A very short story.

Click on thumb for larger version...You know when someone says, I just thought I'd teach you a lesson? I've always wondered what the real lesson was (since it never turned out to be the lesson they were teaching).

Even now, here's all I can remember of the lessons I've been taught:

1. when you're being yelled at, it's a good idea to act like you're listening. Smiling & starting to dance your own little happy dance is definitely not good.

2. when people ask you when was the last time you balanced your checkbook, tell them regularly, every month & that you must have missed an entry, or you have a bad calculator.

HA! Some student I am...

You see, I'm not that good with being taught a lesson. I'm much better about looking back about ten years later & going, Oh, that's what that all meant. Like almost everybody I know (DRAT. Including my own children.) I'm better at learning my own lessons, however slowly.

So, if you ever hear a story from me (like the one here) with a moral, you can count on it being really short & ambiguous enough that you're never going to be sure if I actually meant to teach you anything. (Because I probably didn't. )

with love, Brian

P.S. By the way, you can click on this thumbnail & get a larger version. I think it's about the perfect size to print out & give to your favorite happy person who is having a short period of forgetfulness. It's got a Creative Commons copyright, so you can use it for non-commercial purposes as long as you tell people where you got it from. (That would be me & StoryPeople. Not from somewhere on the internet. Just to be clear. :-))

Here's all the Creative Commons stuff right here in case you want to learn more about how to happily share your work with the whole world (just so you know I'm not trying to teach you a lesson...):

Creative Commons License

Comments

[Ms. Jones]

Wow. Thanks Brian. I really really needed this today. Well, and for about the last ten years as well, but today will do just fine. Thanks!

[Darwin James]

Amazing story. If there was shirt of that image, I would buy it for myself, my friends, my family and, yes, even my dog.

Darwin James
http://www.kanetix.ca/term-life-insurance

[McNall Mason]

Hey Brian,

In some weird cosmic way, you helped raise me. Your art lives on the walls of my mother's home and your words live in books on her shelf... kinda like Cat Stevens and Shel Silverstein and Remy Charlip all helped raise me too.

You definitely have a way with words... and I still chuckle at you so often! Thanks for impacting me in a positive way!