Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2018-50

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IN THIS ISSUE

• In this Heroic Story, Susan Miller writes about music
• Irene Harvalias forwards a story about lost car keys
• Catherine Nesbitt sends this account of a fabulous birthday
• Barbara Wear shares an article about playing cards
• Betty Audet forwards some winning T-shirt slogans
• Here are some interesting sites to explore

Susan L. Miller from California writes about

SINGING IT FORWARD

After four years of marriage I wanted my family to meet my husband, so over the 1978 Fourth of July weekend my husband and I flew from California to New York. At La Guardia Airport we found a bus strike. How would we get to Manhattan? Taxis were expensive, and our family couldn´t pick us up.

A very dignified, somewhat stocky, nicely-dressed man overheard our dilemma, and explained how to catch a commuter train. Then he offered to share a cab to the train depot. In the cab we chatted. He had just returned from an opera singing engagement in Italy. I was amazed, as my family loves concerts, musicals, and ballet, and I sing and play the guitar.

At the station, he took us to our platform, and gave careful directions on which transfers to make. The train arrived; he waved and departed.

In two hours we were safely at my cousin´s apartment. We had a lovely visit, but I wished I´d gotten our benefactor´s name and number to let him know we´d arrived, and thank him once again.

Twenty-six years later, in December 2004, I was singing with the "Threshold Choir." We sing to provide comfort to bedridden people who are injured, ill, or in comas. A member of my church, "Alice," was in the hospital, recovering from shoulder surgery.

My two choir companions and I found Alice´s room on a floor we normally didn´t visit, and delighted her with our music. As we left, a nurse told us another patient had heard us and requested that we sing for him.

She said he´d been in the hospital a while and was somewhat depressed.

When we entered the room, the patient was propped up in bed, with an IV drip in his arm. In his mid-40´s, he was quite pale, with bright blue eyes, and rumpled brown hair.

He greeted us with a warm smile, and thanked us for taking the time to stop in. We sang a few songs from our repertoire, and then asked him if he had any requests.

"How about ´Silent Night´?" he asked softly.

As we sang the old carol, he joined us in a rich tenor. We complimented him on his voice, and it was as if a dam had burst. He regaled us with stories of his love of opera, of his life as a singer, and how his parents had introduced him to all the great operatic performances of the time.

He sang us bits of arias in French, German and Italian, and his face took on a healthy glow of joy and reminiscence.

Suddenly I realized I had experienced a sort of full-circle miracle. By bringing compassion to this stranger, I´d returned the long-ago favour from the New York opera singer´s kindly transportation help.

In addition, I´d received the gift of watching this man transform from someone debilitated by illness to someone transported by joy. And all it took was a simple Christmas carol.

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Irene Harvalias forwards this story about

LOST CAR KEYS

They weren´t in my pockets. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot. My husband has scolded me many times for leaving my keys in the car´s ignition. He´s afraid that the car could be stolen.

As I looked around the parking lot, I realized he was right. The parking lot was empty.

I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen.Then I made the most difficult call of all to my husband: "I left my keys in the car and it´s been stolen."

There was a moment of silence. I thought the call had been disconnected, but then I heard his voice. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" he barked, "I DROPPED YOU OFF!"

Now it was my turn to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, "Well, come and get me."

He retorted, "I will, as soon as I convince this cop that I didn´t steal your damn car!"

WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN YEARS

Catherine Nesbitt forwards this story of

A FABULOUS BIRTHDAY

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off, he asked what she´d like to have for her birthday.

"I´d like to be eight again," she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme park.

What a day! He put her on every ride in the park: the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald´s, where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favourite candy, M&M´s. What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed, exhausted.

He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, "Well Dear, what was it like being eight again?"

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.

"I meant my dress size, you idiot!"

The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.

Barbara Wear shares some interesting facts about

PLAYING CARDS

The Chinese invented playing cards in AD 1000.

Did you know that the traditional deck of the playing cards are a strikingly coherent form of a calendar?

There are 52 weeks in the year and there are 52 playing cards in a deck. There are 13 weeks in each season and there are 13 cards in each suit.

There are four seasons in a year and four suits in the deck.

There are 12 months in a year so there are 12 court cards (those with faces, namely jack, queen, and king in each suit.)

The red cards represent day, while black cards represent the night.

If you let jacks = 11, queens = 12, and the kings = 13, then add up all the sums of 1 + 2 + 3 + ...to 13 = 91. Multiply this by 4, for the 4 Suits, therefore 91 x 4 = 364, Add 1 that is the Joker and you will arrive at the number 365, being the days in a year.

Is that a mere coincidence or a greater intelligence?

Of interest is the sum of the letters in all the names of the cards, e.g., add up the letters in "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king" = 52!

The spades indicate ploughing or working; the hearts indicate love thy crops; the clubs indicate flourishing and growth; and the diamonds indicate reaping the wealth.

Also, in some card games, two jokers are used; Indicating the leap year.

There is a deeper philosophy than just merely playing cards. The mathematical perfection is stunning.

Betty Audet forwards these

T-SHIRT SLOGANS

"Filthy Stinking Rich - Well, Two Out of Three Ain´t Bad"

"Real Men Don´t Waste Their Hormones Growing Hair"

"I Used Up All My Sick Days So I Called In Dead"

"Be Nice to Your Children - They´ll Pick Your Nursing Home"

"Husbands Should Come With Instructions"

"Upon the Advice of My Attorney, My Shirt Bears No Message at This Time"

"I Want It All and I Want It Delivered"

"Life Is Hard; Then You Nap"

"Bigamy Is Having One Wife Too Many. Monogamy Is the Same"

"Happiness Is Seeing Your Mother-in-law on a Milk Carton"

"Just Hand Over the Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt"

"60-Year-Old One Owner Needs Parts Make Offer"

"I Was Once a Millionaire But My Mom Gave Away My Baseball Cards"

"If God Had Wanted Me to Touch My Toes, He Would Have Put Them on My Knees"

"That´s It! I´m Calling Grandma!" - (seen on an eight-year-old)

"Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up"

"My Designated Driver Drove Me to Drink"

"If You Remember the ´60s, You Weren´t Really There"

"Procrastinate Now"

"Rehab Is for Quitters"

"Re-Elect Nobody"

"Waiting for the Perfect Man" (Printed across a drawing of a skeleton.)

"My Dog Can Lick Anyone"

"I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts - Do You Want Fries With That?"

"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Use Duct Tape"

"Young at Heart - Slightly Older in Other Places"

"The Boat Sank. Get Over It" (Over a sketch of the Titanic)

"Party - My Crib - Two A.M." (On a baby-size shirt)

"Finally 21, and Legally Able to Do Everything I´ve Been Doing Since I Was 15"

SUGGESTED SITES

From Sunday Family Humour, here is a video of a lost dog and his rescuer:

Andre Rieu and his orchestra and a Scottish pipe band perform Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace:

BBC America has produced a stunning video of the earth´s oceans and their dazzling inhabitants:

In this TED talk, Dr. Joel Fuhrman talks about preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural healing:

For vegetarians like me, here is a website where you can ask the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to introduce a vegetarian symbol so consumers know what they´re eating:

From the Good News Network comes this story of an emu and a donkey that refused to be separated, and how they got a new home together: