Storytelling

I think I have always been a storyteller. For that matter I think everyone is a storyteller and many just don’t realize it. Some are more truthful than others. Some tell for the sake of the story and others endeavor to tell the truth. The former are entertainers and the latter are historians.

My Mom laughed about my storytelling abilities when I was younger. I could mix the truth with fiction with great skill. That is not to say that I lied all of the time because I didn’t. I was basically an honest kid but could twist the truth from time to time. Often I didn’t expect people to take me seriously.

As a teacher, sometimes people did take me seriously when I never expected that they would. The school district had purchased a small but powerful telescope for us in the classroom. In fourth grade we had a science unit on the earth, moon and the planets. I used the telescope a few times with good success.

I don’t remember exactly what the particular phenomenon was but do recall that the moon was supposed to be brighter or closer than usual for some reason. I decided to invite students and families to an evening event at Manning where we would look at the moon with and without the telescope.

I prepared a note to go home with the kids and then tried to pitch the event with the students. There were lots of questions about what the moon would look like and what details we might see. Someone asked if we would be able to see the flag the astronauts planted there several years earlier. In my zeal I said, “Sure! Not only that but we will be able to see the footprints they left on the moon.”

That evening during supper at our house I got a call from Jake Iles, the father of one of my students. He was trying to unravel the tale his son had come home from school and told him. “What’s this about the moon tonight” he said. I explained that families were invited to come to the school and take a look at the moon that evening. “I understand that part but what’s this about seeing the astronauts footprints.” He was dead serious!

I burst out laughing! Then I had to explain that I had in fact said that but never expected the kids to believe me much less go home and tell their parents. I think Jake was only slightly amused. He knew it couldn’t be possible but his son was adamant that was what I had said. He did show up that evening with his son and took a look at the moon through the telescope. By then he was joking about it himself.

I learned to be a little more cautious about what I said realizing that people will believe just about anything under the right circumstances, even when the tale is so far fetched that you think no one could possibly believe it. My story “Grandpa’s Catfish” is a good example. I will tell it in a future piece.