Quote from Forum Archives on March 23, 2007, 9:33 am

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

"The Potato Puppy"

 

My four-year-old son, Shane, had been asking for a puppy for over a month but his Daddy kept saying, "No dogs! A dog will dig up the garden and chase the ducks and kill our rabbits. No dog, and that's final!"

Each night Shane prayed for a puppy, and each morning he was disappointed when there was no puppy waiting outside. I was peeling potatoes for dinner, and he was sitting on the floor at my feet asking for the thousandth time, "Why won't Daddy let me have a puppy?"

"Because they are a lot of trouble. Don't cry. Maybe Daddy will change his mind someday," I encouraged him.

"No, he won't and I'll never have a puppy in a million years," Shane wailed.

 

I looked into his dirty, tear-streaked face. How could we deny him his one wish? So I said the words that were first spoken by Eve, "I know a way to make Daddy change his mind."

 

"Really?" Shane wiped away his tears and sniffed.

 

I handed him a potato.

 

"Take this and carry it with you until it turns into a puppy," I whispered. "Never let it out of your sight for one minute. Keep it with you all the time, and on the third day, tie a string around it and drag it around the yard and see what happens!"

 

Shane grabbed the potato with both hands. "Mama, how do you make a potato into a puppy?" He turned it over and over in his little hands.

 

"Shh! It's a secret!" I whispered and sent him on his way. "Lord, you know what a woman must do to keep peace in her home!" I prayed.

 

Shane faithfully carried his potato around for two days, he slept with it, bathed with it and talked to it.

 

On the third day I said to my husband, "We really should get a pet for Shane."

 

"What makes you think he needs a pet?" my husband leaned against the doorway.

 

"Well, he's been carrying a potato around with him for days. He calls it Wally and says it is his pet. He sleeps with it on his pillow and right now he has a string tied to it and he's dragging it around the yard," I said.

 

"A potato?" my husband asked and looked out the window and watched Shane taking his potato for a walk.

 

"It will break his heart when the potato gets mushy and rots," I said and started getting out food for lunch, "Besides, every time I try to peel potatoes for dinner, Shane cries because he says I'm killing Wally's family."

 

"A potato?" my husband asked, "My son has a pet potato?"

 

"Well," I said shrugging, "you said he couldn't have a puppy. He was so disappointed, in his mind, he decided he had to have a pet..."

 

"That's crazy!" my husband said.

 

"Maybe you're right, but explain to me why he is dragging that potato around the yard on a string," I said.

 

My husband watched our son for a few more minutes. "I'll bring home a puppy tonight, I'll stop by the animal shelter after work. I guess a puppy can't be that much trouble," he sighed, "It's better than a potato."

 

That night Shane's Daddy brought home a wiggling puppy and a pregnant white cat that he took pity on while he was at the shelter. Everyone was happy. My husband thought he'd saved his son from a nervous breakdown. Shane had a puppy, a cat and five kittens and believed his Mother had magic powers that could change a potato into a puppy. And I was happy because I got my potato back and cooked it for dinner.

 

Everything was perfect until one evening when I was cooking dinner, Shane tugged on my dress and asked, "Mama, do you think I could have a pony for my birthday?"

 

I looked into his sweet little face and said, "Well, first we have to take a watermelon..."

Author Unknown

 

"Puppies For Sale"

 

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups. And set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

 

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy "one of your puppies."

 

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

 

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look! ?"

"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran

Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.  As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a some what awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

 

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up <B>one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

 

Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

 

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.

Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

"How much?" asked the little boy. "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

 

The world is full of people who need someone who understands.

 

Have a Blessed Weekend

Dave and Barbara

 

 

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