Barney's Friends And Hero

Eight year old Barney Livingston lived with his parents, three year old sister, Nadine, and six year old brother, Wyatt. He had a great fear of spiders. One day one landed on his nose which made him sob uncontrollably. He was about half the size of kids his age. Some of them constantly laughed at him and ridiculed him which made him sob uncontrollably. He hid in his room and missed some school. His parents talked him into going back to school and finding a new circle of friends who didn't judge him for his size which he did.

This group of seven boys became Barney's best friends. A boy named Bennett had a lot of big freckles on his face, red splotches on his arms. A boy named Avery walked with a limp, favoring his right leg. Gavin had a sleep disorder and had chronic tardiness at school. Chet had to wear glasses with big lenses to help him see. Jackson suffered from anxiety. Kaden recently gained fifty pounds. Leonard had a mild hearing loss in his one ear. Eric stuttered once in a while. After Barney found this group of seven boys, he kept his distance from the boys who laughed at him and ridiculed him for his size.

Barney's greatest feat happened when he saved a two year old boy's life. He lived in Nevada and learned to swim in the swimming hole which was also a pool when he was three. He jumped in the pool with flotation devices when he was two. One summer day when he was six, he swam in the far end of the pool with a few of his friends then rested. When he looked up, he saw a two year old boy who was just wearing jeans walking toward the pool as fast as his little legs could go.

When Barney looked up, he saw the boy walking into the water. He couldn't keep his head above water and had a hard time breathing. Barney walked 100 feet and jumped into the pool where the boy was. He put his arm around him and held the boy while he swam to safety. His friends lauded him for saving the two year old's life.

On one of the days Barney hid in his room instead of going to school, he turned te radio on. The song "Come Play With Me", a Jazz song by Frank Sinatra was playing. He loved the song, and Frank Sinatra was his hero. Barney had a keyboard and learned to play it by ear when he was five. He decided he would learn to play "Come Fly With Me" on his keyboard and also learn to play it on the trumpet. He rented a trumpet from an online music store. Then he found an instructor online who was willing to teach him the song. He had his trumpet class for two hours five days a week and practiced playing the song on his trumpet for an hour two times a day, five days a week. Barney learned to play the song in two months. It took him longer than two months to learn to play "Come Fly With Me" on his keyboard because he didn't have anyone to teach him to play the song on his keyboard. It took him around four months to learn to play the song on his keyboard after practicing the song for an hour a day, five days a week. He was glad he could practice his keyboard and trumpet in his bedroom instead of in the garage where practicing would bother his neighbors.

Barney got to play "Come Fly With Me" with other students on his trumpet at a recital with other online students. The recital was arranged by their instructor. He had no trouble playing the song. All his practicing paid off. He had now mastered two instruments.