Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2019-06

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IN THIS ISSUE

• In this Heroic Story, a boy sings to his grandmother
• Jean Sterling writes about long memories
• Carol Dilworth allows me to reprint her winning poem
• Bill Deleeuw sends an invitation to a memorial service for his father
• Barbara Wear forwards an article about a magic bank account
• Here are some interesting sites to check out

Vickie Clark of Texas writes about

JACOB´S SONG

One day in 1999 my older sister, Mildred, called. She had found a breast lump, and was scheduled for day surgery. I scheduled a day off work to be with her, though her adult son and daughter would be there, too.

Mildred has an especially close bond with her grandson Jacob, having kept him often since infancy, sometimes for weeks at a time. I knew Mildred would want him with her. The night before, I told her, "He´s only five. The hospital´s no place for him. He´s a good kid, but he´ll get tried and cranky before the day´s over. Please leave him at home."

"I´ll see, but Ginger will probably insist on bringing him."

I knew the battle was lost. It wasn´t Jacob´s mother Ginger who wanted Jacob, it was Mildred. Sure enough, when I arrived at the hospital, Jacob was there. Thankfully, my niece had come just to play with Jake. Though irritated by his presence, I admitted he was quiet and easy to entertain, and he definitely took Mildred´s mind off the upcoming surgery.

Sister, son, daughter, niece, and grandson packed books and toys and trooped behind the nurse and Mildred to her room. Mildred´s vitals were taken as the adults stood and Jake played quietly. We stepped out as she changed into a gown.

When we returned, Mildred was in bed with an IV connected to her arm. Jake was very concerned; his great-grandfather had recently stayed in the hospital and died there. Was Granny going to die?

During the surgery our entourage moved to the cafeteria, then the day surgery waiting room to await the doctor´s report. By now Jacob had been at the hospital six hours and was still incredibly well-behaved. I was impressed.

Finally the doctor gave his report: the lump was benign.

Wheeled back to her room, Mildred was told she could leave when the nurse disconnected the IV. Jacob left his toys and stood by her bed. The nurse began removing medical paraphernalia under Jacob´s protective gaze. Spotting the stained tape covering the needle in Mildred´s vein he accused her, "You can´t fool me. That´s blood!"

"That´s right! You´re a smart boy," she replied. Then, "Mildred, this tape is really stuck. I´ll try to be gentle, but this may hurt." Suddenly all adult conversation stopped, as the nurse asked, "What is he saying? I can´t quite hear him." We all strained to hear Jake.

"He´s singing to me," Mildred explained. Then we all heard it. A little five-year-old is singing to his beloved grandmother to help her cope with the pain when the bandage is removed. One look at their faces and you know he is singing her a love song.

Five-year-olds don´t know the words to very many songs; so he sang his favourite, a song his Granny had often sung to him. In the quiet crowded room, we heard Jacob softly singing his song of love. "Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee-i-ee-i-o."

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CORRESPONDENCE

Jean Sterling writes about the Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about.

1. Sweet cigarettes (candy?) 2. Coffee shops with juke boxes

3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles

4. Party lines on the telephone 5. Newsreels before the movie

6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. 7. Peashooters 8. 33 rpm records

9. 45 rpm records10. Hi-fi´s11. Metal ice trays with levers

12. Blue flashbulb

13. Cork popguns

14. Wash tub wringers

I remember all of these. (ED.: So do I!)

In 2017, the Calgary Spoken Word Society, FreeFall magazine and Single Onion jointly conducted a Canada 150 poetry competition. There were sixty-three entries from across the country. The top ten were performed at a Calgary Spoken Word event in the fall. The top five were published in FreeFall´s winter 2018 edition. One of our subscribers, Carol Dilworth, placed fourth. Here is her poem:

Oh, Canada!

Great Slave Lake Great Lakes
Reversing Falls Niagara Falls
Yellowknife gray wolf Whitehorse hoar frost Moose Jaw Salmon Arm
Arctic Fox Arctic Harebells Arctic Hare Snowshoe Hare Snowy Owl Polar Bear bearberry
Coho Pin Sockeye Cod right whale
Harris´s Sparrows

Algonquin Anishinaabe Beothuk Blackfoot Cree Dene Haida
Huron Inuit Iroquois Kaska Métis Mi´kmaq Mohawk
New Westminster Okanagan Passamaquoddy
Salish peoples Tasttine Wakashan peoples

Aglukark Ashevak Calahasen Cheechoo
Dumont Ebierbing Ipellie Kunuk Kuptana
Longboat Maksagak Nahanee Obamsawin Okalik Oonark
Panigoniak Pegahmagabow Pitseolak
Riel Tootoo Ungalaaq

Cabot Cartier Champlain Laurier Morrisseau Péladeau Riopelle Trudeau Montcalm
Adams Bateman Brown Carr Danby Jones Lightfoot Macintosh O´Neill Peterson Smith Wolfe

Fort Chip Bic Beaubassin Chicoutimi Ethier Fronsac
Presqu´ Île Heart´s Content Jemseg Kluskus Madawaska
Nascopie Resolution Shediak Spitzee Verchères Whoop-Up

Victoria Prince Albert Queen Elizabeth Way Prince Edward Island Prince George
British Columbia Icefield

Birthday Bay
Birthday Channel
Expo
Birthday Lake
Birthday Peak
Birthday Rapids

Chan Chong Dmytruk Hussein Liu Patel Singh Wang Zhang
Ignatieff Kraal Oleksiak Ondaatje Pachter Schreiber Shapovalov Wickenheiser
Charest Day McKay May Rae eh?

Queenston Heights Vimy Ridge Ypres Passchendaele Dunkirk Dieppe
Suez Somalia Mali Bosnia Afghanistan Iraq
Churchill Kitchener Rosedale

Black Rod Black Watch black spruce BlackBerry Redblacks
Red Fox Red Maple syrup maple leaf flag

Northern Dancer Big Ben Nijinsky National Ballet Gallery Arts Centre

Poutine Yukon Gold Potatoes Klondike Gold Rush Arctic Brilliance Canadian Diamonds

Giller Griffin Governor General Anansi Brick Coach House Gaspereau
Porcupine´s Quill Rainforest Turnstone Véhicule

Grapes Gump Man in Motion Mighty Mouse
Mr. Hockey Pinball Rocket
Schmerler the Curler The Great One
Terry

Bare Naked Ladies Beaver Tails Crazy Canucks Group of Seven Loverboy
Parachute Club Prairie oysters Raptors Rush Timbits
The Tragically Hip Yoko´s Dogs

Free Trade Agreement Duty Free undefended border Hollywood North
Wellcome Go Home Bay

Canadiens Canadians visitors international students landed immigrants
persecuted minorities illegals no papers
assisted living medical marijuana assisted dying

Maid of the Mist
anything missed
sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry

Bill Deleeuw sends this notice about a memorial service for his father:

GERRIT DELEEUW

Hello everyone, just a few bits of information for those of you who are planning to attend our dad´s (informal drop-in) service this Saturday (Feb. 9) from 12 noon to 3:00 pm:

- It will be on the second floor of the Crossroads Association Community Hall.

- There should be ample parking in the back parking lot, but if not, there is street parking in front.

- The entrance door to the second floor will be at the back where the parking lot is. I will try to leave a sign on it, and hopefully it will stick in this cold!

- There is a stair elevator for all those who need it.

- Light refreshments (i.e. sandwiches, non-alcoholic drinks and squares) will be served.

- There will be a binder with a few written tributes to Dad; feel free to add any of your memories of dad.

- Our parents´ volunteered many years at the Kerby Center. Our parents´ wish that in lieu of flowers, any donation to this service organization would be appreciated:

https://www.kerbycentre.com/programsandservices/donate-now/

- Reminder that the service is from 12-3 this Saturday (Feb. 9). It´s an informal service, so please drop in any time.

- Address again is:

Crossroads Community Association outdoor rink
1803 14 Ave NE, Calgary, AB T2E 1G4
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mMfXi

Barbara Wear shares these thoughts about

THE MAGIC BANK ACCOUNT

This was found in the billfold of Coach Paul Bear Bryant, Alabama, after he died in 1982.

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 into your private account for your use.

This prize has rules, however.

1. Everything that you didn´t spend during each day would be taken away from you.

2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.

3. You may only spend It.

4. Each morning, upon your awaking, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day.

5. The bank can end the game, without warning, at any time. It can say, "Game Over!" and close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for people you don´t know, because you couldn´t possibly spend it all on yourself, right?

You would try to spend every penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right?

Actually, this "game" is real.

Shocked?

Each of us is already a winner of this prize … we just can´t seem to see it.

The prize is TIME!

1. Each morning, upon waking, we receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of Life.

2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not credited to us.

3. What we haven´t used up that day is forever lost.

4. Yesterday is gone forever.

5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time without warning....

So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds? Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.

So take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply, and enjoy life!

Here´s wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.

Start spending!

SUGGESTED SITES

From the Good News Network, here is the story of good Samaritans paying for hotel rooms to house homeless people during the polar vortex:

Sign the petition to protect giraffes from being shot "for fun:"

An all-female team of wildlife rangers is Africa´s first armed anti-poaching team made up of women. They protect the animals in a 115 square miles of habitat which had been a prime trophy hunting ground, home of over 11,000 elephants:

In this TED talk, Kai-Fu Lee talks about how artificial intelligence can save our humanity:

Here is the story of a father thanking a stranger for entertaining his daughter at an airport. He says, "This is the world I want for her."