Category: Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN-10: 1457513176
Type: Fiction
Pages: 104
Copyright: july 2012
ISBN-13: 978145753176
This is a story about 12 inch tall people known as Gickens that have been living in the woods in dead oak trees.
AdniL detnaw em ot pleh etirw siht. I am so sorry. You don’t know the Gicken language yet. Linda wanted me to help write this. My name is Mac and I am a Gicken. One morning, I was out walking around in the woods trying to find some wild berries to eat. All of a sudden I heard this terrible noise, and I looked around. This big man, whom I later learned was Casey, was about to cut down an oak tree that was one of my friends home. So I yelled at him to stop. Then I realized what I had done. Since I am only 12 inches tall, I was afraid of the big people. We both stared at each other very surprised. We both realized that we meant each other no harm. As months went on, we began to know and trust these big people, and we learned how to live in their world.
The first major stumbling block in gaining trust in one another, was communicating. Whenever we tried to talk to each other, I was speaking Gicken, and he was speaking what I later learned was English, so we didn’t know what each other was saying. Mary Jo, who is Casey’s wife, figured out what was going on. Using a piece of paper and a pencil, she figured out that the Gicken language was English, only backwards. After that she knew what I was saying. We decided to have a meeting the next day. That night I had to go tell my friend Temple, who happens to be our minister, what I had done.
To make a long story short, this book is our story about how we, as twelve inch tall Gickens, learn to adjust to living with Casey, who is six foot tall, and Mary Jo, who is just a little bit shorter than that. BUT- in turn, they also learn how to live with us.
Wait a minute. Linda wants to speak.
This book tells a story about having some give and take in learning how to get along with others. It lets everyone know, that no matter who you are, or how different you may seem, that with a little bit of understanding, just about anything can work out.
Enjoy our story! Or as Mac would say, “Yojne ruo yrots!”
Excerpt
As I lie here on the couch resting and watching TV, I can't help but think how lucky I am to be alive. You see, I had been very sick and the doctors just couldn't seem to figure out the problem. Since they couldn't figure out the problem, they couldn't give me any medicine to help. That is where Mac came in. He made this wonderful herb tea which he said would cure anything. It was made out of dandelions or should I say noilednad, which is how Mac pronounced it. I drank it 3 times a day for three days, and before you know it, I was feeling better. So as you can see, I owe my life to Mac who has become a very dear friend to me, even though I have only known him for less than one year. I guess I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. I need to tell you about Mac, his family, and the others, and the unusual way that we met. It seems like so long ago...
I need to start at the beginning. My name is Casey George. My wife Mary Jo and I live on a small farm in the state of New York. We are both retired. I used to work in a factory and my wife was a secretary. Now we both keep busy taking care of our animals here on the farm. We have a dozen cows, about 30 chickens, 2 dogs and some cats.
Our children, Ed and Haley, are both grown and have homes of their own. They come to the farm every now and then, but are kept pretty busy with their own lives. That is why we wound up out in the woods by ourselves that day.
It was late August and we, Mary Jo and I, decided it was time to start getting our firewood in for the winter. While I was getting the chain saw and supplies ready, Mary Jo was busy packing a picnic lunch. There wasn't much she liked better than making food. Today she was packing us some fried chicken, macaroni salad, and homemade applesauce. Then to top it all off, she had made a blueberry pie. Mmm, mm makes a person want to eat right now!
Finally we got started to the woods with our tractor and trailer. It seemed like it was going to be an ordinary day of wood cutting. Little did I know what was in store for us.
I took some time walking around and deciding which trees were in need of cutting. There were a couple maple trees that were good size, and they were rather crooked, so they would never make a log. I decided they would be the first 2 to come down. So I started up my chain saw, and down they came. I cut them up which took almost until lunch time. Mary Jo was trying to keep up with me. Her job was getting the pieces of firewood picked up and put in the trailer, but neither one of us were as young as we used to be, so it was hard for her to keep up. I sat down my saw and proceeded to help her get the maple wood all loaded. After what seemed like forever, which really was only about a half hour, we had all that wood loaded and stacked. That made the trailer about half full, so we decided to take a break and eat our lunch.
We spread out the blanket and sat down to a meal that seemed to be fit for a king. I don't know if I was extra hungry because of working hard on the wood or what, but that chicken sure did taste mighty fine. While we were eating, Mary Jo said she thought she heard something. Her ears always were better than mine. I listened and didn't hear a thing. She was very insistent. I walked around a little bit, and at one point I thought I heard someone or something moaning, but I looked and looked for 20 minutes or so and found nothing. I told her that we must be hearing things. We finished our chicken, macaroni salad, and applesauce and were just getting out the pie. It was still warm, and the aroma was wonderful! Then I heard a noise. It was almost like talking, but in some strange noisy way. I looked at Mary Jo and her face was white as a ghost so I knew she heard it, too. It seemed to be coming from over by the stand of oak trees that was just to our left, so I went over to investigate. With Mary Jo as close to me as she possibly could be without being carried, we walked very slowly and quietly over to the oaks. After we got there, nothing. The only noises that could be heard were the leaves blowing in the trees. We decided we were both just a little jumpy, and went back to sit down and eat our pie. We finished our dessert with no more interruptions.
While Mary Jo cleaned up the picnic dishes, I grabbed the chain saw and went over by the oaks. I spotted a dead oak right away, and started up the chain saw. All of a sudden I hear someone yell very loudly "POTS. TAHT SI RIEHT EMOH!" I looked around, nothing. I was getting very shook up, but decided to continue. I was about to start cutting down the tree when I heard it again, but this time it was even louder. "POTS, TAHT SI RIEHT EMOH!" I looked and couldn't believe my eyes. There before me stood a man that was no more than one foot tall. I shut down the saw and ran over to my wife. About the time I ran to get Mary Jo, this little person must have realized what he had done and started running away.
Mary Jo and I went back to that spot, and started looking around. Meanwhile, I had told Mary Jo what I had seen. I could tell that she really didn't believe me, but I swore to her that it was the truth. We looked and looked and couldn't find a thing. So I told her I would prove to her that I wasn't crazy, and picked up the saw. I was just going to start it up, when the voice came again. This time it yelled out “T’NOD OD TI. I LLIW EMOC TUO!" And then he appeared. As I told you, he was no more than one foot tall. But other than his height, he was dressed just like any man would be. He had on dirty blue jeans, and an old button shirt that was also in need of washing. He had on work boots, and an old baseball cap on his head. He looked very frightened. We could tell that he thought he had made a big mistake.
Mary Jo and I stood there with very surprised looks on our faces, not knowing what to think or do. We talked lowly amongst ourselves for a minute and decided we would try and communicate with him.
Mary Jo spoke first. “We will not hurt you," she said. The man just looked puzzled. "My name is Mary Jo, and this is my husband Casey," she continued. "We own these woods. We were cutting down trees to heat our home for the winter."
The little man still looked puzzled, but he started to speak. "I t'nac dnatsrednu. Tub uoy mees yldneirf. Od uoy wonk tahw I ma gniyas ot uoy?"
I looked at my wife, and she was looking at me. Then we both looked at him. It was my turn to speak. "I'm Casey. Have you been living here in our woods? Are you the only one?"
Once again the little man spoke," I hsiw I wenk tahw uoy erew gniyas. I kniht I ma efas htiw uoy."
All of a sudden my wife had an idea. "We need a piece of paper and a pen." I thought she was crazy, but I went over to the tractor and got what she requested. Then she started writing as she spoke, " I teb uoy nac dnatsrednu em won!" (I bet you can understand me now)
The little man just grinned from ear to ear. "Sey, won I wonk tahw uoy yas. Ym eman si Macintosh, tub uoy nac llac em Mac." (Yes, now I know what you say. My name is Macintosh, but you can call me Mac)
I could not believe it. My wife had figured it out. This man spoke English, only backwards. No wonder we didn't understand each other. How on earth she ever figured it out is beyond me, but it worked.
Now that we know how to communicate, I decided to put his mind at ease. I took the piece of paper and started writing. I explained that we would not cut any more trees until we sat down and really talked. We would not ever dream of hurting him. I also asked him again if there were more of his kind, and what did they call themselves? I also asked if he would be willing to sit and talk to us at length about where he had come from and why he wound up here. This of course took a very long time because of having to write it all down backwards.
Mac replied by saying " Sey, eh dluow klat. I ma ton enola. I dluow ekil ot gnirb a dneirf ot klat osla." (Yes, he would talk. I am not alone. I would like to bring a friend to talk also.)
We decided to meet at that same place and time the next day. We shook hands, and he went off his way and my wife and I went ours. It didn't matter that we only had half a load of wood. We had found something better. A new friend!
Professional Reviews
Lets Meet the Gickens
This book was fun to read. Young and old and inbetween would get a kick out of it as it is a good wholesome story. A cute page turher- one you don't want to put down. The writer must have quite the imagination. I found myself thinking of how to spell words backwards after I read it- and still do! Definetly on my Christmas list for several children this year.
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