08 October 2015
Trigger Challenge: Write A tale told to a child
Tell Me A Story
But I dont want to go to bed, I’m not tired.
You say that every night but you know you need your sleep.
No I dont, I like staying up and talking. Can we talk?
You are just trying to put off the inevitable.
What is “inedible?
“Inevitable”, meaning you will go to sleep at some point or another no matter what.
Okay then, since I will go to sleep inedible can we talk for a while.
What do you want to talk about.
Well, tell me what happened to you today. It is so boring going to school. I don’t get to really see anything. Mrs Pitman is a nice lady but nothing ever happens. We just practice our letters and add and subtract and draw things.
What did you draw today?
We drew cows. Well, mine did not look too much like a cow really. More like a balloon with fingers stuck on it. I don’t draw very well.
That’s interesting…about the cows I mean. I saw some cows today myself.
Did you go to a farm?
No I saw them in town as I was leaving the supermarket.
What were they doing in town?
They were riding bicycles.
Dad…cows cant ride bikes!
Well these cows were.
Why were they riding bikes? Were they going somewhere?
I asked them that.
Dad…cows moo they dont talk.
Well don’t you think if a cow can ride a bike it can talk?
I don’t believe they can ride a bike either.
Well they were and when I asked them where they were going they told me that they were tired of giving away all their milk to the farmer. They wanted to be responsible for their own lives. So they decided to take the farmers kid’s bikes and come to town.
But what good would that do?
The cows told me that by riding bikes, it would churn the milk inside them and then they could give butter directly and make the money for themselves.
Dad, that’s silly
I thought it was udderly ridiculous myself, but they said it was true..
So then what happened.
Oh they had to keep going. It takes a lot of bike riding to make butter I guess. They were going to have to do it until the cows came home. So after they left, I decided I would take a walk through town.. And then I saw something really strange.
More strange than cows riding a bike?
Maybe. I came upon the bridge over the river and looked down and saw a bunch of ducks on the water.
Dad, ducks are always in the water.
Well, actually, these ducks were not IN the water, they were ON the water.
What do you mean?
Well, there were a couple dozen ducks I would guess and they were standing on small tree trunks in the river. I stood watching for a while and realized that they were actually doing a sporting activity. They were in groups of 4 each on a log all going down stream. Three of ducks on a log were using their wings to dip in the water like oars, and push the log. The 4th was quacking away at the other three and using one wing to steer at the back. Then I realized what they were doing. They were in a race.
Dad, ducks don’t do sports or race.
Of course they do. Haven’t you ever heard someone trying to get their ducks in a row?
So what happened then?
When the first group that got to the bridge, the winning ducks I realized, all jumped up and down on the log and then leaped into the river and started thrashing around with their wings in the water and quacking away. I guess you say they went quackers.
Dad you are being silly again
Well, that’s what I saw.
So did you come on home then?
Not directly. I was a bit hot from the walking so I decided to stop at the ice cream shop for some chocolate ice cream.
Don’t tell me Dad that it comes from brown cows.
Of course not, that would be udderly ridiculous. No when I got there the place was full of horses.
What do horses want with ice cream?
The same thing we do I guess, they were hot and wanted to cool off. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. All except for one. He was wandering around outside, crying.
Horses cry?
This one was. The ice cream cost one dollar and he didn’t have enough money. You see, he was lacking horse cents.
Dad, these are all farm animals. They don’t live in cities like we do.
Actually its the cat’s fault.
What cat is that?
The farmer’s cat. He’s a big tabby cat, who was always wandering away. Then he would come back and sit up on the barn fence and tell stories about the outside world and would then smile his cat smile and purr. He was famous for his purr. It was so loud that it drove the other animals crazy. They couldn’t sleep when he purred and were glad when he would go off roaming. But he always came back. And that’s why the animals left.
Shouldn’t they have been happy that he was back.
No it was just the opposite. You know like in the song.
What song
“How you gonna keep ’em down on the farm, after they’ve seen the purr-ee!”
Dad.
Yes son.
Please turn out the light. I think I’m gettin’ “edible” now.