Fred Rover's Big Win

Fred Rover's Big Win is a W-Tales story that was previously featured in the Kinzville Times. It tells the tale of how Fred Rover learned how to have fun rather than to focus on winning, with the help of his friend Quizzy Bear. It was removed from the Newspaper in May 2010.[1]

Summary

The story starts in Fred Rover's childhood when he was in elementary school. His friends saw how much Fred liked to jump and run and asked him if he wanted to do a jumping contest. Fred accepts, and shocks the others when he wins. He realizes he likes the feeling of winning, and wants to have that feeling again. He talks to his friend Quizzy Bear about this, who becomes concerned over his friend's newfound fascination.

The next day, a class race is held and Fred enters it. As he's in the lead, a fellow competitor Petunia Pringle gets ahead of him and wins the race. Fred immediately accuses her of cheating and is adamant that he should've won. He is made to apologize to Petunia for accusing her, but doesn't understand why he had to. He tells an uneasy Quizzy that he himself plans to cheat to win again.

After Fred's accusation, other kids start to avoid him, which he brushes off as "their loss". He then joins a soccer game who are low on players. During the end of the match, while the opposing team's defender had fallen, he notices the ball out of bounds. Instead of picking it up and waiting to pass it back in, he nudges it inbound and makes the winning goal for his team. He is cheered for and congratulated for his win, but he felt it wasn't quite the same as when he won the jumping contest. He assumes he just needs a larger audience and decides to ask Petunia for a rematch.

The rematch had indeed grown a large audience, including attracting those who didn't want to hang out with him. During the race, Fred sticks his leg out in front of Petunia before she could pass him to make her trip and fall. Fred passes the finish line and cheers for himself, but then sees that everyone else is silent and glaring at him. Petunia, with tears in her eyes, gets up and remarks that Fred is now the cheater.

No one in the school lets Fred play with them anymore, having become known to be a cheater and a sore loser. He confides in Quizzy about how confused he was, still not recognizing his unfair attitude. Quizzy snaps and tells him that Petunia never cheated, Fred shouldn't have cheated, and that he's a sore loser. Quizzy storms off and leaves a still confused Fred, who claims he'll find new friends to hang out and play with. Unfortunately, everyone shuns him and refuses to let him join in games. After a failed attempt to play with a few kindergarten aged girls, he sees that he is alone.

A soccer match catches his attention. He notices that both teams are playing fair and congratulating each other for their goals, and when the game ends, Fred couldn't even tell who had won. Quizzy comes up behind him, who overheard Fred making a remark about the game. Quizzy then gives him advice on how playing with a nice player is better than playing with a cheater. Fred then realizes how much better it is to play fair and friendly. To make up for his poor sportsmanship, he signs up for the school race taking place next week.

At the race, he sees Petunia and attempts to be friendly, though she pretends she can't hear him. The race starts, and soon Petunia is in the lead and Fred is in the middle of a pack of runners. He considers cheating again but promptly decides against it. He ends up coming in second place with Petunia in first. Fred congratulates Petunia, who finally acknowledges him and congratulates him back. He receives a silver medal.

Years later, Fred would be hired as an announcer for the Webkinz Stadium on the account of having a good attitude and knowing how to play fair.

Setting

Characters

• Fred Rover is the announcer and host for the Webkinz Stadium. As a kid, he had trouble knowing how to play fair and to have fun in contests.
• Quizzy Bear is the game show host of Quizzy's Corner. He's Fred's childhood friend and the voice of reason.
• Petunia Pringle is a rabbit who beats Fred in two out of the three contests she was in with him. She is accused of being a cheater despite playing fair.

Locations

• An unnamed elementary school