A Memorial Lesson Learned Pt 3

Dad had begun to read...

School Newspaper
Scotsburg, Maine
March 22nd, 1980

Foreign Lady Coming to Scotsburg!
A weirdo lady from a country very different than our town, is coming with her husband to live here in Scotsburg. She comes this Monday at 4:30 pm. We are kind of worried about not being able to get along with her because we cannot be sure that she speaks English well. She might; we don’t know very much about her, and we are also worried about her living with us – because, of course she will not know why we do what we do, and we will have to explain it to her, which won’t be a problem as long as she is teachable.
If you have questions, you can ask the editors or the dock workers who might know some information because they all helped get this information to you, and they will try to answer them to the best of their abilities.

Coming Soon! New Sweets Store!
A lady from Wisconsin named Mrs. Treea has asked our permission to come here to Scotsburg and set up a sweets store that she calls an ex-bakery. Here is her example of what it will be like: “This is a place meant to bless others with refreshments for little or no money at all. I will take donations or will have people pay five dollars a month for a membership, so they can get an unlimited amount of goods! Some examples of what I will be selling: cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, brownies, beverages of all sorts, candy, rice crispy treats, and more!”
We are not exactly sure when the bakery will be open, most likely this week, but if it is not open by Friday, we will tell you what the estimate of her opening time is in next week’s paper.
The bakery hours are:

Monday-Thursday: 6:00am-8:00pm
Friday: 6:00am-6:00pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 6:00am-10:00pm

We are so excited that Mrs. Treea is willing to do this for us, it will be such a blessing! Now that we’ve gotten the word out, I’m sure that many people will say so, too! Get ready for sweets!

Boat Race Coming Up in a Week and a Half!
We have a huge bumper boat race coming up in a week and a half for all ages, and if you want to get involved, you have until Tuesday to register. The actual event happens the next Tuesday on April 2nd. Be sure to arrive between 8:00-9:00 a.m. to get your boat and find your teammates. The race should start at 10:00.
Notice: This race will take most of the day. The actual racing route will be disclosed upon arrival, but be sure to bring lunch and snacks. However, we will have a pot-lock dinner.
Thank you for subscribing to our newspaper! We enjoy getting the news out to you!

“Mom, when will we eat?” asked Moses. He and Allison had actually started paying attention as soon as Dad read the newspaper out loud.
“I’ll get it on the table right now, since Emily is home.” said Mom as she got up to do so.
So they ate dinner and talked.
They continued to talk about all kinds of stuff, until Mom suggested, “Let’s have some dessert and a game!”
“Of course, how could we say ‘No’ to that?!” said Dad.
So Mom went into the kitchen, got six plates, and set ten cookies on each plate.

“We’re going to play a game called, The Cookie Race. I’m going to give each of you ten cookies on a plate, and when I say ‘Go’, you guys will eat up the cookies. Now for the rules: You may not cram-jam the whole cookie into your mouth. You may not spit out any cookies or drop a crumb on the table. If you do any of these things, you will be penalized by having your cookies taken away for ten seconds, and then you may continue with the race. However, if you cram-jam your cookie in your mouth, you get them taken away for 20 seconds which may vary depending on how much cookie you cram-jammed into your mouth and how young you are. First person to finish their cookies wins! Have fun!” explained Mom as she dished out the cookies.
“Are you going to play this time, Mom?” asked Allison.
“Not this time, Allie, I have to be the scorekeeper.” replied Mom.
“Why do you have cookies then?” asked Moses.
“Just because I am not in the game does not mean I do not get any cookies!” said Mom.
“Oh, I hope Moses and Allie gets a fair chance against Dad!” said Emily.
“Oh, I’ll beat him just fine! I-will-beat-him! I-will-beat-him! I-will-beat-him!” sang Moses, Allison joined him, and a new silly song was invented. They made up all kinds of different songs.
“I will beat him! I-will-beat-him! I-will”
“Shhhhh! We’re about to start!” said Mom, “Everybody set?”
Everybody sat their hands on either side of their plates.
“Alright…and…Gooooooooooooooooooo!”
Everybody started eating at once! It was crazy! All of a sudden, Moses was cram-jamming his cookie into his mouth, and that was the first rule Mom had said not to do!
“Moses penalized!” sang Mom and she took them away.
“Really? I want my cookies back!” said Moses after she took his cookies away.
“Well, you did something you were not supposed to do, which was eat your whole cookies at once. Since you are young, I will take them away for fifteen seconds. ... Here, you may have them back now.” said Mom, giving them back.
So the race continued until Allison dropped her cookie, of which landed on her lap.
“Man, I was just getting ready to take a bite and I dropped it!” she said when Mom took them away.
And then something funny happened.
All of a sudden, Moses fell out of his chair.
“Moses!” said Joe, muffled, and rose up to get him, but he spit out his cookie on the floor! He was so worried about Moses that he totally forgot about his cookie, dropped it, spit out his bite, and jumped up out of his seat! Everybody remembered that, no one forgot it in later years, not even Moses.
“I will take care of Moses, but Joe is penalized! While your cookies are gone, why don’t you clean that up for a double penalty!” said Mom, laughing as she went to pick up Moses and put him back in his seat.
So Joe got all of his cookies taken away for ten seconds, and he cleaned up his mess and got them back.
The game went on. It was crazy long because of all the rules Mom had attached to it, but if this had been a regular night eating a bunch of cookies, it would not have taken half so long. The game went on.
Eventually, Dad said, “I’m stuffed!” But he had five more cookies on his plate.
“Well, you better keep on eating them, or you will lose!” said Mom, smiling.
“I know…” said Dad, and he kept on eating, slowly, because he was very tired.
Soon, Emily dropped a tiny crumb on the table.
“Emily penalized!” said Mom.
“Seriously?” said Emily as Mom took her cookies away, “Oh, no! If my cookies get taken away, then Dad might win!”
“No, I don’t think so. Look and listen!” said Mom.
So Emily looked at Dad. Dad was sleeping!
Moses looked sleepy too, so Mom said, “Are you ready to go to bed, Moses?”
“No way!” said Moses, and he continued eating, but he soon fell asleep to!
The race was between Joe, Allison, and Emily. Eventually, Joe started cram-jamming his cookie into his mouth, like Moses did!
“Joe penalized, and since you are fifteen, I am taking them away for thirty seconds!” said Mom, taking away his cookies.
So Joe sat there, trying hard not to try to stop Emily from winning, there was no way he’d win now since she was so close and he’s had his cookies taken away.
When he got them back, and he and Allison tried to catch up, but Emily beat Joe by a few bites and Allison by three-fourths of a cookie. She had won.
“Good job, Emily!” said Mom.
“Good game!” Joe, Allison, and Emily said to each other and giving each other high fives.
Mom looked at Dad. “It is obviously time for bed, but I don’t think it is my job to carry Dad to his bed, so after I carry Moses upstairs, you guys can wake him up!” she said.
“You mean jump on him?” said Allison.
“Whatever it takes to wake him up!” said Mom.
When Mom came back downstairs, Joe was setting up the video camera, which she thought was a good idea, and they asked her to take pictures to, which she said she would.
“All together, one, two, three!”
To Be Continued...