Sunday Mornin' Hope : The Race p7.

by Psalmist July 18th 2015, 8:14 pm

p.7 Life lessons

A hush came over the beach as Puffy and 500 penguins awaited the arrival of the teacher. Then from the back of the crowd opposite Puffy began a sound of giggles, laughs and thumping watermelons. Like a drum cadence the thump got louder and nearer. Giggles and laughter became deafening. As this big penguin came closer to the center, it would thump all the immediate penguins in the back of the head. They would drop facefirst into the sand and roll over laughing for joy. 'Such a peculiar sight!' thought Puffy. 'They are enjoying the whack of the teacher!' Some would push into the general area of traffic hoping to get thumped. A very old penguin pushed through the crowd and tripped over a tree stump. She didn't mean to, but trying to catch herself; she accidently thumped the teacher with her right fin. All the comotion stopped as the crowd gasped. She must've been in big trouble. The tall penguin spit out a mouthful of sand and asked a nearby penguin, "Who thumped me?"

Puffy looked again at the tree stump, but it was gone. 'There sure is alot of strange trees around here. Now you see'em, Now you don't.' she thought to herself. The crowd of penguins parted around a young female penguin laying on her back in the sand. She had made a mess of herself when she tripped. Sand and seaweed were all over her shiny coat. The big penguin reached down and lifted the nervous, amazed penguin to her feet. She was bewildered because she was young again, yet embarrassed because of what she'd done. "Ssssssooooorrrrryyy sir!" she said softly. "I lost my balance on that stump overrr......." Puffy heard a big splash in the water, but it was too dark to see anything.

"Yeah! You gotta watch out for that hackberry stump!" He said with a laugh. "It's tripped many a penguin. You hardly ever see it coming." He brushed her off and looked kindly into her eyes. "Are you ok? I knew you were coming. And I knew that stump would do everything in it's power to stop you. I saw you this afternoon being chased by those flies that came out of that rotted stump. Bezel trees have no roots and rot quickly. Anything that touches them becomes infected almost immediately. Come sit next to me on this rock. This rock was here before the island was formed and inhabited. This rock won't move." Turning to the large mass of penguins and one roadrunner, the big penguin asked, "Would you like to hear a story?" Cheers, clapping, and thumping erupted. Puffy ducked Peter's swing and snickered "Too fast for you poor pengy!"

Everyone quickly took a seat as close to the great penguin as possible. From the back came a dozen big penguins carrying baskets of yoj erup. Quietly they served all the penguins (plus 1 rr) and all ate more than they should've. "There once was a beautiful horse. A mustang to be exact. It lived near a ranch and ran freely outside the stable, stirring the other horses. Knowing the nature and strength of the mustang, the rancher set out to capture it. The rancher remembered his father's words regarding mustangs. 'Mustangs are the best of cutting horses if you can break their will but not their spirit. If you can't break them, you must shoot them and sell the meat for dogfood.' The rancher began memorizing the patterns and times the mustang came by. He would leave some fresh alfalfa near those areas night after night at nine o'clock. The mustang came around almost every night at this time. Each night the rancher moved the pile a little closer to the small training ring's gate. After a few weeks the mustang was eating inside the ring. "CLICK!" the rancher closed the gate and the mustang reared up against the rancher. It kicked the rancher in the chest and he fell back. In pain, the rancher spoke in soft words as he got up. Grabbing the old pail of alfalfa he began dumping it on the ground near the mustang. "Easy boy. Easy." The rancher climbed over the gate and went in for the night."

"Well that's about it for the night." said the big penguin. "Gotta big day tomorrow, and you all look pretty tired. I'll see you t...." Everyone jumped up "PLEASE!! You gotta finish the story. You can't leave us hanging like this!" They all said this in unison like it was practiced and happened before. The big penguin gave a funny grin.