| Children Fiction posted April 3, 2025 |
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No Rules for Noah
N in the Alphabet Soup
by Begin Again
Noah was in trouble. Again.
At recess, he kicked off his sneakers to see how far they would fly — like rockets in outer space. One landed in a fountain, splashing water on the girls and sending them screaming across the playground. The other nearly hit the assistant principal in the face, earning Noah a sharp scolding.
And earlier in the lunchroom, he'd dumped glitter into someone's backpack. "To make it magical," he explained.
His teacher didn't think it was magical. She called it chaos and wrong.
"Rules matter, Noah," she said. "Without them, everything falls apart."
Noah crossed his arms and frowned. "Well, I think rules are dumb."
After school that afternoon, his mom picked him up, gave him a granola bar, and sighed. "I had a phone call from your teacher. You can go straight to your room when we get home. I want you to think about today."
“But —” Noah stammered.
"We have rules for a reason, son. You need to understand that."
Noah trudged up the stairs, flopped onto his bed, and grumbled, "I wish there were a planet with no rules. That would be awesome."
And just like that — he drifted off to sleep.
When he opened his eyes, everything was glowing purple and neon green. His bed had rocket engines. It zoomed past candy-colored planets and landed with a gentle thud on a strange new world.
A glowing sign flashed above: WELCOME TO THE LAND WHERE YOU DO WHAT YOU PLEASE — NO RULES, NO PROBLEMS!
At first, Noah thought it was awesome.
Kids ate dessert for breakfast, rode scooters through the school halls, played video games during math, pulled the girls' hair, and nobody ever said "no."
No one told Noah what to do. He wore pajamas all day. He climbed trees without anyone saying, "Be careful! Don't climb too high." He ate ice cream and candy until he couldn't eat anymore and stayed up well past his bedtime.
The following day, things got messy.
Noah had a stomach ache and didn't feel very well. No one picked up after themselves. Wrappers blew across the streets. Someone had written "you stink" on a stop sign and smeared it with green jelly.
No one waited their turn—not at the ice cream cart, the swings, or even the water fountain. A soccer game turned into a big argument, with everyone shouting, shoving, and kicking, and no goals were scored.
When Noah tried to get a slice of pizza, the food cart guy just shrugged. "Have a hotdog. I didn't feel like making pizza today."
Noah sat on a sticky bench, juice stains on his pants, watching two kids argue over who was up to bat while another kid knocked over a trash bin for fun and laughed when the paper flew away.
"This place is a disaster," Noah muttered. "Nobody's nice. Nothing works. Everyone's only thinking about themselves."
Feeling very sad, he looked at the sky and whispered, "I don't like this place. I want to go home."
Poof! His rocket bed reappeared. Noah jumped on without hesitation. In a swirl of stars and clouds, he zipped back through space—and landed right back in his own room.
His mom peeked in. "You ready to talk now?"
Noah sat up and nodded. "Yeah. I think I get it."
She raised an eyebrow. "Get what?"
"That rules don't ruin fun. They keep everyone safe and let all of us have fun."
She smiled. "That's a smart thought."
He stretched and smiled sleepily. "That's what learning is all about, Mom — learning and getting smarter every day."
That night, Noah made a sign for his bedroom door — Welcome to Planet Noah — Please obey the rules! Always be kind, wait your turn, and respect others. Without rules, things aren't very fun.
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