"Late again," the third-grade teacher said to little Sammy.
"It ain't my fault," Miss Crabtree."You can blame this on my daddy. The
reason I'm three hours late? ...... cause Daddy sleeps nights in the raw!"
Now Miss Crabtree had taught grammar school for thirty-some odd years. So
she asked little Sammy what he meant by that, despite her mounting fears.
Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Sammy
and trouble were old friends, but he always told the truth.
"You see, Miss Crabtree, at the ranch we got this here lowdown coyote. The
last few nights he done et six hens and killed Ma's best milk goat........
And last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grab his
gun and says to Ma, 'That coyote's back again, I'm a gonna git him! Stay
back, he yell to all us kids, I wouldn't want ya hurt!' He was naked as a
jaybird, no boots, no pants, no shirt! To the hen house he crawled, just
like an Injun on the snoop.
Then he stuck that double barrel through the window of the coop. As he
stared into the darkness, with coyotes on his mind, our old hound dog Zeke
had done woke up and come a sneakin' up behind Dad. Then we all looked on
plumb helpless as Daddy was cold-nosed without warnin'."
"Miss Crabtree, we been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin'!"
"It ain't my fault," Miss Crabtree."You can blame this on my daddy. The
reason I'm three hours late? ...... cause Daddy sleeps nights in the raw!"
Now Miss Crabtree had taught grammar school for thirty-some odd years. So
she asked little Sammy what he meant by that, despite her mounting fears.
Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Sammy
and trouble were old friends, but he always told the truth.
"You see, Miss Crabtree, at the ranch we got this here lowdown coyote. The
last few nights he done et six hens and killed Ma's best milk goat........
And last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grab his
gun and says to Ma, 'That coyote's back again, I'm a gonna git him! Stay
back, he yell to all us kids, I wouldn't want ya hurt!' He was naked as a
jaybird, no boots, no pants, no shirt! To the hen house he crawled, just
like an Injun on the snoop.
Then he stuck that double barrel through the window of the coop. As he
stared into the darkness, with coyotes on his mind, our old hound dog Zeke
had done woke up and come a sneakin' up behind Dad. Then we all looked on
plumb helpless as Daddy was cold-nosed without warnin'."
"Miss Crabtree, we been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin'!"