Sample story
Ethan and the Checkup
Sample · hero: Ethan, 4
On Tuesday morning, Ethan had a checkup with Dr. Kim. He had been to see her before, when he was a baby, but he didn't remember.
"What will she do?" Ethan asked on the drive.
"She'll check your body to make sure you're growing big and strong," said Dad. "She'll listen to your heart and look in your ears. And you might get a shot. It'll pinch for a second, and I'll be right there holding your hand."
Ethan held his stuffed elephant, Peanut, a little tighter.
The waiting room had a fish tank, a box of toys and a lot of chairs. A baby was crying. Ethan sat close to Dad and watched the fish. A yellow one swam back and forth, back and forth, like it was waiting too.
"Ethan?" called a nurse with purple glasses. "Come on back!"
First, Ethan stood against a wall with lines on it. "Wow, you've grown!" said the nurse. Then he stood on a scale. Then the nurse wrapped a soft cuff around his arm. It squeezed tight, like a hug, and then let go with a hiss.
"That's my blood pressure," Ethan told Peanut.
Then they went into a little room with a table covered in crinkly paper. Ethan climbed up. The paper crunched every time he moved. He thought it sounded like walking on leaves.
Dr. Kim came in with a big smile. "Hi, Ethan! Who's this?"
"This is Peanut," said Ethan.
"Can I check Peanut first?" asked Dr. Kim.
She put her stethoscope on Peanut's tummy. "Hmm. Strong elephant heart." Then she looked in Peanut's ears with her little light. "Very clean ears. Peanut is perfectly healthy."
Ethan giggled. "Now me."
Dr. Kim listened to his heart. Thump-thump, thump-thump. She let him listen too. It sounded like a little drum. She looked in his ears and his eyes. She gently pressed on his tummy, which tickled. She tapped his knee with a tiny hammer, and his leg kicked all by itself.
"Whoa!" said Ethan.
"Everything looks great," said Dr. Kim. "You're growing just right. Now the nurse is going to give you a shot to help your body stay strong against germs."
Ethan's tummy did a flip. He squeezed Peanut. He squeezed Dad's hand.
"Let's do balloon breaths," said Dad. "In through your nose... and blow out the balloon."
Ethan breathed in. He blew out. The nurse counted, "One, two, three..." and there was a quick pinch on his arm. It stung. Ethan's eyes got wet.
And then it was over.
"That's it?" said Ethan.
"That's it," said the nurse, and she put a bandage with dinosaurs on it right over the spot.
"You were really brave," said Dr. Kim. "Being brave doesn't mean not being scared. It means doing it even when you're a little scared. That's what you did."
On the way out, Ethan waved to the yellow fish. Then Dad took him to the park, and Ethan showed everyone on the playground his dinosaur bandage.
That night, Ethan put a little bandage on Peanut's arm too, made from a piece of tape. "Now we're both brave," he whispered, and they fell asleep side by side.
