Story Telling Day!

"It's all storytelling, you know. That's what journalism is all about."

~ Tom Brokaw~

"The storytelling gift is innate: one has it or one doesn't. But style is at least partly a learned thing: one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice - by work." ~Donna Tartt~

Today is Storytelling day. I thought about several different ways of doing this blog today but decided to share one of my old stories. I hope you enjoy my story!

Something Old; Something New
A story By Patricia Sawyer.

Lisbet sat with her back against the wall and watched the leaves fall through the broken window. The sun was going down and soon another day would be gone. She wondered how many days she had been sitting here.

As the sun faded away behind the clouds the shadows slowly settled around the room. They covered the leaves piled under the window, and then the train tossed on the sagging old reading table. Finally even the tiny metal soldiers, marching in their crooked lines across the toy chest, were hidden in the darkness.

Lisbet was very sad. Every night she would sit awake and remember when she was new. Her dress had been Baby blue satin, fit for a princess. Not this untidy scrap she wore now. Her long dark hair had been braided neatly and tied with shiny blue ribbons instead of hanging dirty and tangled as it did right now. She had even worn shoes on her tiny feet and a snowy white bonnet on her head. But most of all Lisbet had a girl back then. A girl of her very own to love and share secrets with. As she drifted off to sleep she wondered how much longer she would have to wait. She wished she could be "New" again.

Lisbet woke just as the sun was peaking over the tree tops. She knew it was still early and wondered what had awakened her. She looked all around the dim dusty attic. The leaves were still piled under the broken window. The cobwebs still hung wispy, white in the corners. The train was still on the table and the soldiers were still marching in their crazy, crooked lines. Everything looked the exactly the same. Then she understood. It wasn't something she could see. It SOUNDED different! She heard voices! She wiggled close to the edge of her shelf trying to hear better. It had been so long since she had heard voices! "Oh MY goodness!" she said to herself, "Maybe I will be new again!" She was certain she heard the ring, ring of a phone, and the clang clang of pots as someone cooked breakfast. She hadn't seen a breakfast in a long long time. She could feel her doll heart beat with excitement. Then she heard a loud slam and everything was silent again.

Lisbet sat back against the wall and began to think that she had just been dreaming. She had hoped that a family had come here to live in the old house once again. A family with some boys for the train and the soldiers. A family with a girl for herself. In the early morning quietness Lisbet was even sadder. " Just a stupid dream!" she thought. All day Lisbet watched the clouds float by and thought about her dream. She had been certain that she had heard sounds from downstairs.

CLONK! CLUMP! PLUNK!

"What was that?" Lisbet wondered. She looked at the old train. It was still as before.

CLONK! CLUMP! PLUNK!

" I know I heard it then !" she said. She looked at the soldiers. Their lines didn't seem nearly so crooked all of a sudden.

THUMP..... THUMP......THUMP.....THUMP....

She knew it! She knew someone was coming. Someone was climbing the old staircase hidden in the upstairs closet. Someone was coming up to the attic. She was so excited she could barely sit still. The rusty bolt scraped as it slid back. The old hinges squeaked loudly as the door was slowly pushed open.

Lisbet quietly watched the child standing in the door. He wore an old tattered baseball cap and faded jeans. As he gazed around the darkened room he tossed a ball into the air, catching it in his other hand. "Ma! Come quick!" he yelled as he ran out and down the stairs. "A boy," thought Lisbet. "Just a boy! But at least Mr train and the soldiers will be new again, " she whispered. "remember me," she said to her friends.

"Look ma!" said the boy as he flung the door open toppling half of the soldiers. " Look at all this neat stuff! Can I have it?" he asked. "Well, we did buy the farm, so I guess whatever was left here belongs to us too," Said Ma. Ma told the boy to bring everything downstairs.

Lisbet tried to be brave as the Boy carefully untangled the old train. " some fresh paint and you'll be good as new." he mumbled. Next he tucked all the soldiers into a big old hatbox. "I sure like the way these march," he muttered to himself. Now standing almost directly below her. Lisbet had closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see her friends leave her alone.

As quick as a wink Lisbet's legs were Jerked from the shelf and she was falling. Falling right into the open arms of the BOY! " And for you," said a soft voice in a whisper, "first a bath and then some new clothes. My Other dolls will like you just fine." "OH MY!" thought Lisbet. " A Girl! Not a boy at all! Just a girl who likes trains and soldiers and DOLLS! Finally another Girl to Love.

Finally a girl of my own!"

Later Lisbet sat on the ruffled bed in the downstairs bedroom. She had been scrubbed clean as a whistle. That's what the girl had said. She was wearing a pretty new dress of pink satin. Ma had even found a tiny black pair of of shoes for her at a store in town.

She looked above the bed to the shelf where Mr. Train sat on a section of track beside a newer train. The paint really had made him look good as new. Next she looked over the window sills where the soldiers marched in straight neat lines along with some newer soldiers. They looked like a royal army marching in step across the windows. With all the dust gone, they too looked good as new.

Finally, Lisbet looked happily at the pink cheeked little girl sleeping there beside her. "Thank you!" whispered Lisbet, "Thank you for taking us away from the dark dirty attic." And as she closed her glass eyes for a night of Dolly dreams she whispered, "Thank you for making something old; something New again!"

I hope you enjoyed My story. for story telling day. I wrote this story October 8, 1986 for an assignment for a children's story writing class. I hope you enjoyed it. I love to tell stories. ask my family they will tell you it's so. Happy storytelling day. If you have kids or grand kids or maybe even just a friend. Tell them a story today. Let your thoughts free to share. And hopefully someone will share their own story with you. Have a great day!

Patsy

Daddy's Dating Rules.

One of life's greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn't good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world.”~ Proverb

“Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla.”~ Jim Bishop

My Daddy was a kind and gentle man. He loved us all dearly. I don't know if he ever discussed dating rules with My brothers, I'm sure he did that privately with them. But to date one of his daughters could be a dangerous thing. Daddy had certain rules that he expected us to follow as young ladies and The boys we might date were expected to do certain things. First of all we were not to call boys at all. Back then it was considered "Ugly" for little girls to call boys. There were a few girls who would called our house to ask for one of my brothers. Most didn't call more than once. Mama always gave them the girls shouldn't call boys talk and most never called again. Boys could call us, If they didn't mind talking to Daddy first. I was in the second grade when the first one called me. I heard daddy ask him why was he calling.. Then after a brief pause Daddy told him well you call back in ten years son and he hung up on the young fellow.. I didn't ask who called or why.. At that point I didn't like boys anyway.

My oldest sister Trudy was the first one to reach the magical dating age of sixteen. One of our cousins had asked Mama and Daddy if She could go on a double date with a boy none of us knew. I remember Daddy telling them that he didn't mind If Trudy went on a date but that the Boy better come to the door.. No horn blowing .. That he would have to know who the boys "people" were.. Couldn't be No jail birds or jack legs. We weren't allowed to date those... If he had long hair Daddy knew a good barber.. Or Daddy had some dog clippers. Either suited Daddy. He was not to buy Trudy any gifts of clothing of any kind.. Any boy who bought you clothes either wanted to help you into the new ones or out of your old ones. and Both of those were a good way to meet Daddy's double barrel. She had to be home at a decent hour lets say eight pm. Seven, forty five was even better. When you bring her home You do not sit in the car in the dark in the yard! You do not put her out at the road. You pretend to be a gentleman and walk her to the door. At which point you Thank her for a lovely evening and get about the business of leaving. And Daddy's last rule and the one I personally never understood was.. Don't come to my house without your socks on. There was nothing Daddy hated more than a boy who wasn't fully dressed to go on a date and that meant SOCKS and shoes..

Well the day of the date came and the young fellow came along with my cousin and her date to pick up my sister. They all came to the door and Daddy let them in.. The young man began by taking of his hat at the door and offering Daddy his hand.. I was sitting on the floor in the dining room sneaking a peek at the young man who would be the first to date one of my Daddy's daughters. I thought he was doing pretty good so far. Daddy shook his hand and told them to come in.. His hair was neatly cut and combed into place. Mama was sitting in the living room along with Trudy. Sue and her date Mark came in and sat down.. daddy invited the other young fellow to sit as well. Then began the questions.. Where are y'all planning to go? What time are you planning to be back? Who is going to be driving? Who is your Grand-daddy? And on and on.. Finally daddy having decided that the boy was harmless stood and said " well y'all young folks better get on the road if Trudy is going to be home on time." I really though the young man had passed the tests. I think Daddy thought so too. They almost made it out of the house before the crazy boy messed up. He turned to Daddy just as they were about to leave and held up his foot. He had on his socks just as Daddy had said he should but he had them on with sandals. He said " And Mr. Black Look I wore socks just like you said." I saw the frown turn daddy's smile upside down as Daddy pushed the door shut in his face.. He looked at Mama and said "I ought to Call her back in here; You see what a smart Alec jar head he is.!" But Daddy didn't make her come back in the house.. She went on that date with him.. But she never dated him again. Later I learned that Daddy always gave us girls two things before we went on a date.. A dollar and a dime. The dollar was to buy yourself a drink if you accidentally got out of the house with a boy to cheap to pay for you a soda and the dime was to call Daddy to come and get you should you find yourself on such a date. And we were to call first and he would be there by the time we finished our soda. I feel that it was a lucky thing that neither of the four of us daughters ever had to use our dollar or our dime!

I guess it sounds like Daddy was a hard man. He wasn't. He just wanted us to be safe. He was going to see who we were leaving with. He was going to say a few words to them before we left. And he would be waiting up when we came home. Daddy was always nice to the young men who came to carry away his daughters. He just liked things to be a certain way.

Times have surely changed from way back then when Daddies met young men at the door. Daddies don't know who their daughters are dating any more. Girls call boys and think nothing of it. Girls will come to get the boy and will wear his clothes if she can get them. If there are any rules for dating the young people break them all. My children said I was out of style and old timey when they were here at home and dating. I just smiled at them and said.. "yea, well be glad you didn't belong to my Daddy!"

I laugh often when I think about the rules Daddy had for dating.. They really are funny. especially the rule about socks. But I'm glad my Parents loved us enough to try and keep us safe from the world. I felt the same about my kids.. I hope my son will feel the same about his daughter. And since I know how my son loves his children, I think socks will be the least of a young mans worry when he attempts to date my Grand-daughter. Thanks for sharing a smile with me tonight!
Have a great night!
Patsy