Floyd L. Broome - The memory is almost as good as being there.....

The Entertainer

My father was a great story teller.
He told things that could make me shiver during
frozen moments, wondering about the truth of
them and his being the central figure.
Listening to him in the general store of
our tiny town, his uncanny timing awaited
a gathering of four or more men who
had time on their hands.
Always saying before beginning a story,
"This reminds me of the time when......"
he would launch into a tale so interesting
that everything else stopped, with
the store owner as curious as his customers to
hear every word and follow the story.
My daddy would begin in a near whisper, and as
the tale developed, his body took on changes in
volume and gestures until just as
the summary line or point was delivered,
it became a clap of thunder, or
a returned whispering as he let us in on
some hidden solution to his intricately woven story.
Most of the time, Daddy's stories ended
real funny, but a few had fearful endings that
made me walk over to where his arms allowed a
return to reality and my own protected world.


F William Broome 2008