Postman Jim

    There was some commotion in the garden on this warm sunny afternoon, due to the Farmer being in there after a nice ripe tomato to snack on. It had to be just the right one, with the perfect amount of ripeness, and a good medium size for a mid-day snack with a little salt and pepper.

    Harry, the Farmer’s Hound dog and best friend, was sitting near the front porch of the little wooden farmhouse, next to Old Farmer’s favorite rocking chair. He looked over toward the garden with his head turned sort of sideways as he wondered what the Farmer was up to. He couldn’t actually see him in there, due to the garden being so tall and overgrown like a jungle. The corn stalks were twice as tall as the Farmer, and had ears of corn sticking out so big that it was as if the garden grew its own scarecrows! Harry could hear rustling, and see the tops of the plants moving around as the Farmer made his way through to get his prized tomato, but once the Farmer had gone more than about 4 feet into the garden, there was just no seeing him until he comes back out. And Harry wasn’t about to go in there to look for him for fear of getting lost in there.

    Old Farmer parted his way through the corn, then began to carefully weave a path through the maze of green bean vines while trying to avoid getting all tangled up in there. Those vines grow so fast that if you stand still for a while, they’ll grow right up your shirt sleeve and wrap around your hat as they try to reach for the sky. A very large praying mantis, about the size of a shoe, was perched upon a green bean, waiting to make a meal of one of the bugs that would come along wanting to eat part of the plants. 

    The farmer had seen this same praying mantis many times in the garden, so he waved hello, then proceeded on towards his pepper plants. He moved a little quicker through that part of the garden because some of those peppers were so spicy that the temperature all around them was 15 degrees hotter than everywhere else!

    “Time for a little drink of water” he muttered to himself. A beautiful spring with pebbles around the edges bubbled up in the middle of the garden, helping to always keep things perfectly watered. He bent down and scooped up a big handful of cool, crystal clear water, and gulped it down. Then he made his way past the pumpkins. They were all so different that most of them wouldn’t even need to be carved for Halloween, the odd-looking faces were just sort of grown right into them. Their big green leaves moved gently with the breeze, as if the pumpkins were waving and saying, ‘Hello, welcome to the garden!’

     Soon he made his way over to the tomato plants, and a Ladybug flew over to land on the farmer’s shirt sleeve as he looked for the perfect tomato to snack on.

    He saw one which he just had to have. It was a little bigger than his fist, ripened to perfection, and practically calling out his name. There were far bigger ones there to be picked, but he wasn’t after a tomato big enough for an entire family meal. The one he saw was perfect for his snack, but it was way up in the plant, so he would need to climb after it. He held on carefully as he plucked the tomato from its stem and put it into the big pocket of his coveralls. Then he carefully climbed back down out of the tomato plant and proceeded to make his way back out of the garden.

    Harry was just beginning to wonder if Old Farmer was lost in there, when finally, he began to emerge from the edge of the garden carrying his prized tomato. As he stepped out of the garden, the Ladybug flew away from his shirt sleeve, returning to the garden which she called home.

    Soon the Farmer was sitting in his rocking chair enjoying the shade from his Oak tree, snacking on his delicious tomato, and talking to his old friend Harry. Harry has short brown fur, a long tail, big floppy ears, and a nose that can smell dinner cooking from a mile away. His favorite pastimes are taking naps, listening to Old Farmer tell his stories, and then taking more naps. “Harry ol’ buddy”, said the Farmer in between bites of his tomato, “did I ever tell ya about Postman Jim, and what he does with dogs that try to bite him?” Harry isn’t much on talking, he was mostly a listener, so he just kind of looked up at Old Farmer as the man began saying;

    “Postman Jim was very slim

    From walking every day,

    And when a dog would snap at him

    He’d mail it far away.

    And when he’d passed out all the mail

    He carried in his sack,

    He’d walk to where he sent that dog

    And then he’d mail it back!”

 Harry’s eyes bugged a little as he wondered how many stamps it might take to mail him somewhere, and what he might look like with them stuck all over his rump. The Farmer just laughed and slapped his leg, rocking his chair as Harry moved his tail out of the way. That was about as much moving as Harry had done all day.

     “So, let that be a lesson to ya”, said the Farmer to his favorite sidekick jokingly. He knew ol’ Harry wouldn’t bite or chase after anything except dinner. 

     Just about that time, Postman Jim came walking up the road toward the farm. He came through the open gate carrying his mail sack, waving, and saying “Hello”. “Hey Jim,” The Farmer replied, “me and ol’ Harry were just talking about how you love it when dogs chase after ya’,” Well, I’d sure like to hear what Harry had to say on the subject,” said Jim as he walked over toward them. The Farmer chuckled as he answered, “I reckon Harry ain’t much of a talker, he’s mostly a good listener.”

    Postman Jim had walked a long way down that road to deliver the mail, so he came over to rest his feet and have a seat in the spare chair, like he ‘most always does. He put his mail sack on the ground by his chair, then rubbed his shoulder as if to say he was happy to take a break from carrying his load. 

    He looked over toward Harry, lying on the ground next to the Farmer’s chair, and said, “He sure is a friendly dog, he never chases after me, or even growls or anything. I bet he wouldn’t even chase after a cat!” Old Farmer grinned wide and answered, “No, he likes cats pretty well. There’s only one thing in the world that will get him moving any faster than hearing the dinner bell, and that’s seeing a mouse.”

    Postman Jim scrunched his eyes a little, and asked, “Ya mean he’s friendly with cats, but he chases after mice?” The farmer laughed as he replied, “Oh no… I mean they chase him! He’s scared to DEATH of mice! One day I saw a mouse come out from under the porch, and when ol’ Harry saw it he jumped up like a bolt of lightning had hit him in the tail. His legs were movin’ so fast before he even hit the ground that I thought he was going to take off like a helicopter. 

    When he hit the ground, the dust flew and he ran all the way down to the barn and didn’t come back ‘till dinner time.” This time it was Postman Jim’s turn to laugh out loud and slap his leg.

 After Jim finished laughing, the farmer asked, “Say Jim, would ya like to hear the one about a smart old Hen and a hungry Fox?” Jim replied, “Well I reckon I surely would. I can’t stay too long though, ‘cause I still have a little mail left to deliver.”

     Old Farmer leaned back in his rocking chair, wiped a little tomato juice from his finger onto the leg of his coveralls, and got comfortable for some serious story tellin’. “Alright guys”, he said to Jim and Harry with a little excitement in his voice, “let’s see how ya like this one…”