Читать книгу Bedtime Stories for the Child in You - Louise D. Jewell - Страница 15

“Can I play too?” I was perhaps all of three or four years old.

My three older siblings scaled up the side of a train car behind our house. Suddenly, they disappeared inside. Then they reappeared, exiting from an opening under the train car. They were covered from head to toe in white powder. Lime powder, that is.

My siblings had found a new game, and I wanted in on the fun too. No one told me to go away, so I climbed the steel ladder. Once I reached the roof of the boxcar, I crawled towards an opening and peered in. There they were below, all three of them, rolling and laughing in fluffy white powder.

“Jump in, Louise!”

No one needed to ask me twice. I dived in and landed in a cloud of white Poof! I had never laughed so hard. To exit the train car, we squeezed through a latch opening at the bottom. Up and down. Up and down, we went. We must have played for hours.

Eventually, my siblings decided to call it quits. What they needed now was a way to wipe off the white powder.

“Louise, go home and ask Mom for a brush.”

“Okay!” I skipped all the way home.

“Mommy! We need a brush,” I chirped.

My mother took one look at me and shrieked, “You get in here, right now!”

Why was Mommy so angry with me? Wasn’t I helpful?

My siblings did not return home straight away. Likely, they heard my cries and thought it best to jump in the nearby river.

What lesson did I learn that day?

Think twice before saying yes to any request!

The gullible believe anything they’re told; the prudent sift