The Broken Kite

Lila's kite was the most beautiful kite on Juniper Street.

It was shaped like a red fish with a long golden tail, and when the wind caught it, it wriggled across the sky as if it were swimming. Lila had made it with Grandma, and she was very, very proud of it.

"You can look at it," Lila told her little brother Tavi, "but please don't fly it without me."

Tavi nodded. He meant it. He really did.

Just one little try

But on Saturday the wind was perfect. Lila was at her swimming lesson, and the red fish kite was leaning against the shed door, looking up at the sky as if it wanted to go.

Just one little try, thought Tavi. I'll be careful. She'll never know.

He ran across the garden. The kite lifted, wobbled and rose. For three wonderful seconds the red fish swam above the fence.

Then the wind changed.

The kite dived, spun and crashed into the apple tree. When Tavi pulled it down, one of the thin sticks was snapped in half and the golden tail was torn.

Tavi's tummy went cold.

The hiding place

He didn't think. He just ran. He pushed the broken kite behind the old paint tins at the very back of the shed and put a sack over the top.

There, he thought. Now nobody will know.

But a funny thing happened. The kite was hidden, but Tavi could not stop thinking about it.

At lunch, his sandwich tasted of nothing. When Lila came home and said, "Hello, Tavi!" he couldn't look at her. When Dad asked if he wanted to play football, he said no, which he had never said before.

The secret felt like a heavy stone in his pocket. It got heavier every hour.

The question

At bedtime Lila came in, worried.

"Tavi, have you seen my kite? I can't find it anywhere. I wanted to show Grandma how well it flies."

Tavi pulled the blanket up to his nose. He could say no. It would be easy.

But the stone in his pocket felt so heavy that he thought he might sink right through the bed.

He took a big, wobbly breath.

"I flew it," he whispered. "I'm sorry. The wind took it into the tree and it broke. I hid it in the shed because I was scared you'd be cross."

There was a long, quiet moment.

Lila was a little bit cross. Her face went pink and her eyes went shiny. "I asked you not to," she said.

"I know," said Tavi, and his eyes went shiny too. "I'm really, really sorry."

Making it right

The next morning, Lila and Tavi took the kite out from behind the paint tins together. They laid it on the kitchen table and looked at it carefully.

"The stick is snapped," said Lila, "but I think Grandma has more."

Grandma did. She showed them how to tie a new stick in place with strong thread, and how to mend the golden tail with a strip of tape on the back so that nobody could see it from the front.

Tavi held the pieces steady while Lila tied the knots. It took all morning.

When they had finished, the red fish looked almost exactly the same. Look very closely and you could just see a tiny new knot near its nose.

"I like that knot," said Lila. "It's where we fixed it together."

That afternoon the wind was perfect again. Lila held the string, and Tavi ran with the kite until it lifted, wobbled and rose up and up, until the red fish was swimming high above Juniper Street.

The stone in Tavi's pocket had gone. He felt as light as the kite.

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Talk about it: Why do you think Tavi's secret felt heavier and heavier? Have you ever felt better after telling the truth?