The Ace of Clubs’ tale

Ace of Clubs

The Ace of Clubs was in a pile with the other playing cards. Kaylee had been doing magic tricks. She wasn’t very good at it and Ace of Clubs laughed out loud as he remembered Kaylee’s bungled attempts to make him appear out of the rest of the pack.

“I’m a Club, CLUB, CLUB,” he said to the others. “No one plays magic games with me. I’m strong. I am a weapon. I club dragons and monsters to death.”

“That’s not very nice,” said Kaylee coming back. “You could be the sort of club where people go to make friends or play football.”

“I don’t need friends,” Ace of Clubs said rudely. “Friends are for wimps like Diamonds and Spades and Hearts.” He snorted loudly at the other Aces in the pack and slid away from them.

Kaylee picked him up and put him on the floor behind the table. “I shalln’t play with you any more,” she said. “You’re too rough and rude.”

The Ace of Clubs was furious. But he had to sit there and listen as Kaylee played and talked with the other playing cards.

“I like Diamonds,” she said, picking up the Ace of Diamonds. “You make beautiful bracelets. And I like Spades,” she added. “I can dig in the garden with you. You’re really useful.”

She looked at the Ace of Hearts. “You,” she said, “are super important. I draw a heart every time I write messages to my best friends.”

Ace of Clubs snorted again as he sat alone behind the table leg. Best friends! Love! What did Kaylee know about real life?

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by animals. Big, strong, fierce, frightening animals.

“Where did you come from?” he gasped.

“The magician sent us to teach you a lesson,” said the lion. “If you’re such a great Club, fight me!”

“If you’re such a heavy Club, squash me flat!” said a quieter voice. Ace of Clubs looked down and saw a huge spider, waving eight hairy legs at him.

“If you’re such a strong club, let me chew you,” said a large grey shark. “Then we’ll see how strong you really are.”

Ace of Clubs suddenly felt very weak, very scared and very silly. He wasn’t any of those things he’d boasted about. He  was just a thin, small piece of card used for card tricks and playing SNAP.

“It was only a joke,” he said in a small voice. “I’d really rather be a club where people make friends. Er… would you be my friends?”

Just then, Ace of Clubs heard a shout from Kaylee – and woke up! He looked around. There were no animals near him. Just a table leg blocking his view of Kaylee and her new card trick.

He breathed a sigh of relief. I was only dreaming, he said to himself.

A voice came from the toy tray. “Let that be a lesson to you,” he heard the magician say. “Or I’ll make it happen for real.”

When Kaylee gathered up the cards and put them in their box, Ace of Clubs was so well-behaved that he agreed to be shoved into the box without saying anything. Kaylee looked surprised. But Ace of Clubs was too tired to explain. As he fell asleep, he thought how glad he was to be a playing card and not a wooden club fighting monsters in the forest.

The moral of the Tale is that it s best to be proud of exactly who you are and not pretend to be something different.