Squarehead was bored. SquareNess was bored. The Hairy Scary was hungry – as always.
They did what bored and hungry people sometimes do – they argued.

“Let’s play squareball…” Said Squarehead. (Just so you know, squareball is what they call football in Squaretown.)

“I don’t want to play squareball,” said Ness. “Let’s play tennis.”

“Squareball’s much better than tennis!” Said Squarehead.

“Has anyone got a snack?” Asked Hairy Scary.

“Squareball’s nowhere near as good as tennis!” Said Ness.

“Tennis is boring!” Said Squarehead.

“You’re boring!” Said Ness.

“You’re more boring than the boringest thing I can think of!” Replied Squarehead.

“AM NOT!” Yelled Square Ness.

“ARE!”

“NOT!”

“ARE”

“NOT!”

“Just a little snack would do…” Said Hairy Scary looking at them both hopefully.

But neither of them spoke. They were fuming! They turned their backs on each other and scowled.

“This is a bit boring.” Said Hairy Scary after a while, when nobody had spoken or moved or done anything.

“We could be enjoying a game of tennis, if it wasn’t for him.” Said Ness.

“We could be playing squareball, if she wasn’t so difficult.” Said Squarehead.

They all sat there, fuming, in silence – which is how Chinwag found them when he came wandering past a little later on.

Chinwag barked as if to say: “What are you up to?”

“They’re both being boring and bad tempered.” Said Hairy Scary.

“She won’t play squareball.” Said Squarehead.

“He won’t play tennis.” Said Ness.

Chinwag barked as if to say: “Anyone fancy throwing a stick?”

“Not now.” Said Squarehead.

Chinwag sat down with the other three. He wasn’t that bothered about sticks. He might just have a little doze while they worked out what to do.

Squarehead was beginning to feel a little guilty about the way he had spoken to SquareNess. It wasn’t very nice. Perhaps he should just compromise (which means do some of what the other person wants) and play tennis. It would be better than just sitting here and feeling cross.

The funny thing is SquareNess was thinking the same thing. Perhaps she should give in and play squareball – she enjoyed squareball really. It would have been nice to play tennis for a change, but anything was better than just sitting here and feeling cross.

“Alright…” said Squarehead.
“Alright…” said SquareNess at the same time.

Then they both spoke together…

“Let’s play squareball….” Said Ness
“Let’s play tennis…” Said Squarehead.

“Squareball tennis?” Said the Hairy Scary with a frown. And when he said that they both looked at him in amazement.

“Squareball tennis!” Said Ness and Squarehead. “What a brilliant idea!”

They took the squareball (football to you) onto the tennis court. And instead of tennis rackets, they used their feet and heads to put the ball over the net. The rules were the same as tennis. Squareball tennis turned out to be the best fun ever. They forgot all about being bored and played all afternoon until it got too dark to see.

“Well done!” Said Squarehead to the Hairy Scary.
“What a clever thing you are!” Said SquareNess
“Woof!” Said Chinwag in a way that said: “He didn’t think of that, you did!”

The four friends walked happily home.

“Can we get a snack now?” Said Hairy Scary.

“We can do better than a snack,” said Squarehead. “It’s dinner time!”

The Hairy Scary smiled. Dinner time was his best time ever.

For an illustrated pdf of this story click this link:  Best Game Ever!

To hear a wonderful reading of this story by Chris Mousicos click on the link below: