Wind Stories: You know how the wind can get

By Anthony Garot

Wind Stories - You know how the wind can get

A collection of humorous fantasy stories with “the wind” as a central character.

» Hear the story of how the wind helped a bird who could separate milk from water.

» Learn why there are storms in winter!

» Watch the formation of a Jazz band with a special guest performer—the wind, herself!

All this and more . . . .

With light situations, humor, and a few morals sprinkled in for good measure, these stories will entertain both children and adults.

Great for reading aloud—and be sure to use separate voices for each character!

Keep in mind:

In a world with a talking melon, anything is possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony Garot
• Release date: Oct 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005946340

Anthony Garot

Anthony has always been fond of the written word. He is a self-proclaimed “reader,” who enjoys a variety of genres including philosophy, psychology, motivation, inspiration, trading, leadership, and religion.His first book was a kids book! The characters are fun and simple for kids, but also have full, rich personalities to appeal to the "kid" inside every adult.His first departure from kids books was “A ForEx Trading Plan,” which combines years of market study into a trading plan for foreign exchange trading.In his spare free time, Anthony speculates currencies, shoots photos, reads, does push-ups, and drinks coffee.Anthony currently lives in Phoenix, AZ.

Book preview

Wind Stories

You know how the wind can get

by Anthony J. Garot

Wind Stories

Copyright © 2020 by Anthony J. Garot

Smashwords Edition

Release version 1.1

Smashwords ISBN: 9781005946340

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. If you got this book free through a promotion, and you enjoyed it, or it made a difference in your life, consider buying me a cup of coffee.

:-D

Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

www.garot.com

Send mail with questions or comments about this book to [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Preface

The Stories

» You Know How The Wind Can Get

» Hammy Hamsa and the Unethical Merchant

» Calamity Loses The Race

» The Wind Sessions

» Windblown Zen

» The Purloined Invitation – The Untold Story

» The Stories Conclude

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

Cast (Dramatis personæ)

Rules Of Hospitality

Parting Remarks

About The Author

I dedicate this book to my father.

Preface

The first two stories in this collection were originally published in BOOK 4: Reginald P. Lizard and the Case of the Missing Gemstone. After feedback and a subsequent careful reading on my part, I moved them into this separate collection of tales. Amusing stories in their own right, moving these two stories to a separate book opened an opportunity to flesh out the wind as a character. Plus BOOK 4 was getting rather long.

This book opened an opportunity to write The Wind Sessions, a story about the formation of a Jazz band. Why Jazz? Many character names from the World of Reginald P. Lizard are derived from famous Jazz musicians. This convention stopped when I ran out of unique, recognizable names. The story includes a medley of new characters as well as a few friends from the core cast of prior books.

Each story in this book has a central character of the wind, which just seemed fair since she has been in every book thus far but hadn’t received the full recognition she deserves. She just loves to be included!

Krishnamurtle Turtle, who was introduced in BOOK 4, gets a more solid role. Both my sister and I love the Turtle.

The careful reader may note that I shortened character names throughout the book. So, Reginald P. Lizard will often be referred as simply Reginald. Lady Horse, however, will never be just Lady or Horse.

A quick note on The Purloined Letter:

The final story of this book is a re-telling of BOOK 1 from the perspective of Willa Wind. I wish to point out that you can get BOOK 1: Ellington Owl's Awesome Birthday, for free—just in case you wish to read it alongside, beforehand, or afterwards.

I hope you enjoyed these tales as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Anthony Garot, [e-mail]

https://www.facebook.com/Reginald.P.Lizard/

The Stories

You Know How The Wind Can Get

THE WIND WAS known by many names depending upon where she blew. Names like Sirocco, Gale, Zephyr, Mistral, Shamal, Zonda, and Samoon described her in various exotic lands. She chose to call herself Wilhelmina Wind—the h pronounced with emphasis; but her closest friends called her Willa Wind.(⁰¹)

Willa sometimes whispered, sometimes roared, and sometimes just sat still. She was playful, fickle, wrathful, and kind—but not always at the same time.

Willa coursed over the hills, through trees, from afar to near—bus she was always in all places at once. The wind is ubiquitous, which is just a big fancy word meaning ‘everywhere’. Thus, she had seen many amazing things, and sometimes these interesting events occurred at the same time! She remembered back to a day some hundreds of years ago when two interesting events happened on different parts of the globe at nearly the same time.

Hammy Hamsa and the Unethical Merchant(⁰²)

THE FIRST EVENT that Willa Wind remembered occurred in the exotic land named India—a large country in south Asia. Hansaraj Hamsa—whom everyone called Hammy Hamsa—was an aquatic bird that resembled a goose or swan. As his unfortunate fate would have it, Hammy was poor and hungry. In his ongoing search for work, he tapped upon the door of a local shop named Pinochle Mercantile, which is a fun name to say aloud. When the merchant answered the door, Hammy inquired, Dear sir, I am hungry. Do you have some work or task that I might perform in exchange for money or food?

The merchant wore a bright red turban and sported an exceptional beard of black curls. He played with his curls while he replied, I need this market booth swept, cleaned, and looking presentable by tomorrow. The regular porcupine who normally does this has been delinquent her duties for over a week—as you can plainly see, the booth is in disarray. If you clean the place well, and I mean a really good job, I will pay you one silver coin, one copper coin, and I will give you a tall glass of fresh goats milk from my finest goat.

Although the booth was a mess, and Hammy felt the work was worth more than the merchant offered, he was hungry, so he grabbed a broom and swept. Then he found soap and water to clean the counters, shelves, and even the front sign. He worked hard—he put extra elbow grease into his efforts, and soon the stall looked presentable.

Then Hammy sought his payment. The local merchant gave him two copper coins and a glass of milk. Hammy protested that he was promised one copper and one silver coin each, and that silver is worth much more than a copper coin. The merchant stroked the black curls of his beard and said, So . . . you don’t want to be paid, then? Show me our signed contract that specifies a silver coin. The bird was too hungry and tired to argue further. He picked up the two copper coins and glass of milk and walked away. The merchant laughed as the bird left because he had pulled off two tricks—not only did he swindle the bird out of a silver coin, but the glass of milk he offered was diluted halfway with water! He laughed and twisted the curls of his beard.

Willa Wind didn’t usually get involved with the ethics and morality of people. Too many swindles occurred every day. However, this time, something caught her attention. Hammy, an aquatic bird that resembled a goose or swan, placed his bill directly into the glass and drank only the milk! When he had finished, a half glass of water remained! This both surprised and delighted the wind. Hammy considered taking revenge upon the merchant’s booth—but he remembered the phrase about revenge—those seeking revenge should dig two graves. So, he took a deep breath, forced a smile that he didn’t feel, and left the town with his two copper coins. He was still hungry, but he didn’t want to remain in this town that was home to a merchant like this. Willa followed Hammy out of town.

But the wind has the ability to be in two places at once; and so later that evening, she watched the merchant with the red turban and black curly beard return to the market booth. He saw the half-filled glass of water and was perplexed. How’d he . . . ? The wind was so enchanted by the whole experience of a bird who could not only separate milk from water, but who didn’t take vengeance on the merchant who swindled him. Willa Wind decided to offer Hammy a boon, some reward, so she watched and waited for an opportunity.

One week later, that same merchant with the curly black beard paid for an expensive necklace for a lady-friend—not his wife—who he wished to impress. He extracted a 100 Rupee note from his wallet—which was worth a considerable amount back then. Willa Wind came like a hurricane from out of nowhere, scooped the note from the merchant’s hand, and carried it with her for over 20 miles. The windblown merchant was dazed and blinked his eyes from the grit the sudden gust blew into them.

Hammy, fatigued from his journey and lack of food, slept under a banyan tree. Willa blew hard to wake him up, but she only ruffled his feathers. Then she tried to lay the 100 Rupee note under his wing, but it got stuck in a tree! Willa was not daunted—this was no time to be impatient, although, in truth, she was not known for her patience. The last time she was impatient, she created a Category 5 hurricane that destroyed most homes on islands in the Caribbean. So, Willa alternated her strength—from light to hard to light again, from East to West to East again, all in measured and exacting amounts. In the end, the 100 Rupee note lifted free from the tree, and this time, she placed the money right between the bird’s outstretched webbed feet.