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Show z FICTION CORNER I fffll AND AN ELEPHANT I Wj) By WILLIAM CITHBERT UH, UH, Daddy could see It coming com-ing again! He bad Just lettled down to read the evening paper when Barbara climbed on one knee, and George Henry took possession of the other. He let the newspaper drop to the Boor. He couldn't read with a pair of heads in front of his eyes. "How old am I. Daddy?" Bar-bnra Bar-bnra asked. This was better than Daddy had hoped for. He was expecting something some-thing else. "You'U be three next month," he told her. He thought that if he used a little lit-tle child psychology he could keep the children's thoughts on their ages and birthday parties, instead of having them think of that other thing. "You're five, George Henry," Hen-ry," he said, "you'll soon be going to school." George Henry said bluntly, "tell us a story." Here it was, that other thing that he could see coming. "Not now," Daddy groaned, "I don't feel like telling a story." "The three bears, heh, George Henry?" Barbara chimed In. They settled back expectantly in Daddy's .-ms. Their flannel pa-Jamas pa-Jamas were soft and warm ai his arms embraced them. "Once upon a time there was three bears," Barbara prompted. What could Daddy do? He shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. "The three bears lived In a cabin at the edge of a woods." "No Goldilocks," George Henry said, "tell us about the three bears and an elephant." "An elephant?" Daddy didn't feel like plotting a new story. "It will have to be Goldilocks," he said. Barbara clapped her little chubby chub-by hands. "Goody," she cried, "what does the elephant do in the tory, Daddy?" "But I don't know any elephant tory." "Remember the one you read out of the book that you wrote?" This was George Henry trying to refresh his Daddy's memory. Daddy tried to think over the Juvenile stories that he had written and had had published. He couldn't place an elephant story that had anything to do with three jears. "No Daddy, it wasn't in the book," George Henry suddenly remembered, re-membered, "you Just told it to us." The easiest thing to do, Daddy decided, was to make up a story, then rush the children off to bed. "During the day," he continued, "the sun shone bright on the cabin nd kept the three bears warm." "What was the bears' names?" Barbara wanted to know. There could be no question about the names. Whether it was bears, pigs, ducks or rabbits, the names had to be the same. "One bear's name was Barbara, another George Henry, and the third. Sally." Sally was the children's eight-year-old sister. She had Just started start-ed to take violin lessons, and Daddy could hear her In her bedroom trying try-ing to squeak some notes out of the G string. "As I was saying, the bears were kept warm In the daytime by the hot sun. But at night when the sun went to sleep. It got very cold, and the bears had to keep a fire in the hearth of the open fire place." The telephone bell rang, and as the children's mother came from the kitchen to answer It, Daddy remained re-mained silent. This was a rule In the home. No one talked while someone else was speaking on the telephone. The children hugged against Daddy. Dad-dy. He thought they might go to sleep. Their mother talked for several minutes. Daddy gathered from the things she said that she was giving Mrs. Piper, a neighbor who lived up the street, a recipe tor cheese pie. When his wife went back to the kitchen. Daddy looked at the children. chil-dren. Their eyes were closed. Ah, no more story telling tonight, he thought. George Henry opened sleepy eyes. "So the three bears had to keep a Are at night" Daddy began to talk softly, soothingly. sooth-ingly. This would put the children sound to sleep. "The bears had to bled. She looked like she might cry. 'The next day." Daddy said hurriedly, hur-riedly, "the bears decided that they Just had to have wood, so they went back among the trees. After they made sure that no other animal ani-mal was in sight, Sally bear picked up the axe and began to chop- chop chop." "Please Daddy, tell us about the elephant" George Henry held bis hand against his mouth to hold back a yawn. "But before long, the thumping noise again rang out in the woods. Thump thump thump. The bears were too frightened to run this time, and suddenly a big animal stuck its head and long trunk between be-tween two trees and glanced bewildered be-wildered at the three shivering bears." Barbara clapped her hands. "The elephant!" she cried. "Let it be a good elephant, heh Daddy?" George Henry said. "All right, it was a good elephant, ele-phant, and it asked the bears why they were frightened? None of the I 'IW'7 p, in.)nMi.y'iMii!i Vlt" I'!"-',!)! ' I"" Bi'ff"".1" 1 f jl fmW!!Vm'm y George Ilrnry said bluntly, "tell us story." have wood for their Are, so every day they went into the woods to chop down a tree." "Louder, Daddy," Barbara told him, "I can hardly hear you." George Henry wiggled a bit and asked, "Where's the elephant?" "The elephant?" Daddy had forgotten for-gotten there was supposed to be an elephant "The elephant, uh, we'll get to him . . , the bears had to go to the woods for Are wood. One day Sally bear was chopping down a tree. It was a big tree, tor most of the small trees had already been burned, and ihe became tired. George Henry bear took the axe and began to chop chop chop." "What about the elephant, Daddy?" Dad-dy?" It was Barbara this time. "Suddenly the bears heard another anoth-er sound In the woods. George Henry Hen-ry bear stopped chopping to listen. Thump thump thump r All three bears were startled. They never beard this noise before." Barbara smiled, "Here comes the elephant." Daddy Ignored the interruption. "George Henry bear dropped the axe and the three bears ran as fast as they could back to their cabin, and they locked themselves In." George Henry sat up straight all sleep disappearing from his bright blue eyes. "Did the elephant chase them, Daddy?" he asked. Daddy sighed deeply and said sternly, "Will you two settle down and allow me to tell the story?" Meekly, George Henry settled back in Daddy's arm. "That night it was very cold and the bears had no wood to burn. They huddled near the damp fire place and almost froze." "The poor bears," Barbara mum- bears dared to speak, so the elephant ele-phant looked around and saw that they had been chopping at the tree." "So the elephant chopped the tree down for them," George Henry Hen-ry volunteered. Daddy smiled. This would be better bet-ter than bringing In a lot of complications com-plications and would get the children chil-dren to bed in a hurry. "Yes, the elephant took the axe in his trunk and chopped the tree into small pieces. The bears then saw that the elephant was a friend, so each gathered an arm load of wood, while the elephant took a big load in his trunk, and they all went back to the cabin." "Is that all Daddy?" Barbara wanted to know. "Not quite. The elephant was so big that it couldn't go through the door of the cabin, and when night came, it had to stay out in the cold, while the bears kept warm near the fire." GEORGE HENRY could hardly keep his eyes open but he said, "Let the good elephant go Inside near the fire, Daddy." Daddy thought for a moment How could he get the elephant inside? in-side? Suddenly he knew how. "The following morning the bears were so sorry for the elephant that they got out all their carpenter tools and busily went to work." "Did they build another cabin?" Barbara asked this although Daddy Dad-dy thought she was asleep. "No, they Just made a bigger doorway and the three bears and the elephant lived happily together togeth-er ever after." Barbara and George Henry slept peacefully as Daddy carried them upstairs and put them in their beds. Then Daddy went downstairs, picked up the newspaper and settled set-tled back In his chair. But he didn't read the newspaper. It dropped to the floor as he closed his eyes and went to sleep. |