Story teller

Today was Kally’s birthday and she could not be stopped from singing and shouting all through her chores.

“Where’s my gun?” Max shouted as he dashed into the house.

“Over the door. What’s the matter?” Catherine asked.

“No time!” Max shouted as he ran out the door. A moment later and a bang came followed with whooping. Everybody in the house ran out to see a big brown bear, lying on the ground with a bloody spot right near the heart.

“W-w-what in t-the world?” Catherine stuttered.

Kally ran up to the bear and studied it. “I’ve always wanted to see a bear up close!” she said excitedly. “What a birthday!”

“Yes, my granddaughter,” Max said right behind her. “This is what was getting into our barn and now he is dead!”

“Wonderful, Papa, lets’ go inside and have a feast!” Catherine said. So the whole family went inside to have a feast for Kally’s birthday… and the death of the thief.

The mess in the barn continued to happen for two more nights! Finally on the second afternoon Max decided to find out what was getting into the barn. As they figured out the day before, the chickens had been raided, and four were missing from the flock; many of the eggs were as well! This was too much for Max. “Tonight I’m gonna sit myself out, and watch for the thief! Whatever or whoever is getting into the barn will perish tonight!”

“Oh, Papa, whatever got into that head of yours?” Catherine said, exasperated for the dynamics. Then she added, “What if it is a person; would you do just the same thing to them as you would an animal?”

“Well I suppose not,” Max replied. That day was a wreck! Dyson was being as naughty as a three year old could be.

“Kally!”

“Yes mother?”

“Dear, please watch Dyson and Molly.”

“What?” Kally almost yelled; “I can’t keep them in order any day, no less the day when Dyson decides to be naughty!”

“Kally!” Cathrine said with a look of shock! “I can’t believe those words fell out of your mouth!”

“Sorry, Mama, sometimes Dyson drives me more than nuts; he drives me nutty”.

“Okay, well, just do your best to keep them out of trouble, okay?”

“Yes, Mama,” Kally sighed as she slowly walked to Dyson and Molly’s room. Things went well until Dyson and Molly decided to go to the storage room. Kally walked behind them and tried unsuccessfully to persuade them to stay in their room. “Ouch! You, you, whatever you are, I’m ashamed you’re my brother! Ugh, OOOWWWWWW! Stop it! You are the worst kid on the earth,” was all Catherine needed to hear before she predicted Kally would run out of the twins’ room and run outside. Just as she predicted Kally ran out of the house muttering about her horrid brother, and, well, her sister too.

“I’ll just finish what I’m doing, and then I will go see what the problem is”. Unfortunately waiting was not the right thing to do, the twins’ had already spread the black stove cleaner all over themselves. Every square inch beside them was black, and a can of jelly preserves was open with finger prints where they had stuck their hands in for a bite. “Kally really can’t watch these children, can she?” Catherine sighed to herself as she observed the mess. That night at supper things were arranged that Kally and the twins, with Beth’s supervision, would clean the storage room.

Everything in the barn was a disaster! Tools, bridles, harnesses, halters, yokes, and anything else that might be in a barn were strewn all over the floor. “What in the great heavens and earth, the Lord hath made, got in here?” Max roared.

“Grandpa, look! My calf is limping, and is scratched; see the blood?”

“Oh, I see, my boy. Lets tend to that calf of yours.” Max hurried to the tack room for the calf cleaning supplies. “Jase, hurry and pump me a bucket of water.”

“Yes sir.” Jase ran to the pump with the buck flying out behind him. After quickly bandaging the calf, they set out to pick up the tools.

“Get a move on, we still have to do the chores and anything else your mother decides for us to do,” Max prodded when Jase’s pace slowed down.

“Yes sir,” Jase replied. He went to work picking up the tools and gear.

After a total of an hour and a half of picking up the tools, Jase and his grandpa were finished. “Feels good to be done, don’t it?”

“Doesn’t it,” Catherine reminded her father, rounding the corner of the barn and startling them both.

“Good grief, daughter! You can startle me better than David could!”

“Papa! Please, I don’t want Jase to have the heavy reminders of his papa.”

“I can’t complain about that.”

“Anyway,” Catherine continued, “Jase does not need any more bad grammar than he was born with!”

“That, your right on,” Max replied to his daughter.

“What took you so long to…? Oh my! You’ve not even done the chores! Jase, your calf! What happened? My! This barn is cleaner than I’ve ever seen it! What is the occasion to clean the barn?” Catherine prattled.

“Take it easy, Catherine,” Max said, “I will tell you at lunch, if the Lord does not tie up my tongue!”

“Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa! You sure can annoy me with your exaggerations.”

At lunch Max told the well exaggerated story to his family; and Jase added, “That’s not what happened,” whenever Max exaggerated too much.

Kally is ten and soon to be eleven. “Hooray, hooray!” shouted Kally, jumping down the stairs three at a time. After reaching the end of the stairs, she headed toward the kitchen where she could smell her mother (Catherine) and older sister, Elizabeth (who is called Beth) making breakfast.

“What’s the racket?” Beth asked irritated.

“In three days is my birthday…and I can’t wait!”

“I do believe you can, now come wash your hands; it’s breakfast time. Beth, please go get…” At that moment screaming and wailing came from Molly and Dyson’s room (they are twins at the age of three).

“Great jumping Jehoshaphat!” Max (their grand-father) said as he jumped up and hurried to the twin’s room with Catherine right behind “They sound like a tornado is after them.”

“Thankfully there is no tornado,” Catherine replied calmly to her exaggerative grandfather. When they reached the bedroom it was quite except for a few moans and whimpers from Molly and Dyson, “Are you okay?” Catherine asked. She said without waiting for an answer, “Let’s take you to the kitchen, so we can eat.”

After breakfast Max and Jase (Kally’s older brother) went to the barn to chore the family animals. When they reached the barn, the barn door was open! Inside, was a nightmare.