Tell a Story, Teach a Lesson

in #newbieresteemday6 years ago (edited)

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My day off!

On my days off I liked to cook supper for the family. Lesa didn't seem to mind me taking over the kitchen, and besides, there were better things for her to do.

I was about to cut up an onion when the kitchen door flew open and a little blond head rushed in and, BLAM! The tea cups rattled in the cabinets.

"Don't SLAM the door, Coulter," I called after him as he rushed in to kiss his Mom.

Turning back to my vegetable chopping the door flew open again, and BLAM!

Slammed again!

"VERNON!"

"Yes sir?"

"DON'T SLAM THE DOOR!"

"Okay, he said and went to find his Mama. I turned back to my cutting board in a foul mood and grumbled when the Missus walked in. "Always slamming the #$%@ doors and running all through the house @$#% getting into all kinds of....., AND ANOTHER THING," I said, waving the chef's knife around.

Lesa put her hand on her hip and huffed, "What's the matter now?"

"What's the matter now? What do you mean, "Whats the matter now? Do I complain THAT much? Besides, if I have told those boys once, I've told them a thousand times, DON'T SLA......."

I couldn't finish, on account of the kiss, you know?"

"They're little boys, cut them some slack."

They wandered in with their school books and sat at the kitchen table to do homework.

The Missus cooled my jets enough and I wasn't mad anymore so I inquired, "What did you fine young gentlemen learn in school today?"

"Nuttin'," sighed Coulter. "Not much," his brother replied.

I swear, I couldn't understand why we kept sending them to school. From about day three of kindergarten they hadn't learned a ding dang thing, according to them.

After I turned the gumbo down to a simmer, I sat down and reviewed their work and helped where I could. We tried to make homework a pleasant experience for them.

After supper, I went out to work in the garden and they had a chance to play before dark. That night, when I herded them off to bed, I queried, "Do ya'll want to read a book tonight or should I tell a story?"

"Story, story," shouted Coulter jumping up and down! "Yeah, Papa, tell a story," said his brother.

"A story it is then," I agreed.

They had recently gotten bunk beds. The new routine was to climb to the top bunk for story time. The bottom bunk would have suited me fine, but noooooo, they insisted on the change in elevation!

After everyone got comfortable, or at least as comfortable as an adult man could be squeezed between two kids in a bunk bed, I began.

"One time, a long time ago, there was this old lady who lived on the banks of the bayou," I said it in a soft voice. I found if you spoke real soft and slow sometimes they would quiet down.

"This old lady lived on the bayou since the day her old man and she were married," I spoke softly. The young man built the same house she still lived in. He built it before he asked her daddy for her hand in marriage.

"They snuggled in closer.

"Back then, she was young and exceptionally pretty too! Her man was young and almost as handsome as you boys are."

They grinned and giggled.

"Now, this young girl saw the house the young man had built and decided, it was a good enough nest for her, and if her Papa said yes to her young man, then she would be glad to marry him!"

"Wait Papa," groaned Vernon," it was a house, NOT a nest!"

"Well, now, that is true but, you have to understand. A young girl wants to get married to the right person and build a home, a nest, so to speak, and raise fine young chicks, like you and Coulter." I said, and tickled them both.

When they settled back down we continued.

"Well, this young couple got married and had three children, one boy and two girls. One of the girls died young, on account of she pitched such a fit at the doctors office her mama thought she would wait a year or so to have her vaccinated for the small pox."

"During her third summer, she caught the pox and swelled up and DIED! This made her mama sad and many years went by before she smiled again."

The boys were due for their booster shots. I thought they might need something to dwell on.

"Well now," I continued, "the other little girl was playing by the bayou one day when up comes this thunderstorm and she ran and stood under a tall pine tree so she wouldn't get too wet. Unfortunately, her mama lost her other girl right there ,on account of a pine tree is no safe place to be under during a thunderstorm."

" ZAAAAAP!"

"A lightning bolt came out of the sky and fried her up like a strip of BACON!"

"PAAAAPA, no it didn't," said Coulter.

"Oh, yes indeed! Extra crispy too," I said!

"Many years went by and time healed the poor woman's heart and she experience some joys and more sorrows as time passed. Because that's how life is sometimes," I added.

"Her son grew up into a fine young man, and when the war came he signed up and went off to serve his country."

"What war was that Papa," wondered Coulter?

"Well, you know, the BIG WAR! I'm thinking maybe it was World War II."

"It was a bad one, huh, Papa," he asked?

"Oh yeah," I exclaimed, "as far as wars go, they are all bad, but this particular one was a VERY bad war!"

"Well, this fella went off to the war and became a hero, on account of the enemy throwing a grenade into the foxhole he was occupying. He was down in this hole with a couple of his buddies and he threw himself down on this grenade to save his friends."

"Did it kill the young man,Papa," inquired Vernon.

"Oh yes indeed," I replied, "some say that grenade blew the poor fella into so many pieces they had to gather him up with a yard rake!"

Boys like graphic detail!

"Anyway, this army general came to the old woman's house one day, with a letter signed by the PRESIDENT himself! He thanked her for the service her son had done for his country and described how he had died a hero and how proud she must be for his sacrifice! I know she was proud of her boy but, still, she felt extremely sad that she had lost her last child in a senseless war."

"Did she cry, Papa," pondered Coulter.

"Yes indeed, the poor lady cried for the rest of her life, every time she thought of her lost babies she cried a river of tears."

I let it sink in awhile.

I continued, "This story isn't about her, it's about her rooster."

"Her ROOSTER?"

"Yep, her rooster"

I started again, "When this old woman was very old, and after her man passed on, the place kinda got run down." She couldn't keep the place up in the same fashion her husband had, and nature started to take over."

"Of course, her neighbors helped her when they could but the out buildings started to get old and in disrepair."

"There was this hen house, out by the bayou, where she kept a few chickens. That shed was about to fall down!"

" Sometime in the past, a squirrel had buried some acorns up next to the coup and an acorn sprouted and started growing an oak tree right next to the place. Years went by and the roots of this tree undermined the foundation and pushed in one of the walls. The roof started to leak and the rafters rotted."

"The best thing about this chicken coup was the fancy door her man made, he was handy with tools, you know?"

"This was made in such a way that, when a chicken stepped on a ramp the door would open and ring a little bell. This bell didn't scare the chickens, but a sneaky fox would be scared off and leave the hens alone."

"Anyway," I carried on, "this old lady had a large red rooster that thought he was something! Yes sir, he would strut himself around and scratch among his hens and run off any dog that might try to mess with them. He was THAT bad!"

"We have a red rooster too, Papa, did he look like ours," inquired Coulter?

"You know, now you mention it, I think he did look like ours!"

We continued with the story.

"This bird had a habit of strutting up and down the bayou, crowing and ruffling his feathers and generally enjoying himself. Every now and then he would come up to the bank and snatch an unfortunate June bug or grasshopper from the grass for a snack. One day he was near the bank and WHOOSH!"

"This big ole alligator rushed up the mud bank after him!"

I reached at Coulter like I was going to snatch him too! He giggled.

"Let me tell you , Mr. Rooster had a fright! Yes indeed, he ran off clucking and flapping and made a terrible noise!"

"You know what?"

"What," Vernon asked?

"After that cock calmed down he started studying the situation. He watched the gator swimming in the cat tails on the far bank, and when it was safe, he went back to where it attacked him. Right there, on the steep muddy bank, he could see the tracks the reptile made when he rushed up the bank after him. It looked like he slid back into the water, because the bank was too slippery to climb out there."

"After awhile, the chance came to test this theory, on account of the alligator slipped under the water and rushed at him again!"

"Did he catch him this time, Papa," questioned Coulter?

"Nope," I said, "It startled him some, but, as he suspected, the big lizard couldn't climb the bank."

"Now, this chicken was ornery and mean and he discovered a way to torment this poor creature. Every morning he would herd his hens out into the yard where they would scratch around and search for bugs. After awhile, he would strut over to the mud bank and, sure enough, the alligator would be on the far bank waiting for a chance at him. He would slip under the water and with a few strokes of his leathery tail, would be up the bank and after the rooster, only to slip back into the muddy water and disappear."

"Now, old Mr. Rooster made a game of this behavior, and every chance he got he would tease this alligator. One day, after another episode of, NAH,NAH,NAH,NAH,NAAAAAH, NAH, YOU CAN"T CATCH ME. The old lizard changed his behavior."

"Instead of swimming through the cattails, he crawled out into the swamp on the other side and retuned with a mouth full of sticks and leaves and mud and whatnot and slipped back under the water with this load."

"The whole day the alligator made trips into the swamp returning with trash in his mouth. No matter how much the rooster teased him, the gator kept it up and ignored him. After the chickens went inside to roost, the alligator kept making his trips. Even after twilight, and the chickens all inside, the gator still worked."

"Later, when he settled on the roost that evening the old bird musta thought he had driven the alligator out of his mind."

"Do you think that gator went crazy," I ask them?

"Perhaps so," said Vernon, "he sure acted funny."

"Well, I'm here to tell you, he wasn't! No indeed!"

"You see, the alligator had been watching Mr. Beaver build his dams for so long he knew he could use the knowledge himself! He worked long into the night, piling mud and sticks on the bottom of the bayou, blocking the flow of water, until just before dawn, the water rose high enough on the bank that he could go over the top easy!"

"WOW," exclaimed Coulter, and rubbed his hands together expectantly.

"The next morning the rooster woke up bright and early and started crowing."

"Soon enough, all the hens got up, and hopped down the old rotten roost to start their day keeping bugs out of the old woman's flowers."

"The old rascal stretched and walked out the little door, he scratched around with the hens awhile then decided he'd go pester that poor lizard some more. Maybe enough to send him over the edge! He thought." He walked right up to the edge of the bayou and opened his mouth to let out a crow."

"The water EXPLODED!"

" Here came the alligator, with a full head of steam!"

" It hit that bank and slid up the slippery mud like it was a launching ramp, and it was too, on account of that gator was moving so fast he became airborne!"

"The old cock was so surprised he couldn't move but, before those toothy jaws snapped shut on him, he was able to dodge to the right!"

"Now let me tell you fellas, the chase was ON! "

"The monster went after the rooster with a vengeance!"

"Jaws were snapping, feathers were flying, roars and squawks like you never heard before!"

"Once, the gator got so close, that he got a mouth full of tail feathers! Yep, plucked em right out of his butt!"

They giggled.

" After the near miss, the reptile swung his heavy tail at the roosters head!"

"SWOOSH!

"The rooster ducked to keep from getting his block knocked off."

"Things were getting mighty desperate for the old chicken, and he knew the only way to save himself was to get inside, so he headed for the hen house! He made it to the little ramp just in time too! Those teeth were snapping at his backside! He dove inside, and slammed the little door behind him, and you know what happened next?"

"No, Papa, what," they both asked?

" Well, it was a funny thing."

"No sooner had the rooster slammed that little door than the old coup collapsed right on top of him and squashed him flat!"

I paused here, for effect.

"Was he hurt," asked Coulter?

"Hurt," said I? Well I guess he was!"

" He slammed the little door so hard it knocked the last rusty nail out of the last rotten board that was holding the dilapidated old structure together!"

"Hurt him, indeed! Killed him graveyard dead! Dead as a hammer! There wasn't any resurrecting that old bird, he was a goner!"

I let them think on it for awhile.

"Do you know what the moral of this story is?"

"No, Papa, what," they asked?

"Don't ever, ever, never, SLAM THE DOOR, when you rush into a place. Not even if a mean old alligator is chasing you!"

"GOOD NIGHT BOYS!

I hope you liked this little tale, if you did please share it.

I'd like to give some credit to John Irving whose The World According to Garp inspired the" bait and switch" technique in this story.

He has a similar story embedded in the text of his novel that involve a dog and cat, but delivers a different moral.

His was really a life changing novel that had a positive influence on the way I developed.

Make the time to read it some day.

Thank me later!

CARRY ON!

If you liked this story you might enjoy these other recent post.



All photos are the property of the author

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very clever story!!! you're a great writer @beekerst, i like the way you narrate the story... this is really enjoyable.

Thanks for the great comment @reginecruz! It's responses like yours that keep me motivated! CARRY ON!

What a great story @beekerst. You're a natural, and I would love for you to tell stories at our preschool .... pity it's across the ocean!

Thanks for those kind words! I love to get feed back on my little tales! Inspires me to write more!

very witty story! I was thoroughly entertained! ;-)

I'm glad you liked it @amariespeaks! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you and your friends at newbieresteemday initiative for making my first days here so enjoyable. Had it not been for your encouragement I may have given up before I learned enough to stick around! Thanks so much!

@beekerst you're very welcome! we LOVE hearing we're helping new people stick with Steemit!! So happy to see your name in the #trending section! :-D Keep Steemin'!!

You have received an upvote from @nicestbot. I am an automated curation bot trying to make minnows happy.

Sneaky Ninja Attack! You have been defended with a 9.27% vote... I was summoned by @beekerst! I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...Whoosh

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