"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

RED MARBLES

 Barbara Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. 
I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature,
ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly 
picked green peas.
I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display
of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and 
new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help 
overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the 
ragged boy next to me.“Hello Barry, how are you today?”
“H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya, jus' admirin' them peas 
sure look good.”
“They are good Barry. How's your Ma?”“Fine. Gittin'
stronger alla' time.”“Good. Anything I can help you with?”
“No sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.”“Would you like to take 
some home?”“No sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.”
“Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?”
“All I got's my prize marble here.”“Is that right? Let me
 see it.” “Here 'tis. She's a dandy.”“I can see that. 
Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue andI sort of go for 
red. Do you have a red one like this athome?”“Not zackley. 
but almost.”“Tell you what. Take this sack ofpea’s home 
with you andnext trip this way let me look at that red marble."
“Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.”Mrs. Miller, who had been standing 
nearby, came over to help me.With a smile she said, there are 
two other boys like him in our community,all three are in very 
poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas,
 apples,tomatoes, or whatever.When they come back with their red 
marbles, and they always do he decides he doesn't like red after 
all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble 
or an orange one, perhaps.
I left the stand smiling to myself, impressed with this man.
A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the 
story of this man, the boys, and their bartering.
Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one,just
recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho 
community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. 
They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends 
wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the 
mortuary we fell into line to meetthe relatives of the deceased 
and to offer whatever words of comfort we could. Ahead of us in 
line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the 
other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts all 
very professional looking.      They approached Mrs. Miller, 
standing composed andsmiling by her husband's casket. Each of 
the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly 
with her and moved on to the casket.      
Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one;each 
young man stopped briefly and placed his own warmhand over the 
cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly,
wiping his eyes.      
Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller, I told her who I was and 
mentioned the story she had told me about the marbles. With her 
eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me tothe casket.Those 
three young men who just left were the boys I toldyou about! 
they just told me how they appreciated the things Jim traded them.      
Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind aboutcolor or 
size....they came to pay their debt. We've never had a great 
dealof the wealth of this world, she confided, but right now,
Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.      
With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers ofher 
deceased husband, resting underneath were threeexquisitely 
shined red marbles.Moral: We will not be remembered by our 
words, but by our kind deeds. 

Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath.Today, I wish you a day of 
ordinary miracles....
A fresh pot of coffee you didn't have to make yourself.
An unexpected phone call from an old friend. Green 
stoplights on your way to work. The fastest line at the 
grocery store. A good sing-along song on the radio. Your 
keys right where you left them.      They say it takes a
 minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, 
a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them. 
Again I didn’t write this, nor do I know who did, I just know 
I’ve gotta stop posting them, I can’t afford the bloody tissues.  
On a lighter note ,Hoss, posted a good story about atwo legged 
pig today.Along similar lines; This guy was driving down the 
H’way at 60 mph, suddenly a three legged chicken zoomed past 
him, shortly after itturned off into a farm.He decided to enquire 
about this fast three legged chicken.“Excuse me” he said, “I just 
followed a three legged chicken into you farm,can you tell me 
anything about it.”“Yeah,” the farmer said, we breed ‘em here,
y’see me ,the missus and the youngunall like a leg when we have 
chicken.” “Oh,” said the guy, “what do they taste like?”“Dunno,” 
said the farmer, “we’ve never been able to catch one.” 
Boom boom!!

9 comments:

Humour and last laugh said...

excellent work!

Anonymous said...

Hi Peter, A great story again. Do you have shares in Kleenex or Sorbent Tissues? Some lovely quotes after it too. I heard one
today about a 3 legged pig They wanted a leg of Pork but could not bear to kill their pig. Better
than 3 legged chicken that they can't catch.

Traci Dolan said...

I've read this somewhere before but its always a nice reminder of what is important in life.

k8 said...

have you seen the real news story recentlyl about the cat with two tongues?

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Yeah, I'm getting a little short of Kleenex myself, Peter.

Vickie said...

Thanks for the reminder of those things that are most important in life. I also like the way you add humour in as well....way to go, Peter.

Peter said...

OK folks, there is only one more on file AT THE MOMENT, I'll leave it for a few days to give everyone a chance to get to the store for more tissues.
k8, you will have to tell me about the cat with two tounges/ tongues I'm afraid, and I feel it's good that I'm afraid????

Anonymous said...

Hi Peter, I sent you a picture of a turtle with 2 heads didn't I?

Here's your chance!

Peter said...

Nah, I'm not going down the freaks of nature trail Merle, only with funnies.
You have been very lucky to only misread/mistype once in word verification, the wierd font they use is half the problem, as Judy said, just assume the writer is Polish.
The one I'm about to use is qiqqlmq, I think!!
I was wrong at least one of the q must have bee g