The Adventures of Misfit Marvin

There once was a boy named Marvin.
He was a short scrawny kid with freckles and deep dimples.
Marvin liked to play with bugs outside, in the front yard.
Marvin liked all kinds of bugs.
Crickets and butterflies were his favorite.
All summer long, Marvin played with Bugs.

Sometimes he would take his pet dog, Marbles down by the bayou.
At the bayou they would chase butterflies.
Sometimes they would catch bugs in a jar.
Marvin would poke holes in the lid after he would catch them.
Marvin would lie on his back and stare at the jar for hours.
The kids in the neighborhood would laugh at him.
Marvin never liked to play stickball or four square as did the other kids.
He just wanted to play with bugs.

The kids sometime would follow Marvin down by the bayou.
They would call him weird and hurtful words like ugly.
One day, a girl named Jenny called him a misfit.
From that day on, they called him Misfit Marvin.

They even made up a song about him.
“There goes Misfit Marvin goin’ to the bayou”
“He and that stupid dog will walk right by you”
“So where ever you go, this one story is true”
“Don’t talk to Marvin, or you will be a misfit too”
The song always made Marvin sad.
He would say to himself.
“I’m not a misfit. I just want to play with bugs”
“Bugs are fun.”
“What’s the big deal?”

Marvin would just ignore the kids when they would sing the song.
Yet, inside he heard it all time.
It was not fair.
Marvin thought bugs were cool.
He liked the different colors and shapes of the bugs.
Some of them crawled and some of them flew.
He thought to himself.
“I wish I was a bug”
“I could just fly away like the butterflies do”

One evening before dinner, Marvin went down by the bayou.
He looked around for bugs, but he did not see any.
He was puzzled.
“Where are the bugs?”
After awhile, he decided to sit by the water.
He saw minnows in the water swimming.
He even saw frogs on the banks of the bayou.
He even saw crawfish.
“Cool!” he said excitedly.
“Maybe I can catch a crawfish”

Marvin took the lid off his jar.
He stooped down by the water to try and scoop up a crawfish.
The crawfish was too fast for him.
The crawfish just darted out of way.
Meanwhile, Marvin’s mom begins to worry about where Marvin was.
All the kids were inside having dinner.
Marvin’s mom was worried that his food was going to be cold.
She decided to go look for Marvin.
She went down the street looking for him.
He was no where to be found.

She decided to go to the bayou because that was Marvin’s favorite place to go.
When she went to the bayou, she saw Marvin trying to scoop up a crawfish.
Poor Marvin slipped and fell into the water.
“Marvin! Are you alright?”
Marvin was soak and wet and very dirty from the water.
His mother’s voice startled him.
“Oh mom, I’m okay I was just trying to catch a stupid crawfish, that’s all”

Marvin’s mom sighed.
“Oh Marvin, get up here this instance!”
Marvin looked around for a moment and made his way up the side of the bayou.
“Boy, look at you, you’re a mess!” she laughed.
“Oh mom” said Marvin with a grin.
Marbles, Marvin’s dog barked in agreement.
“Woof”
So Marvin, his mom and Marbles made their way home.
It was quiet for a minute.

Then Marvin broke the silence.
“I hope none of the kids see me” he said.
“Why?” said his mom curiously?
“So I won’t have to hear that stupid song” Marvin replied.
“What stupid song?” asked Marvin’s mom.
“Well. The kids made up a song about me”.
“What song?”

Marvin sighed deeply.
“Oh it’s just a stupid song, that’s all”
“Hmmm. So tell me.”
“Well. It kind of goes like this”
“There goes Misfit Marvin goin’ to the bayou”
“He and that stupid dog will walk right by you”
“So where ever you go, this one story is true”
“Don’t talk to Marvin, or you will be a misfit too”
“Oh… that’s not nice”
“Yeah. It’s awful. I hate it”.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Why do kids call me a misfit?”
“Well. Why do you think?”
“I don’t know. I just like to play with bugs. I think bugs are cool.”
“Well, Marvin I just think the kids see you as different”
“Yeah. I like bugs. Bugs are cool”
“So maybe the kids don’t think bugs are cool”
“I don’t care. Bugs are cool mom”.
“Well, Marvin because you like bugs doesn’t mean everyone else thinks their cool”
“I know. Maybe I’m different”
“Maybe you are”.
“And if bugs are cool, that makes them different and since I’m different that makes me cool, huh?”
“Yes, Marvin. You are cool.”
“Then great, I am different and cool. So I guess being a misfit is cool after all”.
“Yes Marvin being different is cool, now come on your dinner is getting cold”
“Cool. Uh… I mean okay. Being different is cool”.
“I like being different mom. Mom?”
“What?”
“Thanks”.
“Thanks for what?”
“Thanks for being cool”

Marvin’s mom smiled as they walked home and Marvin smiled too.
It’s cool to be different.