Micah walked slowly down the forest trail, glad school was over for the week. He had no friends at school. It seemed that ever since they’d moved here the other kids had picked on him because of the scars on his face. He couldn’t explain about the fire in their other house, it still hurt to think about his brother. He just stayed away from everybody. They said he was different.

Micah didn’t mind, although he’d really like to talk to Mary-Jane Marsh, the prettiest girl in school. He never got the courage to say hello.

Suddenly, Micah heard a noise behind him. He whirled around. There was a huge creature standing, looking at him with big, sad eyes. It had a funny face, big, flat antlers, and it was a moose!                             

“Hello,” said Micah, patting the moose on his long nose.
“I hope I didn’t scare you,” said the moose, sadly.
“My name’s Micah, and that’s okay. Are you all right? Have you been crying?”
“My name’s Morris, and I’m always miserable, that’s all,” said the moose in a morose voice.
“Why are you always miserable?”
Morris thought about that, then said: “Nobody likes me and I have no friends. The cows don’t like me, the horses poke fun at me. The deer laugh and call me names, it’s just sad.”
“Hey, you’re like me,” said Micah, “Why don’t the two of us become friends?”
Morris looked at him with his huge eyes. “That’s a great idea! We can play games and have adventures and do neat stuff!”

The two friends played happily for the rest of the day. Morris was happy and laughing all the time, and so was Micah. The moose was sad when the time came for Micah to head home.
“Well…why don’t you come and live at my house?” asked Micah happily.
“Do you really think I could?”
“Sure, let’s go!”

When they reached Micah’s house his Mother was horrified to see the moose walking along beside him. Micah’s Dad took her aside.
“Let him keep the moose,” he said, “I think it’ll be okay.”
“But it’s so different,” she replied.
“Sometimes,” said his Dad, “It’s good to be different.”

Morris settled in Micah’s backyard, and every day after school Micah would ride him through the forest. His Dad found an old saddle and bridle, and they played pirate ships and cowboys and great games. The deer looked on and wished they could have such fun.

All the kids at school wanted to be Micah’s friend, because nobody had ever had a moose for a pet before. It was so cool.

Two weeks later came the day of the annual parade. The band came first, trumpets and trombones, and, right behind them at the head of the parade, came Micah, riding Morris the moose. Behind him, holding on to Micah tightly, rode Mary-Jane Marsh, and Micah laughed and laughed. So did Morris, as the crowd cheered, the band played and everybody was happy.

Morris was proud. He had a lot of friends now, and was never sad at all. Things were just great. Micah was really popular and no-one cared about the scars on his face. In fact, nobody even saw them any more.

Sometimes it’s good to be different.