Clever little SusieA Story by Woody kids can teach us a trick or two Susie finally woke up. Paul, her granddad, had been calling out: “Wake up, little Susie, wake up!” She ran to the kitchen, in her pink pajamas and bare feet. She scrambled on to
her high stool and dived into her bowl of cereals. Her mum, Mrs. Robinson, was
at the stove, flipping pancakes. “Good morning honey.
What’s the programme today, Love?” “Gardening with
Grandpa”, replied Susie, mouth full and milk dribbling out of the corners of
her mouth.” “Oooh, my little
princess has green fingers then?” said her mum playfully. “I haven’t got green
fingers, Mum”, said Susie indignantly, “I’m not an alien”. Her mum laughed. “Of
course not, Honey. That’s what we say when someone is a good gardener”. “Oh? Ok”, replied
Susie and jumped down and ran out of the kitchen in search of her slippers. Her
mum called out but she ignored her. No time for the pancake. The garden was a riot
of colours. Paul had planted trees and flowers and roses. The grass was so much
greener than that on the other side of the fence. Their neighbour was hopeless.
Paul was squatting in front of a rose bush, pruners in hand, whistling softly.
Paul is quite the gardener and he’s proud of his handiwork. Susie stood beside
him and asked: “What are you doing,
Granddad?” “I’m choosing a rose
for your Grandma. Tell you what, let’s take a walk around.” They strolled
leisurely and Paul showed her roses and taught her their names. Begonias, white
daisies, Belinda’s dream, cadenzas. He told her about the birds and bees.
Literally, so stop grinning; this is a clean story. She’s only four years old,
for God’s sake. Susie looked down and
saw two daddy-long-legs one on top of the other. She exclaimed: “Grandpa, look, a
daddy-long-legs and a mummy-long-legs!” Paul chuckled and
replied: “No, sweetie, they’re
two daddy-long-legs.” Before Paul could
explain that, no matter what the gender, they were always called that way, Susie
stepped on the spiders, turning them into an unrecognizable blob. Love can be
cruel. “I’m not having such nonsense
in our garden”, declared Susie, heatedly”. Paul preferred not to answer. A moment later, Susie stopped to watch a white worm trying to wriggle
out of its hole, probably intending to suntan. Far from squeamish, she bent
down and, using her little thumb and forefinger, she plucked it out and dangled
it for her grandfather to see. “Look what I found,
Granddad!” she said proudly. Paul was clearly
pained. He explained to the little girl: “Darling, we must
have respect for all God’s creatures. Don’t do that again, please.” Then he
added: “If you can find a
way to put it back where you found it, I’ll give you a Dollar”. Susie is a smart kid.
She’s top of her form. She thought a moment then her eyes lit up. She gently
deposited the worm on the ground and rushed inside the house. A moment later,
she returned with her mum’s extra-strong gel spray. She squatted on her
haunches and holding the worm with her left hand she carefully sprayed it with
the gel. Immediately, the worm stiffened. She carefully pushed it back in the
ground and stood and beamed at her granddad. Paul was awed. He laughed and
said: “Darling you’re a
clever little devil, aren’t you? Ok, I’ll give you the dollar I owe you,
tomorrow. The following day, at
the breakfast table, Paul produced his wallet and told Susie: “Here. This is the
dollar I promised you and these are five dollars from your Grandma.” The old lady with the
rosy cheeks, sitting at the table, was having trouble hiding her smile behind
her peanut butter toast.
© 2014 WoodyFeatured Review
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17 Reviews  Last Updated on July 15, 2014 Tags: fun humour nothing serious Author
WoodyMateur, Bizerte, TunisiaAboutok, time for an update I think. my old friends have come to know me pretty well, I trust so this is for the new comers. I'm a Tunisian 60-year-old teacher-cum-translator, book worm who enjoys writing.. more..Writing
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