美国奶奶讲故事｜Gammy's Story Time Gammy

Bike Bargaining by Gammy
One day, Gigi sat on her front porch, hands cradling her chin, watching her friend ride down the street on a bicycle.  Her dad was also sitting on the porch.  Gigi asked, “When can I get a bike Dad?  I’m already twelve years old.”
“Gigi, you’d need to save money for a bike.  It will cost $30.  I will match whatever you save until you have enough.”  
Thirty dollars was a lot of money when Gigi was young.  “It will take me forever to save my half of the money,” Gigi thought.  Then she had an idea.
“Dad, can I start charging money for the babysitting I do?”
“No Gigi,” he said.  “The people you babysit for are poor.  You have much more than they do.”
“But how can I save any money if I work for free?”
“You’ll have to find another way.”
Later that day, Gigi walked to her free dance lessons at the Moose Lodge in town.  As she entered the lodge she noticed a sign in the entrance.  It read:
“Kids, help us get more children to join the Moose Lodge’s Free Saturday Children’s Program and earn 50 cents a child.” 
Gigi thought of all the kids she babysat for.  If she could get some of them to come to the Saturday program, that would help pay for a bike.
By the next Saturday Gigi had six little children walking along the sidewalk holding a long rope to keep them all together.  When she arrived, the students sat in a circle and joined the fun.
Gigi earned $3.00.  She would need 12 more dollars to pay for her share fo the bike.  It took Gigi two years to save the rest!
The end                                                                                                        

How to Catch a Lizard
Gammy stopped sweeping the kitchen floor and looked up.
What was that sound? Kissing sounds, but no one else was home. Gammy entered the nearby hallway.
She looked up there on the wall hanging like a painting was a scaly brown lizard.  Gammy stared at the creature. She knew a little bit about lizards. The tiny hairs on the sides of their feet made it possible for a lizard to stick to a wall, even a ceiling.
Its skin was rough and its tail whipped back and forth letting Gammy know it was ready for anything - good or bad.
Gammy moved a little closer, the lizard scurred across the wall.
Whoa. How would she ever catch such a quick reptile? Her children would soon be home from school. What if the lizard got in the nearby closet and scurried out just as they were hanging up their jackets?
Just then the lizard scurried higher up the wall. How am I going to catch this lizard, Gammy wondered?
He can run very fast. Could she sweep him out with a broom? Use a box. Yes! A box.  Gammy found a sturdy box in the house with a flat piece of cardboard inside it.  She removed the piece of cardboard and turned the box upside down,
Walking slowly and quietly, Gammy got his close to the lizard as she dared.
Gammy flipped the open box over the lizard still pressed against the wall. The lizard was very quiet in the box. Gammy slid the cardboard under the box so the lizard could not escape.
She carried the box outside and placed it on the ground. She grabbed a stick and flip the box over with it. The lizard ran away never to be seen again.
The end.

Dueling Pianos
One day, Gammy and her older brother, Bob, became very worried about their piano teacher. Usually, their teacher called them to play the instrument one at a time. But on this day, the teacher said, “Children, I want both of you to come forward and sit at the piano together.”
They sat down shoulder to shoulder and looked up at their teacher. “Wouldn’t it be fun for the two of you to learn a duet?” she said.
“What’s a duet?” asked Bob.
“Two people at the piano playing one song. It can be quite beautiful, but it will take teamwork.”
Gammy and Bob looked at each other both thinking, “How will this ever work?”
But the two returned home each determined to practice so as not to let their teacher down. A few days later, their mom called them from their play. Gammy was busy designing a house for her doll using little cardboard boxes for furniture. Bob was dribbling on the driveway basketball court.
“Time to start practicing that duet. Let’s hear how both of your parts sound together.” Mom seemed as excited as their teacher. Gammy and Bob weren’t so sure.
“Plink. Bam! Ouch!” “Move over.”
Not the beautiful music the teacher had promised.
“You missed the beat!”
‘I did not!! You are playing too fast!” 
The children’s comments went back and forth like a ball in the game of ping pong. Each blaming the other for the awful sounds.
They weren’t any better when their piano teacher listened at their next lesson.
“Plink. Bam! Watch out!”
“Both of you, please put your hands in your lap, their teacher said.  “Bob, what do you like about how your sister plays the piano? “
(Hesitates) “Hmm … she’s really good at playing her notes smoothly, I guess.”
And Gammy said, “Bob always remembers his notes. Sometimes I forget. He’s better than I am at everything!”
“Huh? That’s not true,” Bob said. Neither child would look at the other.
“Let’s try this piece again. Bob, you imagine your fingers are gliding smoothly over the keys and your sister is concentrating on remembering the notes. Okay, Begin!”
This time, the music did sound much better. The more they practiced, the better it sounded. So good, in fact, they were asked to play the piece at the school piano recital.
On the day of the recital, brother and sister sat at their home piano and practiced one last time. It wasn’t perfect but it was very good. Could they perform that well in front of a real audience?
Just before they went on stage that afternoon, the siblings looked at each other. Really closely, smiled, and whispered, “Teamwork.” When they came out on stage, they saw their parents and friends. Other people from their school.
Their piano duet sounded excellent, and they bowed when finished.
After the performance, everyone clapped.  “Bravo! That was beautiful,” their teacher said afterwards. “Let’s learn another duet for next year’s recital.”
Bob and Gammy both yelled,” No way!”  (Pause) “Well, maybe.”

Tulla in Tangles
Liebchen and Tulla were sisters – two toy poodles small enough to hold in your lap. But nothing else about these sisters matched.
Liebchen’s hair was the color of ripe peaches. Tulla’s coat was as white as whipped cream.
Liebchen was strong with a steady stride. Tulla was smaller and lighter and ran like a wind-up toy, often falling over herself.
Liebchen never ventured into the street or into the patch of woods behind her house. She followed the rules. Tulla was more curious and more likely to get into trouble.
She lived in the house behind Liebchen’s that was connected by a small hill with the woods nearby. Often, when no one was looking, Tulla would run down the hill in search of her sister. Without even a bark from Tulla, Liebchen could usually sense her coming and would run to the back door. She would bark and scratch at the screen door until someone let her out.
The two sisters would jump on each other, standing on their two back legs. They would nip at each other’s tails and wrestle in the grass. That’s the kind of playing dogs do with their best friends.
After a while, Tulla’s family would realize she was missing and look for her in Liebchen’s yard.
One day, Tulla had meant to sneak out and visit Liebchen but as she ran down the hill, her little feet got twisted around each other and she tumbled into the nearby woods instead. Tulla was curious. “Look at all the leaves and pebbles in here. Sticks – even insects,” she thought. She sniffed and pushed sticks and leaves aside with her nose. One sniff led to another, then another. Soon she was deeper into the woods and got tangled in a ball of leaves and vines.
She tried to break free by pulling on her legs but she wasn’t strong enough. She barked several times but no one answered. Tulla started to cry. Would anyone hear her or find her?
After a long while, Tulla heard her name being called. “Tulla, Tulla, where are you? She’s not in Liebchen’s back yard.”
When Liebchen heard people calling for Tulla, she became worried. Liebchen could sense Tulla, but not this time, so her sister must be far away. But where? Liebchen began barking and scratching at her door. Gammy let Liebchen out and the poodle began to sniff and sniff, trying to smell Tulla. SNIFF, SNIFF. Finally, Liebchen got a whiff of Tulla’s scent. She followed the smell. It got stronger and stronger but was leading to the woods where Liebchen knew she was NOT allowed. She looked up at Gammy and barked as if to ask, “Can I go in there?”
Gammy said, “It’s okay, Liebchen. Keep sniffing. Lead the way!”
Finally, Liebchen sniffed her way to Tulla, who was still crying and trying to pull herself out of the brush. When she saw Liebchen and Gammy, she bowed her head as if to say, “I’m sorry.”
Gammy gently removed sticks and leaves from around Tulla’s legs until she was free. The two sisters licked each other and walked back out of the woods, safe and happy.

Garbage Fun
There was once a little boy who loved garbage trucks about as much as any little boy could.
He loved the rumbling of the truck’s engine as it traveled down his street. (SOUND)
The squeaking and hissing of the brakes. (SOUND)
The clanking of the trash as it entered the mouth of the dumpster. (SOUND)
The beeping sound as it pushed the load deeper. (SOUND)
As soon as the boy heard the garbage truck coming to his street (SOUND), he would grab a nearby stool and peer out his front door window.  (SOUND) The garbage man would hop off the truck and dump the bins into the dumpster. (SOUND) The driver in the front cab would touch the controls that would push the load deeper. (SOUND) Then the garbage man would wave to the boy and the boy would wave back. The man would hop back on the side of the truck and be off.
The little boy practiced being a garbage man. (SOUND) He would fling soft toys onto the steps leading to the second floor of his house, then hang on to the bottom banister as if it were the edge of a real truck. (SOUND) He would push his load deeper into the truck and drive off (SOUND).
One day, Mom asked the boy, “Would you like to help me make cookies for the garbage men.
The boy said, “That would be great!”
The next time the little boy heard the truck coming (SOUND), he had a surprise. (SOUND) The boy stood on the sidewalk near his garbage bins. When the truck got close to his house, it was much bigger than the boy imagined. He held his Mom’s hand as he gave the cookies to the garbage man with his other hand.
“Thank you for the gift young man,” the trucker said, smiling down at the boy.
Later that summer, the boy was playing in his front yard when the garbage truck appeared. (SOUND) The trucker lifted the bins into the back of the truck (SOUND) and asked, “Would you like to take a ride in my garbage truck?” The little boy couldn’t believe that his mother said yes!
Soon he was headed down the street in the front seat of a real garbage truck with his mother running close behind them. Can it get any better than this? Yes, it can!
At Christmas, the little boy was playing with other children at a family Christmas party. Suddenly a fire engine siren could be heard in the distance (SOUND). The siren was getting louder (SOUND). The children ran to the door and saw the fire truck stop at the little boy’s house. Suddenly they heard “Ho, ho ho!” There in the fire engine was the boy’s favorite garbage man with Santa Claus! The garbage man raised a microphone and announced, “Santa, I have a special friend at this house.” So, Santa climbed down from the fire truck, walked into the little boy’s house, and gave each child a candy cane. Then he got back on the truck and left, with his sirens blasting. (SOUND) “Ho,ho,ho.”

Liebchen’s Wild Ride!
By Gammy
 
Gammy’s dog Liebchen was a very tiny one, even after she was no longer a puppy.  But Liebchen didn’t think she was tiny. When a bigger dog six times her size came near her yard, Liebchen would bark and bark “Woof woof, woof woof woof!” The bigger dogs would just stare at her in wonderment thinking, “don’t you see how big I am?”
 
Liebchen hated getting her hair cut at the pet shop. Arriving home all fluffy, smelling of shampoo with a pink bow in her hair.  Immediately she would wiggle and squirm along the rug.  “Rrrrr, rrrr, rrrr” until the sweet smell was gone and the bow had fallen off her head. At Christmas, Liebchen loved to open gifts right beside the rest of the family. She would scratch at her tissue-wrapped presents until a little toy or doggie biscuit popped out. 
 
What fun she had chasing rubber balls across the lawn. One by one, Gammy and her brothers grew up. They left home for college, jobs, weddings.  Gammy’s Mom and Dad were still there, but Liebchen needed a new place to rest.  She tried Gammy’s old bed but it was too big, too sad without Gammy. She tried sleeping under a desk, under a dining room chair, even next to the piano. They were awful. Then one winter’s day, Gammy’s mother left a fluffy white winter coat on a big swivel rocking chair in the living room. Liebchen looked to the left, she looked to the right. No one was around to tell her it was a bad idea. She jumped up and the chair moved a little, up and down and side to side. Liebchen kept her balance and dropped into the coat. 
 
The coat was a soft as a cloud. She found her new bed. Liebchen continued chasing rubber balls and barking at dogs until the day everything changed. The doorbell rang and Gammy’s mom answered it and of course Liebchen barked. “Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.” Mom welcomed 6 people into the house that Liebchen had never seen before. “Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.” They brought boxes, tissue paper, tape and markers. They began wrapping up all the plates, pots, pans, pencils, pad, putting everything in boxes with a sticker on every box. Liebchen cocked her head at the boxes with tissue paper wondering if all this meant Christmas was coming. But when a huge truck pulled into the driveway, Liebchen sensed something was big was happening. Liebchen heard words she did not understand. New job, new home, Chicago.  Airplane. Mom picked up Liebchen, gave her a kiss and placed her into a travel box, with graded windows on the side and a handle on top. The door was shut and Liebchen peered out. It will be alright girl, Gammy’s mom said. Liebchen wasn’t so sure. After the car ride to the airport, Mom held the boxes as they walked through the busy terminal. She knew her family was carrying her so everything would be fine. Then it wasn’t. Mom looked at Liebchen’s box and said, “I’m sorry but you’re not allowed to fly next to us so you will be going into a special part of the plane just for animals. This lady will take you there. It will be alright so be brave, we’ll see you in Chicago.” Soon Liebchen was riding on small open-air truck with other boxes stacked around her. 
 
Up ahead she could see a huge plane, a man in a blue uniform gave Liebchen a big smile and carried her to a special corner of the plane. When the big doors shut, Liebchen began to cry a little. “Mmm, mmm, mmm” She felt lonely just like the first time she met her forever family and had to sleep under the bathroom sink. She tried barking and barking “woof, woof, woof”, no one came. The plane’s engine began to rev up. Then the plane began to move faster and faster until Liebchen felt like she was floating. Liebchen cried a little more “mmm, mmm, mmm”. Then she grew tired of crying. 
 
She remembered that her mom said to be brave. If she could bark at big dogs, scratch bows out of her hair and unwrap Christmas presents, she could certainly fly in a plane.