Surprise Stories Page 6
“She told the story of her imprisonment and of how Roberts had rescued her, and of the harrowing trip from Black Eye’s hideout. Count Cortes was content that she should marry this bold young man who had rescued his daughter and had won her love.
“Roberts went back to duty in the Navy, helping to hunt down and defeat the rest of the pirates, who were really not much of a threat without Black Eye to lead them. He and Teresa married and lived happily ever after.”
Singing
After Maria finished her story, there was a long silence. Then people slowly started to move again.
Jim broke the silence. “Thanks Maria. That was a remarkable story.”
Others joined in.
Maria thanked them for their compliments, then suggested they might do some singing.
“Ralph and I have been haunted today by Home on the Range,” said Jeanne. “We have an alternative version we’d like everyone to sing so we can get it out of our heads. It goes like this:
Oh find me a gnome, where the duffle bags roam
Where the worms and the cantaloupes play
Where anything heard is truly absurd
And the skies sing out loudly all day.
Everyone laughed. Jim worked with them briefly on it, recalling the parts from last night, and they began singing. They sang a matching refrain. Then others began to make up alternative words as well. After five times around, Jim said, “OK, let’s go back to Jeanne’s version.” And they did and brought it to a close.
“I’d like to pick another one probably everyone knows and teach you the harmony parts for it, you know. The song is ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ – is there anyone that doesn’t know it?” No one responded. “OK. So, lemme, uh, you know, run through the verses real quick:”
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes. (toot toot).
She'll be drivin' six white horses when she comes. (whoa back)
Oh we'll all come out to meet her when she comes. (hi babe)
She'll be wearing red pajamas when she comes. (scratch scratch)
Oh we’ll kill the old red rooster when she comes. (hack hack)
Oh we'll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes. (Yum Yum)
She will have to sleep with Grandma when she comes. (snore sound)
Oh we'll all shout "Hallelujah" when she comes. (hallelujah!
“OK, does everyone have that? Good. Do you understand what the ‘toot toot’ and ‘whoa back” and stuff is all about?” Apparently not everyone did, so he sang the first verse with the “toot toot” addition:
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (toot toot).
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (toot toot).
She'll be coming 'round the mountain; she'll be coming 'round the mountain,
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (toot toot).
He looked around. Everyone seemed to be with him. “Now, you know, the one complexity is that you have to do all of the sound effects in reverse order after the fourth line. So for instance, the final line of sleeping with grandma would go like this:
She will have to sleep with Grandma when she comes. Snore snore; yum yum; hack hack; scratch scratch; hi babe; whoa back; toot, toot.
“OK, do you think you’re basically OK with the lyrics now?”
They were, though there were some self-doubters in the group. It took some time to get everyone on key and to build some harmonies, but when they did, it was wonderful. They sang the whole song through several times, gave themselves a big hand, thanked Jim, and went off to bed as the moon was sinking toward the western horizon.
Acknowledgments
I want to acknowledge all people involved in this book series, without their permission and their support of whom this work could not be accomplished: Mr. Samuels, Mr. Del Mar, Captain Ashley, and the free spirit of Mr. Gallagher.
Distributed by Nick Niels Sanders with all rights and permissions required.
Table of Contents
Surprise Stories
26
Morning Activities
Mid-Day
Afternoon Activities
Let’s Tell Stories
Let’s Sing
27
Acknowledgments