The Loud-Mouthed Letter X
by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Michiko Cayce
The Letter X lived in the Land of Words.
He loved secrets and always wanted to hear more.
He was always telling other people’s secrets that he knew.
Knowing things that other people didn’t know was fun for him.
Telling people those things was even more fun!
He gave away Letter C’s secret recipe for plumberry pie.
He told everyone that the Letter Q slept with a blankie.
He even ruined a surprise party for the Letter K by telling her about it.
One day his friends, the Letter L, the Letter C, and the Letter E, decided to teach him a lesson.
They came to his door and told him that they had a great big surprise for him.
The Letter X was excited!
Then they said that they were only telling a few other letters, so they asked him to keep it a secret.
The Letter X became even more excited because he loved secrets!
“Your surprise will be at the lake tomorrow morning,” they said.
“I’ll be there!” said the Letter X.
He knew he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but he found that hard to do.
He went down to the center of town and started talking to all the letters.
“There’s a great big surprise for me at the lake tomorrow morning,” he said to one letter.
“The Letter L, Letter C, and Letter E like me so much that they will have an amazing, huge surprise for me at the lake tomorrow morning!” he said to another letter.
Eventually he just stood up and yelled so that everyone could hear, “Secret surprise at the lake tomorrow!”
The next morning he showed up at the lake, and there was a big crowd.
The Letter L explained to him, “I brought my ship to take you on a ride around the lake, but now it’s full of other letters who got here first.”
“I baked a big cake for you, but everyone else wanted some, and it’s only fair that they got to try it,” said the Letter C, “and they finished every bite.”
“I designed the world’s best fireworks,” said the Letter E, “and we can all watch them together.”
The Letter X was sad that he couldn’t ride on the ship or eat any cake, but he enjoyed watching the fireworks.
From that day on, he stopped telling other people’s secrets and gossiping about his friends.
But he also understood that sometimes secrets are not a good thing, and that he shouldn’t like them so much.
In the Land of Words, secrets are no fun.
