My Boys and Other Creatures

By Vikke Wright Jarvis

Described as, "delightful tales" and "good storytelling" these stories introduce the reader to a host of interesting adventures and at times hilarious characters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257262809

Book preview

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Prologue

Near the end on the Twentieth Century there grew four little boys and their names were Windle, Peter, Christopher and Jonathan. They lived with Mom and Dad (and sometimes their octogenarian Boppa) under the roof of a modest house in the vast, lush Virginia countryside. These are some of their adventures on their way to growing up.

Introduction

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Mom and Dad were in their mid-thirties when their children were born. Having been married at age 25, they had had plenty of time to dream about what their family life would be like and how they would spend time expanding the minds of their neatly dressed, well behaved offspring-to-be.

Then the real children arrived….all at once: first Windle; 20 months later Peter; and finally the twins, Christopher and Jonathan; four boys in three and one half years! They were what Mom and Dad liked to refer to as a brace of boys.

Reality has a way of editing dreams. So when Mom and Dad, whose imaginary children had always been very proper and well behaved, thought it high time their 4 real life little greedy guts learned some table manners, they encountered dramas of the following sort.

Don’t push your peas with your fingers, honey. Use a knife.

It’s so much easier to get them on my fork if I use my fingers.

I’m sure it is…but it’s bad manners.

Who thought up manners anyway? Windle chimed in.

Well, manners developed over many years by people…

I recently read that people in India only ever eat with their fingers.

Yes! Let’s eat with our fingers! Peter delightedly begins the mutiny.

Mom! Tell Peter to stop staring at me!

Stop staring at Jonathan, Peter!

I’m not staring at him. I’m just looking in his direction!

Uh uh! He’s staring at me. Tell him to stop!

Peter’s such an odd child.

Dad! Windle called me an odd child.

No, I didn’t! I said, odd cha!"

Now boys. Please stop. Let’s get back to the discussion at hand. Dad and I want you all to have good manners. They will help you along in life. Just pretend you are sitting at a beautiful banquet table with the Queen.

What Queen? I know, the Queen of Narnia! The White Witch! Christopher interjects.

Long live the Queen of Narnia! The dining room reverberates in the uproar.

Except, helpfully interjects Dad, Instead of being interested in peas, she would most likely be interested in nibbling off the tips of your fingers! Dad takes Jonathan’s hand and begins to nibble to the roar of all the brothers.

Yes! Nibble our fingers! The din intensifies.

Jonathan and Christopher slip out of their chair and begin marching around the dining room table holding up their forks high in honor of the White Witch.

Mom and Dad try to stifle their laugh.

Sit down, boys. Let’s finish our dinner.

As I was trying to tell you boys, having good manners is very important. Someday, when you are invited to Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen…

"Hey, that reminds me of a Mother Goose Rhyme…

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, where have you been?

I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

Yeah for the cat! Yeah for the little mouse! All the boys yell at once, holding their forks high in salute.

Very clever, boys. But you really do need to try to learn good manners. You never know when the Queen might come by and visit.

I don’t think she’s much of a Queen if she’s so worried about pushing peas with fingers.

At that, Mom and Dad eye each other across the dining room table. Dad shrugs his shoulders and Mom begins to let her mind wander over the prospect of dinner with the Queen and police chasing the boys around the table for breaking the law of manners.

It is from this sometimes raucous, often disorganized and usually good humored family setting that the following tales unfold.

Without this happy ending none of the other tales would have happened…

Chapter One

Noble Horse

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The enormous Hanovarian sprawled six feet across the parking lot, his 2000 pounds pressing my leg into the black top. Was it for so ribald and repetitive a production as this…, I found myself thinking this beloved phrase from Malcolm Muggeridge .Surely not!

It was a crisp morning in the Old Dominion. The azure sky was in perfect harmony with the tint of green streaking the countryside with the promise of spring. I inhaled deeply as I walked with excited footstep to confront my morning challenge. He was a muscular horse named Diplomat. I had watched him dominate my neighbor’s field over the past two years, and now was the moment I’d been waiting for. He was mine for the day! I hadn’t ridden for over three years; my preoccupation dressing itself in bottles, diapers, helpless cries and strict vigilance over daily baby activities. Windle was two and one-half; Peter, 9 months.

Our neighborhood was right across the street from River Bend Park, adjacent to Great Falls Park. Thick woods incorporated a web of trails used for hiking, orienteering and horseback riding; a veritable paradise for someone like me who was easily bored by the drills and discipline of riding in a ring.

A quick grooming, hoof pick, throw on the bridle and saddle and we were off; both in great spirits. Although I’d not ridden Diplomat before, I had observed him often enough to know he had a gentle nature, a kind eye and enough spunk to keep me interested. We would keep at the walk through the woods, I had decided, until