Dear Readers,
We would like to invite you to take part in a new project called "From Stories to Books".
The Stories for Everyone Team have been, for some time, gathering and selecting books that provide some sort of reflection on the fundamental ethical principles of
our society, such as solidarity, courage, honesty, respect for differences and a sense of justice, matters that have deserved the attention of writers from various
nationalities.
Therefore, the Stories for Everyone Team proposes to send, together with the usual weekly stories,and also free of charge, full texts of selected books.
In case you are interested in receiving each week, by email, a chapter of an extensive reading book, all you have to do is send an email to
books@storiesforeveryone.com or stories4ev@gmail.com by writing the following sentence in the subject field:
"Yes, I am interested in participating in the project From Stories to Books."
Hoping that this new proposal will meet your utmost interest, we look forward to your reply.
The Stories for Everyone Team
Freedom on the menu:
The Greensboro sit-ins
Just about every week, Mama and I went shopping downtown. I loved having her all to myself for the afternoon. Whenever it was hot or we got tired, we´d head over to the snack bar in the five-and-dime store. We´d stand as we sipped our Cokes because we weren´t allowed to sit at the lunch counter.
Once, I watched a girl swivel a stool as she spooned a banana split. In the empty seat beside her was a purse almost exactly like mine.
"Can I have a banana split?" I begged Mama.
"Not here, Connie," said Mama. "I´ll fix you one at home."
"Won´t be the same," I grumbled.
All over town, signs told Mama and me where we could and couldn´t go. Signs on water fountains, swimming pools, movie theaters, even bathrooms.
Everybody I knew obeyed the signs—except my great-aunt Gertie from New York. Once, when she visited us, she drank from a whites-only fountain and said real loud, "I´ve never heard of colored water. Have you, Connie?" Then she lifted me up so I could take a sip.
I looked up from the fountain. "Y´all know better than that!" a man scolded.
I started to say "Sorry, mister," but Aunt Gertie just huffed, "I´m too old for silly rules."
It was a real hot day, but the man walked away without taking a drink.
There weren´t any signs up in the five-and-dime, but we still knew how it was. Most people didn´t expect change anytime soon. But my daddy thought different.
"Dr. King´s coming to town," he told us one morning.
"Who´s sick?" I asked.
"He´s not that kind of doctor, Connie," Daddy laughed. "He´s a minister who´s working to make things better for us," said Daddy.
"So we can go anywhere we please," said Mama.
"Like the lunch counter?" I asked.
"Yep," said Daddy, "and other places, too."
Later that week, our whole family went to hear Dr. King preach at the college chapel. I didn´t really understand all of his speech, but I liked his booming voice. It sounded as if he believed God was on our side. Every few minutes, Mama said, "Amen," and when Dr. King sat down, everyone stood and clapped for a long time.
Soon after that, my brother and sister joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Everyone called it the N-double A-C-P. They let me tag along as they went door-to-door helping people to sign up to vote.
"I´ve never voted in my life," said a white-haired lady leaning on a cane. "Will I get to vote for the president?"
"Yes, ma´am," I said. "My brother wants to be president when he´s all the way grown."
"Tell him he´s got my vote," she chuckled. "And to hold on to those big dreams," she said, handing me her voter registration form.
"Yes, ma´am, I´ll tell him," I promised, thinking about my own dreams, too.
"Times are changing," she said, waving as I left.
Then one day, Mama and I went shopping downtown. We stopped at the snack bar, just like always. I tugged at Mama´s sleeve. "Look over at the lunch counter! We know those boys!" There sat four of Brother´s friends from A&T College. "Do they know they´re in the wrong place?" I whispered.
"Some rules have to be broken," Mama whispered back.
I heard one of them order: "Coffee and a doughnut, please."
"I´m sorry, we can´t serve your kind," said the blond-haired waitress, wringing her hands.
The boys didn´t budge.
"Don´t y´all understand English?" a kitchen worker asked. "Go on over to the snack bar," she hissed. "Stop making trouble here."
The manager tapped his foot and jutted out his chin. "They can sit there forever for all I care," he said, storming out of the store.
An old white lady came up to the boys. "I´m so proud of you," she said clear as a bell so everyone could hear. "I wish someone had done this sooner."
The waitress kept wiping and re-wiping the counter and refilling salt and pepper shakers, sugar pourers, and napkin holders.
Suddenly, the manager came back with a tall policeman.
"Let´s go, Connie," said Mama. The manager shooed us right out of the store and then put a Closed sign in the window.
I couldn´t wait to tell Brother.
"Why´d your friends do that?" I asked.
"If we can spend money at a store," said Brother, "it´s only fair that we should be able to eat at the store´s lunch counter."
"I guess so," I said. "Think it´ll work?"
"Sometimes it´s important just to try" said Daddy, rubbing his chin.
The next day, Daddy showed me the newspaper. The headline said: Negro Students Stand Up By Sitting Down.
"They sat four hours," said Daddy, peering over the newspaper.
"I´d be too hungry to wait that long," I said.
"Connie, they didn´t really want food," said Daddy. "They wanted to be allowed to get it, same as if they were white. To be treated fairly."
By Friday, we heard on the news how hundreds more had joined the sit-ins. "The protests are growing!" I told Daddy.
"I´m joining the sit-ins," Brother said, bursting into the room.
"And I´m going to picket downtown," said Sister. "Tomorrow."
"I want to go, too," I said. "I´m plenty big enough to hold a sign, and I know I can sit."
"It´s good that you want to help," said Daddy. "But, Connie, you´re still too young for these things."
"I never get to do anything important." I pouted.
"You can help us make picket signs," said Sister. "That´s very important."
The next morning, I handed Sister my little flag for her to carry.
"We´ll tell you everything when we get home," Brother promised.
Turns out, I saw the protests on TV, hundreds of people walked up and down the sidewalks in front of stores, restaurants, and movie theaters. I saw my own sister carrying a picket sign. And there was the back of Brother´s head at the lunch counter. My own brother!
"I´m just so proud of them," said Daddy.
"Me, too," I said.
"I just pray there´s no trouble," Mama fretted.
After a while, I watched the news on TV almost as much as Mama and Daddy. One night I saw a report on the sit-ins. "That doesn´t look like downtown," I said.
"Connie, the sit-ins have spread all over the South," said Daddy.
Just then, the phone rang. I answered it. "Daddy! It´s Sister. She got arrested at the lunch counter. She´s in jail!"
…
(To be continued in the PDF attachment)
Carole Boston Weatherford
Freedom on the menu: The Greensboro sit-ins
New York, Puffin Books, 2005
__________________________________________
THE RAINBOW FISH
A long way out in the deep blue sea there lived a fish.
Not just an ordinary fish, but the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean. His scales were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them.
The other fish were amazed at his beauty. They called him Rainbow Fish.
"Come on, Rainbow Fish," they would call. "Come and play with us!"
But the Rainbow Fish would just glide past, proud and silent, letting his scales shimmer.
One day, a little blue fish followed after him. "Rainbow Fish," he called, "wait for me! Please give me one of you shiny scales. They are so wonderful, and you have so many."
"You want me to give you one of my special scales? Who do you think you are?" cried the Rainbow Fish. "Get away from me!"
Shocked, the little blue fish swam away. He was so upset; he told all his friends what had happened. From then on, no one would have anything to do with the Rainbow Fish. They turned away when he swam by.
What good were the dazzling, shimmering scales with no one to admire them? Now he was the loneliest fish in the entire ocean.
One day he poured out his troubles to the starfish. "I really am beautiful. Why doesn´t anybody like me?"
"I can´t answer that for you," said the starfish. "But if you go beyond the coral reef to a deep cave you will find the wise octopus. Maybe she can help you."
The Rainbow Fish found the cave. It was very dark inside and he couldn´t see anything. Then suddenly two eyes caught him in their glare and the octopus emerged from the darkness.
"I have been waiting for you," said the octopus with a deep voice. "The waves have told me your story. This is my advice. Give a glittering scale to each of the other fish. You will no longer be the most beautiful fish in the sea, but you will discover how to be happy."
"I can´t…" the Rainbow Fish started to say, but the octopus had already disappeared into a dark cloud of ink. "Give away my scales? My beautiful shining scales? Never. How could I ever be happy without them?" Suddenly he felt the light touch of a fin. The little blue fish was back!
(To be continued in the PDF attachment)
__________________________________________
Posted by: Stories for Everyone - AS <sg@storiesforeveryone.com>
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