Third Grade
Worksheets
Why No One Wins a Whine-a-thon
"There it goes," said Grandpa. "I can tell that a whine-a-thon is starting." Grandpa had a sly grin on his face, and his eyes looked like little, blue upside-down moons with joy shooting out of them.
Piercing screams echoed through the toy store. They bounced off the walls and were amplified. One scream soon sounded like many more. What was going on? The noise was coming from the next row. That aisle had bicycles in it. Grandpa covered his hairy ears!
There were wonderful and wacky bikes in the bike aisle. There were shiny red bikes that had tiny fire truck ladders painted on the fenders. There were pink bikes with white baskets on their front handlebars. The baskets were full of fake flowers and stuffed puppies. One blue bike had a funny seat shaped like a banana and painted like one, too. The seat had a zipper so the kid could store candy in it, although no one was sure that they wanted to eat candy that had been in a bike seat. Another green bike with silver glitter also had huge tires. All the bikes were amazing! These were the luxury limousines of the elementary school. Everyone wanted one of these cool, crazy cruisers.
"What is a whine-a-thon?" asked Becky. "I have never heard of that before. All I hear is screaming."
"Well, it is an event that often happens in stores. It especially happens in toy stores. One or more children can join in," said Grandpa. Grandpa was very wise. He understood how the world worked because he had lived for more years than Becky could imagine. He was 75 years old.
"What do they do?" asked Becky.
"Let's listen," said Grandpa. "The contest is starting to get louder. Listen to the high pitch."
"I want a red bike," screeched a wild kid voice. "Please, please, please. I want it so much. I will never ask you for anything again."
"We talked about this at home," said a calm adult voice. "You agreed to just look at bikes today."
