short stories

 number 1

For the past several weeks I’ve been having problems with my personal ecosystem.  Ugh.  I just hate that.  I’ve been good though.  Exercising regularly.  Not getting too hot.  And, watching what I eat and drink.  One of the things that sends said ecosystem into a tizzy is coffee.  That’s fine, I just changed over to tea.  I like tea thought I will say, I’m a bit of a tea snob.  I like black tea and please give me leaves not the powder you find in tea bags.  I don’t like green tea and white tea is pretty much tasteless.  Oolong is okay but I’d rather have black.

All tea comes from the same plant - Camellia sinensis.  The different types – black, oolong, green, white – has to do with the type and time of processing.  Ok, probably more than you wanted to know.

Anyway – lately the ecosystem has been getting back to normal so I thought I’d try coffee this morning.  Now, I have a Keurig.  It’s perfect for me as I seldom have more than one cup.  Lately, the Keurig has been living on the top shelf in my pantry.  So, this morning I got it down; stretched up on tiptoes, wiggled it a bit until I could get a grip on it. 

Yes, I know – would have been much easier if I’d had gotten the stepstool but – nope. 

So, I got it down, set it up, and all of a sudden, my tubby little body said a great big

Fine.  I picked up the machine and proceeded to put it back.  Now the Keurig is heavy.  Wiggling it down was one thing but lifting it over my head to a high shelf was a sincere challenge.  Again, on tiptoes, lifting the heavy Keurig over my head, trying to get it in a small space . . . . annnnnnd I lost my grip.  It crashed down on me, the heaviest part hitting me in the face. 

Yep, shoulda gotten the stepstool. 

number 2

Jean Sot Guards the Door

A Louisiana Tall Tale

One day, Jean Sot’s mother wanted to go to town.  "Now Jean," she said, "I want you to guard the door.  "Yes, Mama," Jean Sot agreed.  Jean’s mother left for town. Jean waited and waited for her to get back. But she was gone a very long time. Jean got worried, and decided to look for her. But he remembered he had promised to guard the door. 

So Jean took the door off of its hinges and carried it on his back when he went to look for his mother.

Along the way, Jean Sot saw some robbers coming along the path, carrying a heavy sack of money.

Jean Sot was frightened. He adjusted the door on his back as best as he could and climbed up a nearby tree to wait for the robbers to go by. But the robbers stopped underneath the tree! They sat down and began to count their money. The chief robber counted out the money for each man, saying: "This is for you, and this is for you, and this is for you."  "And that one’s for me," Jean Sot cried. The robbers were startled. They looked around, but couldn’t see anyone. The chief robber began counting again: "This is for you, and this is for you, and this is for you."  Again, Jean Sot said: "That one’s for me!"  "Who is that?" called the chief robber. "I will wring his fool neck!"

Jean Sot was so scared he began to shake, and the door fell off his back and down onto the robbers.

"The Devil is throwing doors at us!" shouted one of the robbers. They were so frightened that all the robbers ran away without their money. So Jean Sot climbed down the tree, picked up the money and the door and took them home to his mother.

number 3

My sister and I do occasionally attend estate sales.  For the most part – they are glorified garage sales held inside a home though sometimes they are really amazing.  This one pretty much fit into the glorified garage sale.  There were

some unique items –

and someone in that house baked –

fancy cakes,

plus they were prepared for the invasion of the The Golden Horde  the group of Mongols who ruled over Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and the Caucasus from the 1240s until 1502.

and loved to decorate.

Guess they didn’t believe in the Easter bunny.

well, I’m going to quit now – my cheek is really hurting and I have a terrible headache.

 

24 Aug 2021