Lester and Roley are going shopping today.  They want to buy some new crayons and paper to make cards for their friends.

It is raining outside today. The sky is gray and gloomy.
 

Their favorite store is very close to where they live, so they walk there.  Lester stands over Roley so he doesn’t get wet.  Roley wears his roller skates so he can keep up with Lester.  Plus, Roley is always in a hurry. 

When they get to the store, Lester ducks down to fit into the doorway since he is so big.  When he is inside, he can see everything in the store.  There sure are a lot of things for sale and a lot of shoppers too. 

Lester sees the aisle with the art supplies so they head that way.  The floors are very slippery in the store.  Roley skates move very fast.

When they get to the aisle, Roley can’t stop his skates on the slippery floor!  He crashes into a display of paints!

Paint jars fly everywhere!  There are red, green, blue, yellow, brown, purple, pink, and oranges blobs of color everywhere!  The store looks very colorful!

Lester helps his super best friend to get back on his feet.  Poor Roley is covered in paint too!  He is so embarrassed.

Other shoppers stop to help Roley and to pick up the paint jars.  Some of them start falling into the paint!  The spilled paint made the floor even more slippery!

Pretty soon all of the shoppers are covered in paint too!  The store looks even more colorful!  Everyone is laughing.  The bright colors make them feel very happy and cheerful. 

Lester and Roley start laughing too.  What a fun way to spend a gloomy and rainy day!

Lester is an ogre.  Some people think ogres are monsters.  He is not a monster.  He loves everyone!

Sometimes people are scared and run away when they see Lester because he is so big.  He can almost touch the sky!  What do you think clouds feel like? 

Roley the tortoise is Lester’s super best friend.  Roley is not his real name.  He is called Roley because he wears roller skates.  Roley’s real name is Putsy-Butsy because he is so slow.  Even though he is slow, Roley is always in a hurry.  He wears roller skates to move faster.   Have you ever seen a tortoise wearing roller skates?

Roley moves really fast when going downhill!  Sometimes he goes so fast that he has to crash into things in order to stop!  Good thing he has a shell and a helmet to protect him when he crashes.

As you can see, Lester and Roley look very different.  Lester is very big, and Roley is small.  Lester is purple, and Roley is green like grass.  Even though they are different, they like to do the same things and go to the same places.  They are super best friends.   How are you different from your friends?  How are you the same?

Lester and Roley’s favorite place to go is to the beach.  They like to swim and look at the fish in the water.  Fish are really good swimmers.   Can you think of other animals that swim in the water?

Roley is a really good swimmer.  Tortoisess like to swim in the water.  Sometimes Roley is in such a hurry to go swimming that he forgets to take off his roller skates before he jumps into the water.  It is hard to swim in roller skates!

Lester and Roley also like to play in the sand at the beach.  Sometimes the wheels on Roley’s skates get stuck in the sand.  If that happens, Lester lifts him out and puts him on the sidewalk so he can skate again.  Lester likes to help his super best friend.

Lester and Roley love building giant sandcastles.  They are so big that Roley can lie in them and take a nap!  He gets tired from always being in a hurry. 

But Lester and Roley’s favorite part about being at the beach is being with their super best friend.