Recess! Media

One day by a lake, a herd of hippos were happily wallowing in the warm mud, when one came hopping down the bank and leapt into the water with an enormous splash. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Belly flops.” 

“We’re hippos. We wallow.” 

“I don’t. I hop.” It was Hippity Hippo. Needless to say, her exuberance was not appreciated. 

“We don’t want you here. If you have to hop, go be with the rabbits.” 

Heartfallen, Hippotity Hippo hopped away. She came to the rabbit warren, bouncing with bubbly bunnies. Before Hoppity could say a word, she heard a strange sound: “Ribbit.” And then: “No. No. Get out of here! We’re rabbits. We twitch our whiskers and sniff. If you’ve gotta croak, go find the frogs!” 

And the rabbits rushed down their rabbit holes. All but one, who sat alone. “Ribbit!” 

Hoppity Hippo hopped over. “Why do you say ‘Ribbit’? You’re not a frog, you’re a rabbit.”

“I don’t know. I just do. That’s why they call me Ribbity Rabbit. Better go find a lily pad.” 

“I’ll give you a ride. Hop aboard.” 

So Hoppity Hippo and Ribbity Rabbit went off in search of a lily pad. Of course, when they came to the frog colony at the end of the pond, they found dozens of frogs lazing on lily pads, and one fluttering about. 

“Croak. Stop fluttering! Find a lily pad, lodge there, and look for flies!” 

“I can’t. I have all this energy. I don’t know why, but I have to… flutter.” 

Hoppity Hippo hopped forward, and Ribbity Rabbit called out, “Ribbit! We know how you feel.” 

You can guess the rest. In their meanderings, Hoppity Hippo, Ribbity Rabbit, and Fluttery Frog found Diggity Duck, Cluckity Camel, Gobbledy Gopher, and many others. You see, every community has someone who doesn’t quite fit in. Soon a club was formed – the Misfits. They’d talk about whatever it was that set them apart, and always end by saying, “I don’t know why, I just do.” And then they’d cluck, hop, gobble, chip, or growl to their heart’s content. When Hoppity Hippo began to hop, they all hunkered down and held on tight. And when Diggity Duck got to digging in the mud with her wide webbed feet, they knew they’d better – duck! But they loved the utter freedom! 

And then they’d start to miss their own kind, and they’d go back to their herd or flock, and feel somehow very strange and somehow very much at home, knowing it’s not easy to be Misfits.