books

Love a Good Story. I just Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? Well, here’s another Good Story.

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.

Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

yet, their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  

The word for the month is: Putrefaction [pyoo-truh-fak-shuhn]; it’s a noun.

The process of decay or rotting, especially of organic matter; decomposition

Examples of putrefaction in a sentence:

The smell of putrefaction emanated from the decaying carcass in the forest.

Proper disposal of waste is essential to prevent putrefaction and the spread of disease.

Now, for the Good Story

This month, March, is my birthday month and I’ve been thinking about my mother. I miss her and sometimes I just stop and ask myself how she’s doing and if she remembers me. I think about the birthday cakes she made for each of us according to our personal taste. Mine was chocolate, no fruit. I lost her years ago. When I bring her to mind, I often think of those times we read together. When I was young, and before I went to kindergarten, my mother taught me how to read. Every afternoon, while she prepared the evening meal, I would gather the books in my arms and bring them to her. When she saw I was ready, she would turn the knobs on the stove, dry her hands on her apron, and amid the aromas of the baked chicken, her “special sauce,” she called it, and my favorite baked bread, we would sit at the kitchen table where she read fairy tales to me. I couldn’t get enough of the Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, The Christmas Tree, and my favorite, Thumbelina. I loved being with her in the kitchen’s warmth, and her smile while she read. I loved the way she used her voice and made the action sound scary, or the people sound happy or sad. She made the stories seem real, as if the characters were sitting beside me listening to my mother read. I looked forward to our time together, just she and I. She was patient and understanding, especially when I asked her to repeat a phrase, or explain a happening in the story. Children that age ask the same questions repeatedly, and I was no exception. My mother would relay the same responses from the day before and the day before that, all the while smiling and saying things like, “You remember that. I know you do.” Being with my mother reading to me made me feel valued, loved, and brought me closer to her.

            Thumbelina is a story about a little woman who was the size of a thumb. I couldn’t imagine anyone being as small as a thumb. To help me understand her size and recognize the name Thumbelina, my mother took a thimble out of her sewing kit and put it on my thumb. Every time she read the story, I wanted her to put the thimble on. I could now “see” the size of this little girl and understood how small she was. My mother would ask me things like: What’s Thumbelina doing now? What does she want? Her way of making sure I understood the story. Thumbelina liked and helped the other animals as she encountered them and, by seeing who they were, she came to discover herself and what she wanted. She also exhibited independence and, though she was different, she did not see herself as “less than.”

            One day, my mother changed our routine. “It’s your turn to read to me. Read Thumbelina,” she said. I was surprised. I didn’t know how to read. “Mommy, I don’t know how to read,” I said. “Oh, yes, you do.” She picked up the book, Thumbelina. “I’ll show you.” She read a line, pointing to each word as she said it, and I read the same line as she pointed to each word. She had me read that way through the entire story. Then she asked me to read the story while she listened. I couldn’t believe it when I read the entire story with only a little help from her. She gave me the biggest smile that afternoon that made me feel like the best little girl on earth.

However, I still asked the same questions, and she still answered them. The thimble on my thumb enabled me to understand dimension, the size of things, the depth of concepts, what’s true and what’s not true. Asking me to read brought another dimension to my reading and our relationship. I was not a baby anymore. I was a little girl growing up loving stories.

            As I grew, because of her encouragement during my early years, I was and still am a ferocious reader. In middle school, my teacher told me about library cards. I asked my mother what these cards were, how to get one, and how to use it. She explained a card would enable me to borrow books from the library. I knew right then I had to have a card.

The next day, while I was in school, she called the library and arranged for me to get a library card. When I came home from school, she sent me to the public library to pick up my card. I entered reluctantly, and instead of heading for the front desk, I saw books everywhere, so I headed in that direction. I wasn’t overwhelmed; I was overly excited. Books, books, books everywhere. I couldn’t wait to get started. Where should I begin?

A lady came over to help by showing me the books for middle school students. I asked how many I could borrow and took that amount to the front desk, as she asked me to. The lady at the desk said I had to return the books in two weeks, so I should think about borrowing fewer books. I told her I was fine. I took the books home, gave one to my mother, the one I picked out for her, and took the rest to my room. I did my homework first (something my mother always asked of me) and then I started reading my novels.

            When I returned the books, the librarian looked at me over her glasses. “You know you can always renew them if you haven’t finished reading them.” I smiled and said, “I’ve finished reading them. I want to borrow more.” She removed her glasses and looked at me as if she didn’t believe anyone my age could read three books in two weeks. I read all the time. I was hungry for knowledge. I wanted to know about people, objects, and places. I would find out the state where a city was located or where a country was located. I’d research the customs of people and places in another country. I even found differences in the north and south of America. (I don’t think there’s much difference today given how often people move around, but when I was young there was.) At night, I would read in a corner of my room with a blanket over my head and a flashlight. I don’t think I fooled my mother or father. When I was older, my father mentioned it.

            My mother predicted that I would be a teacher and someday be an author. Today, I am an award-winning author of three novels. I taught elementary school, middle and high school and am now a professor at a two-year college.

            Fairy tales are on the banned book list. I don’t know whether Thumbelina is on that list. I bought the book. I wanted the large picture book for children, like the one I had but, Thumbelina didn’t come in the children’s big book. It is An Illustrated Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales. As I read the contents, I recognized other books my mother and I read together. Thumbelina stayed with me because of the thimble my mother put on my thumb. Fairy Tales are stories that are not true, but truth is embedded throughout the stories. If we only read the words, we won’t find the deeper meaning or the depth in the story. If we “read” what’s beneath the story, we may find a wealth of meanings. I love stories with deeper meaning. Fairy tales have deeper meaning.

Isn’t this a good story? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it to you. Do you have a good story? Tell your story. Don’t forget to use putrefaction in a sentence and send it to me. I would love to see what you’ve done with that word. Keep it clean now.

That’s all for now. I look forward to being with you in April. Meanwhile Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and please visit my website: www.judycar.com and see what’s there. Follow me there as well. Don’t forget to read my novels. I know you’ll love the stories.

The Attractiveness of Wisdom, Winner, The Independent Press Award, 2022, and The NY Big Book Award, 2022.

Blessings and Curses, Finalist in the Readers Favorite Award, 2020, also awarded Top Ten Most Popular Books in the Frankfurt, Sharjah, and Guadalajara International Book Fairs, 2018.