Rachel the Storyteller

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Susie," Rachel said tonight on the way home from a dinner party at our friend Deni's. "And Susie was very extremely smart. And she knew pretty much everything but she was not very strong. One day, Susie discovered a pool right by her house and she peered into the pool and saw a reflection of a monster. And the monster said, "What are you doing, you?" And she said, "I just discovered this." And the monster said, "Can you please take me out?" And Susie ran and put on her bathing suit and dived into the pool and lifted out the monster who was so cuute. But he ate so much disgusting things. He ate worms and beetles, and Susie, who was a particular smart girl, took him to a restaurant and looked at a menu to tell him all the human food. He ordered a huge dinner. He ordered a FEAST. He ordered chicken and salmon along with fruit tarts and burritos and berries. And what else was some vegetables. He ordered some coffee and he ordered all this FOOD! He ordered the beef lamb chops, 121, and he ordered them just right cooked. And he also ordered all his lettuce and carrots in a huge stew with all the veggies in it.

"And they went back and lived happily ever after with the monster. The end."

***

This story came after a lovely evening at Deni and her husband Coop's house. I used to sing in a barbershop chorus with Deni, and she and Coop just returned from a trip to Bangladesh to teach school there for a few months. They served Bangladeshi-style food and outfitted themselves in the Bangladesh saris and other outfits they brought back, and showed a slide show of their trip (we had to leave early because it was getting late). Right before dinner was served, Rachel talked up a storm to a friend of Deni's who teaches third graders in the Wilsonville School District, one of the best in the Portland metro area. They had quite a conversation, with Rachel chattering on about her school, her friends, stuff she does at school, etc.

Later the teacher, whose name I didn't quite catch, said to me: "Your daughter is around the level of my third-graders. It's really amazing. She peers into things. Most four-year-olds don't do that."

I thanked her profusely.

***

Rachel told me an even more amazing story than the one above on our way home, and I was driving so I couldn't write it down, but I told her the story was unbelievable and asked if she had truly made it up.

"The books I get at the library aren't good enough to tell stories like that," she said.

"Rachel," I said as we pulled into the garage, "you are just..."
"...an unbelievable storyteller?" she said helpfully.

Well, yes.