Reptile+Ellen12

Reptile Ellen, a teen snake, hated the slithering that snakes do. It turned her stomach, it gave her a temperature, a headache, tongue ache, tail ache too. One afternoon in June, Ellen slid away. Leaving her family slithering towards a bay. What did she find down in a hole? Prairie Dogs in barking and playing. Suddenly Ellen thought she had come upon a way to escape all the slithering around. She slid down a hole. She felt a crunch! And hissing in pain slid out the hole. Reptile Ellen, a idea or two: Be glad that you are you. Don't ever slither too far from yourself. Get rid of that scowl, and slither around and around. Beneath a reptile star. If your a snake through and through. Just do what snakes do. With fall at tail, the weather was fine. So Ellen went away from her snake band. Sliding through the sand, she found someone snoring: a duck, asleep in the sand. "How fun!" she exclaimed, completely misled. Not seeing the problems ahead. "Perfection! This is for me! A lifetime by the sea! All snuggly in a bed thats all water!" So she rolled in the mud with a giggle and a shout. She gulped down seaweed, a fish, and a shrimp. By ten till two, the poor reptile had a cold, stomach flu, and colic.Reptile Ellen, a idea or two: Be glad that you are you. Don't ever slither too far from yourself. Get rid of that scowl, and slither around and around. Beneath a reptile star. If your a snake through and through. Just do what snakes do. That season once more Ellen got to find, a creature she'd never seen before. A version of her but bigger of course- a serpent, with family galore. Before so long, Ellen chimed in in the throng, sliding and moving and slithering along. Fun and free, she yelled with glee: "At last, I believe this is where I belong!" Then she looked at the serpent, slithery and big, exactly like her only quite tall. She opened her eyes wide, and said with surprise, "A snake's life is not so bad after all!" Reptile Ellen, no longer so sad: you are glad with who you are.You will never go to far from you.Your frown is turned upside down, so slither up and down beneath a reptile star. You are a reptile through and through, so do what snakes do. You're a snake through and through, so do what snakes do.

-Adapted from: __Marsupial Sue__ by John Lithgow