asked Mark

Gary ambled into the room and sat on the rug.

"We got exams." he began, "Miss Milne says they’re terribly important and we’ve got to do really well in them before we go up to Secondary" he sighed.

Mark shrugged.

"So? You’ll always have exams. Get used to it. From here on it’s exams, tests, exams and pressure all the way! Welcome to the Big Bad World." And he picked up his book and went back to reading.

Gary frowned. Mark hadn’t helped at all. He wanted to talk about these exams, and what they meant. He went in search of Dad.

Dad had not long come in from work. He was sitting in front of the fire with his ‘after work cuppa’ and reading the paper. Dad’s half hour of peace after work was a family ritual, to be disturbed only in great need. Gary walked miserably into the room.

Dad looked up from the paper.

"Something wrong, love?" he enquired.

"We got exams" Gary began.

"Ah, yes" interrupted Dad. "I remember your teacher talking about them at the last parents' evening. You know, Gary," he leaned forward to emphasise his point, "It’s really important that you do well in these exams. They could have a knock on effect on your whole education - even on what sort of job you end up with." Dad gave Gary his special ‘Dad’s’ smile - stern but fair - "I know you’ll work really hard at them..... you’re a bright boy, you know, Gary."

Gary felt even worse. He sloped off into the kitchen. Mum was fixing tea. Gary grabbed a packet of biscuits and helped himself.

"Don’t spoil your tea!" Mum warned.

"Got a letter from school." said Gary though a mouthful of biscuits. "Bout these exams." Mum turned and looked at him.

"?" her face said

"Everybody says how important they are......"

"Well, they are, love" said Mum. "Your dad and I want you to do well at school - you know that"

"But aren’t other things important too?" asked Gary, desperately.

Mum turned back to the oven.

"Run along now. No more biscuits. Tea’s in half an hour." That was the end of that conversation.

Gary dragged his feet upstairs to his room and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He heard a small growl by his ear.

Looking round, he saw Toby Ted, his old battered teddy bear on the window ledge. Toby Grrrd again.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked in a gruff bear voice.

So Gary poured out the whole story: the exams, how important everyone said they were, how they seemed to have taken over to be more important than everything else - no-one cared if you were good or kind or honest as long as you Did Well in exams. Most of all, how scared he was that he wouldn’t Do Well.

"Don’t the other things matter after all?" he finished.

Toby Ted leaned back a little and said:

"Let me tell you an old story my GrandpaBear told me when I was young. It goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a very clever toymaker, who specialised in making very clever toys. One day he decided he was going to make a teddy bear: a very clever teddy bear: the cleverest teddy bear ever.

So he made a metal frame, with arms and legs that moved, ears that waved and a nose that snuffled. He made a computer bit that could control the arms and legs and ears and nose. He added another computer bit to make the bear’s eyes light up, and another so the bear could talk. He gave the bear lots and lots of clever things to say - a whole encyclopedia - and then made it so the bear could also repeat anything you said to it.

When he’d put all the computer bits in, he added some batteries, and stretched furry fabric over the frame to make his bear. And he called it ‘UltimaTed’.

The toymaker went to visit his three grandchildren, taking UltimaTed with him, so he could find out what they thought of it before he tried to sell it.

The children called UltimaTed "cool". They played with it for quite a long time. The toymaker was very pleased. But he noticed that they held on to their other toys, too.

Later, when all three children were asleep, the toymaker crept upstairs to see which of them had taken UltimaTed to bed with them.

He peeped into the youngest child’s room. There was the little boy, sucking his thumb as he slept, with his arm round a tatty old pink rabbit he’d had for years.

The middle child had her teddy bear on the pillow, beside her head, where she could reach out for him at any time, whenever she wanted.

And the eldest had a blue elephant mascot clasped in his hand. UltimaTed was nowhere to be seen.

The toymaker crept back downstairs again, bewildered. And tripped over UltimaTed in the hall, where he’d been left, lying with his paws in the air.

"Grrrrr. Hic!" said UltimaTed.

The toymaker picked up the bear sadly, and wondered what he’d done wrong. Surely UltimaTed was the cleverest bear ever?

The next day, over breakfast the toymaker gently asked the children why no-one had taken UltimaTed to bed.

The eldest boy spoke up:

"He’s very clever, but you can’t really trust a bear who repeats things. He might tell all your secrets."

The middle girl went on:

"And you feel silly beside a bear who knows more than you do!"

The smallest grandchild took his thumb out of his mouth to add:

"And you can’t cuddle him - he’s all hard and metal".

The toymaker sighed. He knew now what he’d done wrong. He’d concentrated so hard on making UltimaTed the cleverest bear ever that he’d forgotten all the other things that are important about a bear. Sadly he picked up Ted and went home."

Toby Ted stopped in his story. and looked at Gary.

"So the other things are important?" the boy asked.

"Yes," said Toby, "Of course they are. They’re just as important today as they were yesterday. Just as important as working hard - no more and no less. It matters that you work hard, but also that you’re kind and honest and polite and generous and all those things too."

"But what if I don’t Do Well in the exams?" quizzed Gary.

Toby Ted grrrd again faintly.

"What do you mean by ‘Do Well’?" he asked.

"Hmmmm... better than anyone else, I s’pose" said the boy glumly.

"You’ll never do that" the bear shook his head, "Even if you do better than everyone in your school there’ll be people in other schools. If you go through life comparing yourself with others you’ll never be happy with who you are. There will always be some better than you and some worse."

Gary thought again.

"Maybe I need to reach a pass mark - a certain standard."

"Has anyone told you what the standard is?" asked the bear. Gary shook his head.

"Well, you can’t be asked to achieve a standard if you don’t know what it is."

The boy sighed.

"So how do I know whether I’ve Done Well, if I can’t measure myself against others or a standard - what can I measure myself against?"

The bear just looked at him

"I suppose I shall just have to do the best I can......" Gary said miserably.

Toby Ted clapped his paws.

"That’s it! Measure yourself against You. Do the best you can: the VERY best you can.!"

"In exams? Or in everything?" asked th boy.

"In all the things that go into being you" said the bear, "school and exams and being clever, and being honest and polite and kind and generous, and being good at football and computers - and all those other things. Be the very best Gary you can. No-one expects any more of you than that. That’s what it means to Do Well!"

Gary lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, thoughtfully. It made sense. And it helped, and would help as he faced his exams.

"And I have to be the very best Toby Ted I can" went on the bear, "I have to listen to troubles and not repeat them. I have to help whenever I can..... and I have to be very VERY Soft and Cuddly." And with a last grrrr he jumped off the window ledge into Gary’s arms and snuggled up to him.

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Worry is a heavy load, but a kind word cheers you up (Proverbs 12:25)

All Worry's stories are copyright by Rev K Smith (cos bears can't hold copyright) but permission is granted for use in a non-commercial setting.