Wally the worm’s North end was arguing with his South end about which way to go. When they both tried to go in different directions at the same time it would stretch Wally’s length almost double. It was a slimming activity but it actually hurt, plus the whole Wally wasn’t going ANYWHERE!
Then the North end of Wally decided to curve to the left and of course, the South end wanted to go…you guessed it….right!
After seven circles both ends realized that neither was getting anywhere again.
“Ok” Wally North said “How about if we go straight left for twenty seconds and then we can go straight right for twenty seconds?”
“Yeah…OK….but me first!” Demanded South.
“Whatever!” hurummphed Wally’s North end.
But after forty seconds Wally was back EXACTLY where he started.
“We’ve got to compromise if we intend to go ANYWHERE!” exclaimed North end.
“Hmmm.” Was all that South end could utter but deep inside he knew North was right.
“OK” South said reluctantly what do we do to get to the mulch pile?”
“I know the way so I’ll take the lead and you can drive the back so that we don’t get whiplash!”
Well, South had to admit that it WAS a plan and he really wanted to get to that mulch pile so he agreed.
And that’s how Wally worm, both the North AND the South of him made a straight line to the mulch pile although South end always referred to it as the “MUNCH pile” which always made North end laugh.

HELLO…Hello…hello…said Echo from the cave

She couldn’t but she wanted to… add a little wave

She also had to always….stay hidden from the view

And never ever speak unless she was spoken to

Though she lived in canyons, chambers and some far off hills

She never started conversations about her life on rocks and rills

Her role was to wait silently…of this she wasn’t fond

Because she had to hold her voice and only could respond

But Echo had a secret that she would never share

She whistles, yells and shouts a lot when no one else is there

Daytime:   Swam around to the left. Swam around to the right. Nibbled some algae off of the green rock. Swam around…(I forget which way.)

Nightime:   Swam a little. Stayed still at the bottom of the deep part of the pond.

Daytime:   Swam around to the right…BACKED UP and then swam to the left. Bumped into the shubunkin…(didn’t see him until too late)

Nightime:   Swam a little. Stayed still at the bottom of the deep part of the pond. Looking forward to Daytime.

“EIGHT…Where is EIGHT?. This is getting to be too much of a habit with him!” exclaimed NINE.
“I am ONE that agrees TWO!”
“That’s spelled Too ONE!”
“This is the FIFTH or SIXTH time he’s either been out of order or not here at all!” said FOUR!
“That makes THREE of us that agree TWO!”
“EIGHT! EIGHT! EIGHT! EIGHT! EIGHT! EIGHT!” That’s the SEVENTH time I’ve called him with NO ANSWER!” Grumbled NINE.
“Hey…is anyone lookin’ for me?” asked EIGHT.
A number of numbers all yelled “NOOOOOO!!!”
So EIGHT left and all the numbers that were trying to line up accomplished exactly ZERO!

A hummingbird was humming around

Making his smooth humming sound

While the canary was singing

Dulcet tones his throat bringing

Neither aware that the other’s around

Then the hummingbird sat on a limb

And the canary looked over at him

“Pardon me Chum Aren’t you the guy that can hum?”

“Yes and you’re the bird that sings on a whim!”

The canary felt somewhat dumb

Admitting that he wished he could hum

“Well I have no choice

I’ve no singing voice…

Oh I wish that I could sing some!”

“I’ll teach you to hum if you teach me to sing”

“Yes think of the joy we could both bring!”

So they each gave some lessons

But ended confessin’

That neither had learned anything!

“I guess I must do and I guess you must too…

Be happy for the talent we’ve got”

“So I’ll sing in the Spring”…

“And I’ll hum everything”…

“Can we be someone else?

“I guess not!”

He didn’t mind being cold…frozen even, but Sammy the Sad Snowball wanted to be more than just temporary winter sports ammunition.
“Maybe I could be part of a great snow sculpture or even part of a snowman or snow-woman, although I’ve never seen one of those.”
“Those were kind hands that shaped me into what I am today, and by the way, I do feel lucky that I wasn’t thrown at someone and maybe hurt them as I hit!”
“But I just have the feeling that I could be something more important, more helpful, part of something big and wonderful.”
Sammy was just sitting there, along the side of the park pathway when a warm knitted gloved hand lifted him up and caressed him, rounding him even more than he had been.
He was then carried over to the newly dedicated Memorial statue of a soldier and a cannon that was covered in snow.
“What a great statue ” thought Sammy. “Someone made that with their hands just as I was made. Of course bronze isn’t snow but the method is kinda similar.”
Then Sammy was gently placed down on the top of the base of the statue where he had a good view of the soldier and the cannon and of all of Main Street and the people.
Then an older couple came up to look at where Sammy was. They brushed off lots of snow from the soldier and the cannon and then stepped back to view the newly revealed sculpture.
The woman said to the man “Isn’t it a nice tribute to the soldiers?”
Then the man replied…”My yes…and so creative too. I think the best part is how someone used a single real snowball to represent the cannonball. It makes the whole tribute just perfect!”

Ten year old Sara lived in an historic Elizabethan house up on the hill on the edge of town. She liked the house because it looked very much like her doll house that her Grandpa had built for her when she was seven. She also liked the house because she had her very own bedroom which she didn’t have in the other house that her family lived in over in Springland…the next town over.
Sara’s room had nice high ceilings and a huge window that looked out onto the back garden. Her parents had bought new lace curtains for her window and Sara loved to look through them out to the birds in the morning. In fact a wren had made a nest in the limb of the Sycamore tree just outside her window and the eggs were surely just about to hatch.
But one thing that Sara didn’t particularly like about her room was…well…the doorknob that sometimes would rattle and turn in the middle of the night when NO ONE was there!
Sara couldn’t keep her door locked, her parents forbid it…for safety they told her…so that made the turning doorknob even more scary. Sara told her parents about it but they said that she was dreaming or had awakened and was still drousy. They didn’t have any trouble with their doorknobs…so “don’t worry…just ignore it!”

Sara’s neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Carver and they were always on their porch when Sara got home from school and sometimes she would go and visit them in the afternoons.
Mr. Carver wrote children’s books and Sara thought that he was very funny and a bit silly too and Mrs. Carver made really good lemonade. One afternoon Sara told the Carvers about her doorknob and they grew very silent and looked at each other for the longest time. Mrs. Carver said…”Well Sara…I’m…ah…sure there is nothing to…ah…worry about!” But Sara noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Carver looked worried themselves.

“Maybe we should tell her Dear…” Mr. Carver said to his wife.
“Maybe…we should tell Sara’s parents and they can decide whether or not to tell her!”
Sara…was really intrigued now…”Oh…NOW you both MUST tell me…my parents don’t even believe me about the doorknob!”
“Well Sara…Oh I can’t tell Sara…she’s such a sweet little girl….” Mrs. Carver looked at her husband.
“It’s too late now we’ve already said WAY too much….tell her…I hope her parents forgive us if they ever find out!”
“Well…Sara…Many…MANY years ago…perhaps a hundred years ago a little girl named Gwendolin lived in your house…when it was new. And I’m pretty sure her room is now YOUR bedroom. Now mind you this is just what we heard when we moved here 30 years ago…”
“PLEASE…Mrs. Carver…did something bad happen to Gwendolin? Tell me.”
“Well…nobody knows for sure…one night her parents heard a strange rattling in her bedroom and then…she…was…gone!”
“Her toys were there…her cat was there and her clothes were still in her closet but no Gwendolin.”
“GOSH!” said Sara.
Then Mr. Carver said..”The town searched and searched for Gwendolin for weeks without success. Finally her parents moved away. We heard that Gwendolin’s Aunt Esmerelda had come and gotten her and taken her to the Aunt’s house but no one was ever sure exactly what happened.”
“GOSH!” Sara said again.
The family that occupied your house before you lived there, spoke about your doorknob and thought that it was the ghost of either Gwendolin or Aunt Esmerelda and decided to move away.”
“GEE!” said Sara deciding not to say Gosh for the third time.
“So you see Sara…it might have just been a close relative involved in Gwendolin’s disappearence…and, after all…it WAS over a hundred years ago. And of course…the whole story could have just been made up by somebody trying to scare us!” Added Mr. Carver.
“Yes Sara…I’m sure someone made up that story…there wasn’t any TV in those days and people told stories and played games for entertainment back then.” Mrs. Carver said.
“Still…there IS my doorknob!” said Sara.
“UUUmmm….” uttered Mr. Carver.
Sara slept through the nights for the next week with no doorknob rattling until on the eighth morning Sara thought..”Maybe I was just dreaming or sleepy or something…but then…how would the Carver’s know about my doorknob?”
That night there was a full moon and the baby Wren chicks and their Mother were sleeping and so was Sara…until about Two AM the doorknob started to rattle. Just slightly at first and then turning so much that Sara felt that it was sure to open it was twisting so far around.
Then Sara wondered whether to pull all the covers over her head or go TO the door and see exactly what WAS going on!
Sara was braver than most girls her age and MUCH more inquisitive and although she was shaking all over she decided to go to the door…and…open it to see who…or WHAT WAS THERE!

The doorknob kept turning and as Sara got within two feet of the door…the doorknob clicked and the door very…VERY slowly started to open. Sara stepped back…her heart beating surely as fast as it had ever beaten before and her hands shaking harder than they had ever shook before…and then a strange bluish white light shone in through the door crack. Sara stepped back another step but leaned around to peek at the door jam.

Then SUDDENLY the door FLUNG WIDE OPEN and Sara froze…not shaking not moving not blinking not even breathing…just staring at the two eerie figures standing in the doorway. It looked as if a little girl about Sara’s age and an older woman were…well…FLOATING in the doorway.
The little girl looked about the room and then looked up at the older lady and then instantly in a POOF!!… they were gone!
Sara’s heart was beating like a machine gun and her hands were trembling again but she took a deep breath and walked into the doorway and looked around…NOTHING! But it DID seem awfully cold in the doorway but got warmer and warmer as Sara stood there wondering if she really was dreaming.
After a minute or two Sara closed the door and went back to bed where it took her until way past three AM to get back to sleep.
Sara told the Carvers about the episode the next afternoon and they said that they thought that it was INDEED Gwendolin and her Aunt Esmerelda and that since Gwendolin’s parents had moved away…Gwendolin and Aunt Esmerelda not finding Gwendolin’s parents… left to go somewhere else to find them.
Mr. Carver said “Sara…I bet you a nickel that your doorknob will never rattle again!”

And he was right!

THE END…I hope!

“I don’t know why I sit here, hour after hour on this uncomfortable bank…wetting my line. That’s really all I’m doing! I just might be the worst fisherman EVER! It IS relaxing, actually it’s boring if truth be told. And with the cost of the rod and reel, the bait, these waders that I never use, and the vest. I DO love the vest though with all the pockets and little loops for the flys, the khaki “Ernest Hemmingway” look of it. He was a FISHERMAN…” THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA”, but he was more of a BILL fisherman. He’d never sit on a muddy bank like this for hours on end and then make a stop by the fish market on the way home to salvage at least SOME of his masculine dignity…no he’d NEVER do that.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“This hook is KILLIN’ me! It really hurts and it’s very restrictive too. I just KNOW I’m gonna drown! I just know it! But does HE care? NO, I DON’T THINK SO!…he just sits there all relaxed, NOT in pain…NOT drowning…and these pesky fish scare me, bumping into me with their lips, I guess they are lips. I don’t think I can take much more of this. If the idiot had just…kinda…cut me in two at least half of me could go on my merry way…BUT NO!!! He wants me to wriggle …well I’ve got news for him…I AIN’T wrigglin’. If I, perish the thought, play “dead” these stupid fish won’t even notice me and jerkface there might reel me back in and replace me with cousin Harvey… HATE that worm…and throw me away on that beautiful muddy bank. Well, that’s my plan and I’m stickin’ to it!!!”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Look at that dufus up there on the bank. What does he think…we’re STUPID or somethin’? I mean, even a smelt wouldn’t fall for that old “worm on the hook” trick. He didn’t even put the bait on properly…look you can clearly see the point stickin’ through that ugly unappealing earthworm. I mean, it practically takes your appetite away! Excuse me a second there’s a Mayfly on the surface…”GULP!”…got ‘em! Love it! Well anyhow, I think it’s an affront to all of us fish the way some of these “sport” fishermen show such utter disrespect for our intelligence don’t you Charlie…ah…Charlie? Where are you…OH NO!…Charlie…how could you???”

Did you know there is a breed

Of cats that have no tails?

It took a lot of research

Seeing why this trait prevails

It happened many years ago

On porches by the sea

Upon an Island known as Man

It was said to be

The people there were restful

Loved to watch the scenery

But the people were out numbered

Friendly felines seemed to be…

Always near the old folks

Taking in the view

The cats would laze along porch floors

As cats are prone to do

But it started causing problems

There was screeching everywhere

So the felines cut their tails off

To avoid those rocking chairs!

“Get your heel outta my face please!”
“Hey…like I can help it or somethin’!  I got some ugly argyle toe in MY face!”
“Ah watch who yer callen ugly Laddie.”
“Yeah…well…I just want my mate…I haven’t seen Lefty in weeks.”
“Me too…it’s so nice in that sock drawer chattin’ with those other matched pairs…ah…I really  miss it.”
“The WORST are those athletic socks…they never really do get completely clean and they’re so thick and take up so much of our space here!”
Then there was a whimper and sob coming from the top of the pile.
“There there…you’ll be OK little one…we’re all here with you.”
The baby sock with it’s pink ruffle was very sad having just come from the last dryer load.
“I….I….think my match is…..ooohhhh….still in the dryer….CAUGHT!”
“Yeah…happened to golf sock over there…never did find his mate. Oh I shouldn’t have said that should I?”
“Boo Hoo…I’ll never see him again.”
“Now Now….it’ll be OK…you’ll see.
Then, all of a sudden the woven basket that held them was lifted and dumped on the big bed. Then soon after, another pile of socks was thrown onto the bed.
“Hey….there’s my….HEY OVER HERE!”
Then human hands started matching up all the socks and folded and tucked the pairs together and threw them into the sock drawer. All of the socks were happy except one old striped one with a hole in the toe. “So long guys. Maybe I’ll see you all again soon.”
The little baby sock with the pink ruffle was still sad, so the striped sock let it snuggle up as they were placed back into the woven basket.
“Maybe next time little one. “Then whispering to himself….”I HATE dryers!”