"When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me these stories,” Jen laughed a little, and gestured with her free hand, “the kind that end with ‘and the moral is,’ or
something like that.”
Wes smiled back, but he wasn’t really listening. Things were bad at work, and it looked like they were only going to get worse. Look what happened yesterday…what a lousy way to spend Thanksgiving. First the robbery, then the
paperwork. He hadn’t even gotten home until after the kids were asleep.
“Mommy, Mommy!” Lisa ran into the room, a little toothpaste marking one corner of her mouth.
“Hey, sweetie,” Jen greeted as her five-year old daughter scrambled into her lap.
“Tell me a story!” Lisa demanded, settling into her favorite snuggle spot.
“Oh, well, we’d better wait for Jason,” Jen kissed Lisa’s damp hair and winked at Wes.
“Absolutely,” he responded, the image of his wife and daughter, warm and safe in their home, shaking him loose from his somber mood. Just in time, too. Other families had to buy their bedtime stories.
Jason came bounding around the corner and pounced in Wes’s lap. Wes inhaled sharply to recover the air Jason had knocked out of him.
“That was quite a jump, buddy!” he congratulated, lifting his seven-year old son into the air. “Look at you!” he held him out, hands on his son’s elbows, Jason’s legs dangling a few inches off the ground. “You are getting so tall! Mom, look at Jason! He’s grown at least…” Wes paused, pretending to be shocked, “What are you now, four feet tall? Already?”
Lisa giggled and Jen relaxed. She worried about Wes, mostly because he seemed to be taking everything so seriously these days. Once, not so long ago, he would come home tense, but it wouldn’t last past dinner. Lately, whatever
was going on at work was following him home, like a tiger stalking its prey.
“Daddy!” shrieked Jason, wriggling to free himself.
“Story, story!” chanted Lisa, tugging at Mommy’s arm.
Somehow Jason got on his father’s lap, feet first, and began arranging his father’s arms comfortably around him.
“A story?” Jen asked, tilting her head to the side. “Let me see…would you like to hear a story about the elephant and the straw?”
Jason and Lisa clapped their hands and called for her to begin.
“Well,” Jen shifted into story-telling mode, “long ago, in a land on the far side of our world, there was no such thing as cars.”
Jason, who possibly owned every matchbox car ever made, stared at her, eyes as big as saucers.
“They used horses, and donkeys, and…”
“Elephants!” interrupted Lisa ecstatically.
“And elephants,” agreed Jen, smoothing Lisa’s hair gently. “Elephants are big, and strong, and they work hard. But, this story is about one elephant in particular. He was born far away from people. The first time he saw a man, was
when the man came to take him to school.”
Jason groaned aloud. He was on vacation!
Wes’s eyebrows shot up, and it was all Jen could do to keep from bursting into laughter at the face he made.
“He was a very young elephant,” Jen continued, staring at the Christmas tree to avoid looking at Wes, “but the man knew that it wouldn’t be long at all before the elephant was so strong and so powerful that he wouldn’t be able to train
him. Well, the man took the young elephant home with him. At first, the elephant didn’t know what to think about the strange place, and he got into lots of trouble. He was always stealing the vendor’s melons, for one thing.” Out of
the corner of her eye, Jen saw Wes’s face harden a little. Oops…
“Mommy, stealing’s bad!” Lisa announced firmly.
“That’s right!” agreed Jen hastily. “That’s exactly what the man told him, too.”
“Did he listen?” asked Lisa, both eyebrows raised eagerly.
“Oh, yes,” Jen answered seriously. “The man taught the elephant to pull the vendor’s cart, and then the vendor gave him melons to eat. They became good friends.”
Satisfied, Lisa snuggled closer. It was almost bedtime, and her internal clock was slowing down.
“The man taught the elephant lots and lots of things,” Jen went on, “and the elephant grew bigger and bigger, just like Jason.”
Jason grinned, but didn’t interrupt.
“One day, the man got a job for the elephant in a town nearby. They had to walk all day to get from their town to the other town. While they were walking, they met a stranger. He was a storyteller traveling to the very same town, and they decided to walk together. The storyteller wanted to know all about elephants! How much does an elephant eat each day? How big do they grow? How strong are they?” Jen smiled inwardly when Jason looked expectantly
at Wes.
“I…we better hear the rest of the story, pal,” Wes hedged, “we can look that stuff up tomorrow, ok?”
Jason nodded excitedly, and turned back to listen.
“Just then, they turned a corner, and they saw a huge tree across the road! The stranger was worried, because he had to be in the next town early tomorrow, and it would take too long to walk there if he had to take a different road. So, the man and his elephant went to work! It took some hard work and some time, but the elephant moved the tree! The stranger was so impressed that he promised to buy the elephant some melons when they reached the next town.”
Lisa giggled a little.
“There was just one problem.” Jen raised both hands, palm up. “Even though the elephant moved the tree, they were still so far away that it got dark before they could get to town!”
“Did they sleep outside?” asked Jason, ever alert for any reference to camping.
“That’s right,” Jen answered. “When they were all ready for bed, the man did something that surprised the storyteller. He reached into his pack, and took out a piece of string. He told the elephant that because they had to sleep outside, he was going to tie the elephant up so he wouldn’t run away and get lost. Then, he
wrapped the string around the elephant’s huge leg, and tied a knot in it so it wouldn’t fall off.”
“And that’s all?” Jason asked, clearly confused.
“That’s what the storyteller asked,” nodded Jen. “He reminded the man that elephants are very strong, and can travel very fast, and…oh, lots of things. He was really worried!”
“What did the man say?” asked Lisa, yawning a little.
“The man said that, as strong his elephant was, he wasn’t strong enough to break a promise,” Jen answered seriously.
Wes’ smile started slowly, spreading from one quirked-up corner of his mouth to the other. He was remembering what she’d been saying just before Lisa burst into the room.
When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me these stories…
“The man and the storyteller wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept all night long. When they woke up, the elephant was right where they had left him, sleeping by a banana tree. The storyteller visited many strange towns and saw many strange things after he met the man and his elephant, but he never got
tired of telling stories about the elephant who wouldn’t break his promise.”
Later, after they had tucked the children in, Jen and Wes stood in front of the Christmas tree, thinking. Wes was wondering what the world would be like if more people were like the elephant in the story, and Jen was wondering what Wes was thinking.
“You did a great job decorating, honey,” he sighed at last, slipping
an arm around her waist.
“The kids helped a lot,” she smiled, tilting her head so it rested against his cheek.
“I can imagine,” he chuckled, remembering years past. They always let the children help, and he knew perfectly well the challenges involved. “You do so much,” he continued, his arm tightening around her waist, “the cooking, the
cleaning, wrapping the presents… I,” he sighed, “I almost hate to bring it up.”
Confused, Jen turned to face him. “What’s wrong?” She asked, concerned. Longer hours? Budget cuts?
“Well, there’s nothing
wrong, exactly, it’s just…you forgot.” Wes kept his tone serious, a little hurt even, despite the growing amusement he felt. “I had to hang it myself.”
“You…what?” Jen almost laughed in relief. He was being silly! He was being silly on grown-up time, with no kids around! “What are you talking about?” she asked, shaking him.
Wes looked up, and her eyes followed his. Directly over where they were standing, hung a cluster of mistletoe.
“It’s my favorite decoration,” Wes said, looking down at her upturned face.
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