Storytellers

I come from a family of storytellers, whether they know it or not. I grew up on Tales from Monroe County (Ohio) about my dad, his brothers, their friends and hometown antics. My mom told stories about her dad's service in WWII, which I turned into a short piece for the anthology Let Us Not Forget. My brother tells stories, too...

When we were young, maybe five and seven, we lived in an old two-bedroom house, and he and I shared a room. It was a pretty big room, so my dad built a room divider, and we each had our side. Although I don't recall the circumstances, one night I slid down to the floor and he told me a story using shadows against the divider, like a screen.

The star was his teddy bear, Kevin, and he probably did a whole series of Kevin Adventures. I only remember one. He had Kevin disappearing head first into the shadows, with only his feet sticking into the light. The title of the story: Kevin's Underwater Feat. Except I got tickled thinking about Kevin's Underwater FEET.

To show what a great sense of humor my brother has, he recently sent me something that needed a password to enter. The password: kevinsunderwaterfeet.