Story of the Month: Along Came a Spider

From the book "After Ever After" by Karen Nelson

They had called her “Miss Muffet” many years ago. They thought it funny, her running away and crying behind the pump house, sucking on a swollen finger that would soon show the spider’s angry sting.

No one had considered her since. Not a single child commented on her sudden affinity for arachnids. No concerned mother queried her parents about her odd, luminous eyes, her preference for the dark. She took to wearing large coats with wide sleeves. A wide brimmed hat disguised the increasing hunch of her back. Nothing could gloss over the increasing size of her belly, and the school expelled her for this evidence of loose morals.

When the children came, hundreds of them, she kept them close, whispering the names of those who had wronged her. They grew into magnificent versions of herself and at her command they left her arms to bring some friends home for

their mother.

A Note from the President

Hello my friends,

In a little over a month, MO-TELL will sponsor its ninth liars contest. It will be held in St. Louis for the second year in a row, thanks to our board members Perrin Stifel, Jackie Wright and Sue Hinkel. I helped a little. It is open to the public and you can listen for free but if you want to attend the workshop or lunch or both, you will need to register at least a day in advance. That will help in our planning. If you want to enter the contest, you still have time. The deadline has been extended to June 10, 2023. Thank you.

Some of you know that St. Louis is the birthplace of MO-TELL. It is great to have an in-person event there. Our history is so important to us, and we want to share it with all of you. In this newsletter we begin our tale. If you have a memory of MO- TELL, please contact us at joyceslater20@gmail.com . It takes a village you know. Think about what MO-TELL has meant to you and share it with us. Tell us your tale.

Love to you all,

Joyce Slater

President of MO-TELL

“Trust the story ... the storyteller may dissemble and deceive, the story can’t: the story can only ever be itself.”

― James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still

Story of the Month: Ma Complains about the Outhouse

Minnie and Arthur lived in a log cabin with an outhouse just down the trail from the house. One day Ma stomped into the house and slammed the screen door so loud that Pa jumped up off the couch where he had been napping.

“Goldarn it, Arthur!” “You get out there and fix that outhouse!” Minnie said.

Arthur knew better that to argue, so he gathered some tools and went to the outhouse. Now Minnie had not said what needed fixing, so Arthur checked the roof. There were a few loose shingles, so he nailed them down tight. He checked the door and tightened the hinges. Satisfied that he had fixed the problem, Arthur went back in the cabin to continue his nap.

It was not too long afterwards that Minnie grabbed Arthur by the ear and lifted him up off the couch. “Arthur! I said, go fix that outhouse!!” Minnie yelled. “Fix it or I will slap you into next Tuesday.”

Well, Arthur did not want to be slapped into next Tuesday, so he went back to the outhouse and inspected it a little closer this time. He added some lime to keep down the flies and the odor. He swept out some cobwebs up by the ceiling. He oiled the hinges. He even got some barn paint and painted the entire outhouse. By the time he was finished it looked like something you would see on the cover of the Country Living magazine. Surely, Minnie would be satisfied now.

But just to be safe, Arthur stuck his head in the hole to look around. Right then, Minnie came in and surprised him. Arthur pulled back his head and caught his whiskers on a small crack in the seat.

“Ouch!!,” Arthur exclaimed in pain while rubbing his beard.

“Hurts, don’t it,” said Minnie.