The Boy Who Was A Knot
By Kat Graef

(Dedicated to anyone who has ever found themselves in a knot.)

Nerbert lived a normal life.
He lived in a normal house,
had a normal family, and had a normal obsession with chocolate mousse cake.
The only thing that wasn't normal about Nerbert was the fact that he was stuck in a giant knot.

It wasn't really Nerbert's fault. It happened
just after Nerbert had learned to tie his
shoelaces for the first time. He was so
excited that he darted over to his mother
to show off his new talent. He rapidly began
to tie his laces, twisting his arms this way
and that.
Under!
Over!
Through!
Before he knew it, his arms had become a giant knot!

Since then, many people had tried to untie
Nerbert, but he just wouldn't budge. Even
Miss Lace down the street, who was a
professional untier of even the most difficult
knots, came over to try and get Nerbert loose. After taking one look at Nerbert, she told his parents it was hopeless and that he'd be stuck in a knot forever.

Nerbert's knottiness soon began to get in the
way of his once normal life. During
basketball game in gym class, the ball kept
landing in Nerbert's knotted arms by mistake.
"He's a basket!" One kid yelled, and with
that, all the children began to throw
basketballs into Nerbert's arms, until all the
balls were gone.
The gym teacher, Mrs. Morlaps asked why
there were no balls left. She blamed Nerbert
for the whole fiasco and had to call Miss Lace
to loosen the basketballs. After she had
removed all twenty-seven basketballs,
Nerbert found his arms in an even knottier
knot than before.

Nerbert's knot began to cause problems at
lunchtime as well. Whenever Nerbert reached
over the table for the ketchup, all the other
food got tangled into his arms. Kids began to
tease him and call him "Nerbert the Knot".
Even at home, Nerbert's family started to get
fed up with his knottiness.

One day as Nerbert was dragging his knotted
self to school, he noticed a little girl in tears
on the side of the road.
"What's wrong?" Nerbert asked.
"I don't want to go to school!" The little girl
said, between sobs. "The kids make fun of
me because I don't know my alphabet yet.
Even my teacher Mrs.McReader says I should
know my ABC's by now."
The girl continued to sob. Nerbert thought
about this and then suddenly got an idea. He began to form letters with his long, knotted arms.
"I can help you learn your alphabet!" Nerbert
exclaimed. "This is an A! And this - a B!"
Nerbert showed her the letters.
The little girl began to giggle.

When the little girl got to class she recited the alphabet for her teacher. Mrs. McReader was very proud, as well as confused. She asked the little girl how she had come to know her letters.

"I had some help!" The little girl smiled, "From Nerbert the Knot!"

That gave Mrs. McReader an idea.

Mrs. McReader asked Nerbert if he would come into her class sometimes to help the children learn their letters. Nerbert was quite pleased at the offer.
He began to help all the students who were having troubles with letters, and soon there wasn't a kid in the entire school who didn't know their alphabet - thanks to Nerbert.
One day, as Nerbert was forming letters to the alphabet song in a kindergarten class, his arms somehow became untied! He was finally free from being a giant knot!

Now, since Nerbert had been a knot for such a long time, his arms were quite stretched. They were long enough to reach across an entire classroom.
But Nerbert seemed sad since his arms had become untangled, and one night at the dinner table Nerbert's father asked him what was wrong.
"Well, I know I should be happy and all, now that I'm back to my normal self. But whose going to teach the alphabet now?"
His father considered this. "Well, you can Nerbert!" He said after a moment's thought.
"Huh?" Nerbert was confused.
"Not only can you teach the alphabet, but you can teach whole words! Why, your arms are so long you can spell anything!"

And Nerbert did.