Monday, November 1, 2010

The Boy Who Wouldn't Put His Laundry Away

Once there were two brothers named Honah and Hared, who were mostly quite obedient.
One evening, their mom asked them to put their clothes away after they had finished eating dinner and doing dishes.
There is something very important you should know about these boys. Hared was very obedient about putting his clothes away, but Honah hardly ever put his clothes away. He left them in the basket, day after day, until they made a very tall tower that reached the ceiling. Honah's mom was incredibly disappointed in him almost all the time because of it, but she made up for it by telling Hared how wonderful he was.
So, that night after dinner, the boys' mom reminded them about their job, and when they went upstairs to do it, she followed them up as silently as a ghost.
As she was walking up the stairs, she heard the sound of footsteps and slamming doors and she smiled in surprised delight. Maybe she wouldn't have to use the diabolical punishment she had devised after all.
Then she got upstairs and realized that her optimism was totally unfounded. True to form, Hared had put all his clothes away while Honah had left his in the basket. He was sitting on his bed playing with Hwirt, his Hearded Hragon.
That's when something unexpected happened.
The boys' mother took out her magic wand and pointed it out the window at a small black cloud high up in the sky. The cloud seemed to gather itself, shrinking a bit smaller, and then she pointed her wand at Honah.
In a flash, the cloud scudded across the sky toward their house. It spiralled down the chimney and swished down the hall toward the boys' room, and as it came, it spun faster and faster. By the time it reached their bedroom, it was a tormado (talk to Jared about the spelling).
The tormado swept through their room and sucked up every piece of Honah's clothes, even the clothes he was wearing. He was so embarrased that he jumped under his covers to hide. He might also have been a little afraid.
When the tormado had sucked up all of Honah's clothes, it disappeared.
Honah looked at his mom as she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. "My clothes are all gone, mom," he said.
She just nodded.
"I don't have anything to wear to school tomorrow," he complained.
She just nodded.
For the next week, Honah wore clothes made out of toilet paper, which were both convenient and a huge pain. Convenient at bathroom break, but not so easy to deal with during recess time. Good thing the school had those huge rolls, that's all Honah could think about.
A week later, the sky got dark as rain clouds gathered over Honah's hometown. There was one cloud in particular that was small and very dark. Honah thought it looked familiar; so did his mom.
When the thunder rumbled, Honah's mother told him to look out the window. In the light of a lightning flash, he saw not rain but clothes streaming down from the sky. They were his clothes. He ran outside to gather them up, and he brought them inside and put them in the washing machine. His mom helped him start it, and she showed him how to work the dryer.
And when the clothes were dry, Honah helped his mom fold them and he put them all away.

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