Tell Me a Story - Volume C

I asked several AC writers to write a story using the following 8 words and phrases:

Chicken

Crayons

Wristwatch

Laundry

Goat cheese

George Washington

Yellow

Window

Following are the unedited stories. I am sure you will enjoy reading them as much as I have!

Carol Roach

Grandpa was never one for celebrations, even though he passed through World War II and had the medals to prove it.

It was 1964 and I was just six years old at the time and the two of them were arguing over going out to dinner. "George Washington day is just a day like any other" Grandpa said.

"Alice you know better than this, I have to work tomorrow and I don't have a clean shirt, you have laundry to do."

I was supposed to be napping but I listening to the ruckus downstairs.

I grabbed my crayons to make a picture for my grandpa and then I sheepishly walked down the stairs to the parlor where they were both seated. Grandpa looks at his wristwatch and said, "Angel you didn't sleep very long, you will be tired when your ma comes to pick you up at 8:pm.

I handed my drawing to my grandpa and said. "It of you coming home from the war. You are a brave soldier just like grandma said George Washington was; he was so brave be got to be the president.

Grandpa smiled and was silent for a while, then he said, "Well woman get your act together what restaurant do you want to go to?"

"I know," I said, let's go to the restaurant with the pretty yellow curtains on the window."

"I don't think you are going to like the food there Angel. It is very exotic."

Grandma chirped in, "Lloyd, you know that Greek restaurant has piqued my interest, I am sure Angel can have some chicken, surely they make chicken."

So it was decided, off we went to the strange restaurant with the pretty yellow curtains and I had my chicken. Grandpa was having some noodles with some terrible, horrible tasting stuff. He let me try it and I spit it out. Grandpa said he liked it, but wouldn't order it again though; I think he called it goat cheese.

J. E. Ward

Thelma used the recipe for chicken casserole she had found in an old cookbook her uncle gave her. She marveled at both the recipe and the autograph on the cookbook's front inside cover. Someone had drawn a window and scribbled George Washington all over the page in different shades of yellow crayons. Anyway, the recipe called for chicken drumsticks and goat cheese, plus a secret ingredient Thelma had never heard of before. She put the dish together while doing laundry. That's when she realized, her wristwatch was missing from her arm. It was an heirloom handed down from the same uncle who gave her the cookbook. She searched through the laundry, but it wasn't there. A half hour later, and fully discouraged, she returned to her half completed casserole. There, mixed in with the chicken drumsticks and goat cheese was the wristwatch. Was it the secret ingredient?

Mike Oberg

While doing the laundry, I went through the pockets of my husband's pants, looking for any evidence of the affair I suspected. I pulled out a yellow crayon, a one dollar bill with its picture of George Washington, and a piece of dried goat cheese. I had never gotten him to eat goat cheese before, but I remembered seeing some on his secretary's desk yesterday!

So I calmly picked up his clothes and threw them out the window. I looked at my wristwatch and thought about how I would confront him when he came home from work in an hour.

JerseyNana

Looking out the window it was a cold February day, I was off for Presidents Day which used to be called George Washington's birthday. After getting the aged yellow stains from my grandmother's heirloom doilies, I started folding the laundry when I remembered that I forgot to prepare dinner. I made the family's favorite; stuffed chicken with goat cheese stuffing and the works! I rushed to get it and the rest of my chores done. Dinner was done and surprisingly, everyone showed up on time. As I took the stuffing out of the chicken to put in a bowl, I noticed something shiny, Sure enough, it was my wristwatch that must have slipped off while I was mixing the stuffing. I quickly took it out and it was still going, so I never told them. But the next day, written in crayon was a big sign: Kitchen Closed - No Time to Cook!

Sheryl Young

It started out like your typical banquet with a "rubber chicken" dinner. If it weren't for the Greek salad with goat cheese, everything would have tasted like cardboard. I looked at my wristwatch and stared out the nearest window. I really could have been home getting my laundry done. It would have been nice if they'd passed out kiddie crayons to draw on the tablecloths during the speeches and announcements.

But the afternoon was made worth it as I watched my godson's drama class make an appearance as the "entertainment" for the day. He looked so cute in his little George Washington costume. He had on navy blue britches, a yellow buttoned vest under a navy blue peacoat, and a three-cornered hat keeping his crooked white wig in place. And I thought, sometimes rubber chicken dinners aren't so bad after all.

Sarah Morris

That afternoon as I looked out my window. I thought of a recipe a friend gave me earlier, chicken and goat cheese? I wondered how long it would take. I looked down at my wristwatch. Then I heard my daughter at the kitchen table, coloring with her favorite crayons. Yellow being number one, of course."I'm drawing George Washington for school", she exclaimed. I smiled as I hurried off to finish the laundry.

Thomas Lane

"Jeez, Linda, meet me halfway, willya?" I complained to my wife as she stubbornly held onto the chandelier. "Look at all I done to help you with your weird phobia about that color. I swapped the cheddar for goat cheese; I threw all my yellow crayons out the window, and I even skinned the chicken."

She haughtily turned her face from me, as she improved her grip on the light fixture.

"All I'm asking is that you do just a little housework. Christ, the place looks like a pigsty, and the laundry is piled up so high, it probably hasn't been cleaned," I noted as I glanced at my wristwatch, "since Birthington's Washday."

"I will not have you insulting our 21st president!" she scolded me. "I'll thank you to leave Mr. George Washington out of this discussion."

Nancy Tracy

My family rotated holidays, and that year it was my turn to host George Washington's birthday. As I put the finishing touches on my hors d'oeuvres ("wooden teeth" made out of Ry Krisps and goat cheese), I glanced out the window at my laundry clipped to a rope attached to our cherry tree. Like contestants from "Dancing with the Stars," my silky white blouses danced and sparkled in the breeze, illuminated by the bright afternoon sun shining brightly as yellow crayons.

An unfamiliar whooshing sound snapped me out of my reverie. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a puff of smoke emanating from my new genie lamp, a kitschy antique I had recently purchased at the local flea market. To my horror and amazement, a genie who looked just like the father of our country emerged life-sized from the tiny tea pot shaped vessel.

A part of me wanted to ask my unexpected house guest a zillion questions about his legendary life; but I was too chicken. So I glanced dramatically at my wristwatch and fibbed, "Nice to meet you, George, but I'm late for an appointment," then slithered out the door as fast as I could without noticing if he was wielding an axe. I wondered if my cherry tree would still be standing when I returned home.

Thank you all for participating!! If anyone would like to be part of the next 'Tell Me A Story' please send me a message and I'll add you to the list.

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