리틀팍스

His name is Leonardo, and his friends call him Leo,

but his family calls him sardine. This is because

once, several years ago, when the relatives were over,

shouting and laughing and shaking their fists, Leo got

squashed in a corner and cried, and when they asked

him why he was crying, he said, "I'm just a little sardine,

squashed in a tin."

    "A sardine?" his brother Pietro said. "A sardine?"

    And everyone laughed and took up the chant: "Leo's a

 sardine! Leo's a sardine!" Leo's youngest brother, Nunzio,

lisps. He calls Leo thardine. 

    It is not a good idea to call yourself a sardine in a 

family like Leo's, who will not let you forget it.

   When they are not calling him a sardine, they

sometimes call him fog boy. "Hey, fog boy!" his older

sister Contento calls. "Earth to fog boy___" Some of his

teachers even call him fog boy. "Fog boy! Wake up! Get

with the program!"

   Once, the drama teacher called him the dreamer, add-

ing that it was not a bad thing to be a dreamer, that all

the great writers and artists and musicians were dream-

ers. Leo wished his teacher would tell his family that.