Since the dawn of time, we've shared stories. They remind us of who
we were, who we are, and who we wish to be. Through
story, our ancestors speak to us, passing on wisdom and truth from the
past, and stories prepare us for the future. If only we listen,
Hello and welcome to episode number seven of Listen. Merry Christmas, Happy Honka,
and so on. In the spirit of the season, I thought it
might be fun to pull out a few of these great little stories that I
had recorded at the twenty fifteen Three River Storytelling Festival. We have three stories
today. First, we're going to start out with Sage Brush Santa by Alton
Chung, a fantastic storyteller from Hawaii. We also have Great Aunt Catherine's Turkeys,
a story by Lynn Ford, who has appeared on this show a couple
of times. And finally, Father Joe's Christmas by Stasilkowski. Stoss is a
local storyteller here in the Pittsburgh area, so you're gonna get a little Pittsburgh
flavor. Part of the original mission for Listen was to help preserve stories and
storytelling and to kind of introduce everybody who listens to storytellers that they may not
otherwise here. So if you're listening in England or New York or California,
you may not have heard of Stoss, you may not have heard of Alton
Chung, you may not have heard of Lynn Ford. So hopefully this will
be an introduction to some storytelling that you really enjoy. For me, the
holidays are about getting together with family and friends, they're about traditions, and
they're definitely about stories. Do check the website out. It is Listen dot
stry Radio dot com. Over there you'll find more information on the storytellers and
more stories. So again, Mary, Christmas, Happy Honka, and so
on. Hope everybody has a great holiday season filled with family, friends,
and of course stories. Without further ado, three Tales for Christmas. Bolton
Chung. I began a story on NPR earlier this week, and I feel
an obligation to kind of finish the story. The morning rains turned the roads
and the paths into muddy swamps, and by evening that muddy ground was covered
by a blanket. It's snow that softened the outlines of the buildings and the
towers. The moonlight glistened off that snow. To five year old Kiyoshi.
It looked as if it was the perfect Christmas picture. The high desert plains
of southern Idaho in the winter of nineteen forty two. He sat in the
mess hall of Block seven, watching the snow come down. He was solid
this screaming with anticipatient. Now his older brother and his sister, they were
out with their friends, and his kasan. His mother, Oh, she
was resting. I was spending all day doing laundry. But it was Christmas
Eve and Santa Claus was coming. Oh, he was so excited. You
see, about a year ago there was this attack on a place called Pearl
Harbor, and then men in suits and his big car came and took his
father's atosa and away. That made Kyoshi and his whole family really sad.
And that's when this cold, empty space opened up in Kyoshi's stomach. He
missed the way his father's and would rustle his hair, just tossle his hair
and call him Kyoshi chan, a little Kyoshi. Then came these things called
curfew, which made everyone kind of scurry around as the sun was going down.
And then there's things called black when everything went dark. The thing that
got his mother the most upset was this thing called evacuation. When that happened,
Koshi's mom, his brother, and his sister, they all got suitcase
and they all packed things and they had to leave their house and they had
to go and move into a horse stall at the big stockyard exposition center in
the big city of Portland, Oregon. It was it was hot, it
was smelly, and it was absolutely just terrible in this horsetought he could she
could understand why these couldn't go home, and then give the day that they
were all given tags, tags the same number, and they ought to go
and board these trains as trains with these so big soldiers with guns, and
they had to keep the keep the blinds drawn down as they made the journey
over the mountain. And when they arrived, they got off the train and
boarded buses that took them to their new home of wood and tar, paper,
barracks and dust. It was the first time Kyosha had ever been out
of the state of Oregon. It was the first time he'd ever been on
a train. It was also the first time he'd ever seen barbed wire.
When they first arrived at Minnedoka, there was no heat in the barracks,
and there's only cold water showers. At least now, he didn't have any
icicles in his hair. As he made his way from the showers to their
barracks, the dust and sand came through the cracks around the windows, around
the doors, I mean outside, toads were freezing cold, and at night
sometimes you could hear the baby crying from a couple of units. Over about
a week ago, Kyosha began wondering about worrying about Christmas. I mean,
he went up to his mother and said, do you think that that that
Santa Claus can get a pass to get into the cap? Do you think
that that he'll fit through the to our stovepipe and then get into our unit.
Do you think that the guards will shoot the reindeer if they get too
close to the fence. Okay, she's monisted. She didn't really know,
but she was sure that the guards weren't going to do anything against the hurt
Santa Claus. And then then Tommy, who was seven and Kyoshia's best friend,
and he was like you do everything. He said, no, no,
no. Santa Claus and the raindeer they're magical, they can do anything,
and Kyoshia washed those snowflakes. Drift passed the window, and he kind
of set it all over again. He looked into the into the mess hall
and he could see the weight staff and the cooks. They were all addressed
in their finest. They just served this big turkey dinner. And on one
of the walls of the mess hall someone had painted an Nativity scene and they
were even Christmas wreaths made of wood shavings. They brought a sage brush in
and they decorated like a Christmas tree with with with cotton ball, snow and
tinfol they were. They cut out stars from tin cans and put them up
on the wall. They're great paper streamers. And Christmas Cows was playing softly
on the radio. I mean, see in camp, you didn't celebrate Christmas
just with your family, but you celebrated with everybody in the block. And
then the mess hall door slammed open, and someone began shouting, and he
reminded Kyoshi of those men in the suits who come to take his father away.
He put his hands over his ears. He climbed under a table and
shut his eyes. He didn't see that the man setting the doorway he was
dressed in her in a red suit, had a long red hat and a
white beard. He didn't hear the man shout out Merry Christmas. What he
heard with his mother cry. What he saw were the men in the suits
taking his father away in his pajamas. Suddenly someone touched Kyoshi's armed and he
opened his eyes. It was his friend Tommy, and Tommy said, there
you are, Kyoshi. Sat is here and he brought presents. Kyoshi climbed
up from under the table and he saw all the other children all clustered around
this man in the red suit, the long red hat and white beard.
And then and he had a sack and he's pulling out presents giving them to
the children. And this man in this rumpled red suit with this cotton ball
beard kind of motioned to Kyoshi to come come. Ah, there you are,
Kyoshi. I have a present for you, a present for me.
Ah. Yes. Reverend Townsend and Sage they wrote letters to all the churches
across the country letting everybody know the situation here in camp. And they said
they send toys and donations, and I have got toys here for all the
children here in Minnedoka, and I picked this one out especially for you,
And he gave Kyoshi this oddly wrapped present, brilliant red paper and green ribbon,
and they said, oh, I know it's hard for you when your
father gone. Her Dona's Japanese word, Kyoshi, it's called gamon. It
means to carry on. To bear with means to carry on without complaint.
We must adjust to the new situation. We must prove to everyone that we
are Americans. First name what Karimaska? Do you understand him? Yes,
I understand. Ah, very good luck. I must now go to a
distribute gives to all the other messages. Now, no merry Christmas, Yoshian
come on, and he was gone, and Kyoshia looked on that present.
He wasn't forgotten Santa to remembered Sanna still cared and he began to unwrap that
present, and it turned out to be a small wooden toy truck, and
Kyoshi looked at it and felt his chest tightened. That small cold spot in
the stomach just swelled up and threatened to swallow him down. The truck reminded
him of the old truck his father used to drive taking the produce from their
farm into the markets in Portland. Come on. How can he carry on?
It's just a little boy. He wanted to go home. He wanted
so tossed, and he wanted his father. Tears was rolled up in his
eyes as began falling down his cheeks. He didn't hear the mess hall door
open. He didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind him. That is a
beautiful truck. Do you have their? Kyoshi job Kiyoshi turned around. He
looked at this old man with glasses and gray hair thin. He didn't recognize
him until the man reached out and tossled his hair or to sad. And
he was finding in his armed father's arms and smelling his smell, holding his
out, Oh father, how why are they let me go? They hit
me? Come here to Mindoka, to be with all of you. Come
outside, the kim quiet is singing outside. Let's go outside and hand in
hand. They walked thought of the mess hall, into the snow and into
the crowd. Kyoshi couldn't see, so his father picked him up and put
him on his shoulders. And Kyoshi sat there with one hand on his father's
hat and one hand holding his toy truck. Oh that that cosmall cold spot
in his chest just melted away, melted away, and was replaced this warmth
that made his whole body just tingle. And he stood there, and these
three trucks were brought up and shaped in the eue, and the whole camp
choir was standing on them, and Mahara was leading them with a baton with
a light on the end of it. God rest ye merry, gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas
Day to save us all from Satan's par when we were gone astray. Oh
tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, Oh tidings of colm burden
joy Kyoshi sitting on his father's shoulders, he could knew that he could bear
any burden, carry any weight without complaint. Come on to him. This
was the best Christmas ever. That was a piece called Sage burs Sonna Lynn
Ford. So I thought i'd share a touch of Africa matching storytelling. First,
an award winning story from my grandfather, my pop Pops. I'll explain
the award after I tell the story. Great Aunt Catherine was sitting on the
front porch, rocking in her rocking chair at that time of year when you
start getting ready for the holidays. She was knitting or crocheting, and as
she did that, she thought about the gifts that she would make for folks,
and she thought about those turkeys that she raised at that time a year
to make more money for the family. As she sat there rock and knitting
or crocheting and keeping an eye on all those turkeys running around her yard,
a line of cars came down the road. That parade of cars stopped in
front of her house, and the car doors opened, and there was the
whole family getting out of those cars and walking toward her. Well, great
Aunt Captain put down whatever she was doing, got out of her rocking chair,
walked to the edge to the porch, and looked at all those people,
and she said, what y'all doing here? Did something happen? Did
somebody die? Was it me? Folks said, no, on, kat,
we knew you'd be alone since Uncle Stafford has gone, and we wanted
to surprise you this weekend. Well, she got upset because Aunt Catherine was
one of those women who likes to cook for folks, and she didn't have
enough in her kitchen to feed everybody that was getting out of those cars.
Well, some folks said, well, don't worry on, kat, We'll
take you down to that new supermarket in town. Some of us will stay
here and keep an eye on the children and mind your turkeys, and some
of us will take you down to that store and get you whatever you want.
And she was still upset because if folks were gonna stay at her house,
she wanted to feed them something. She headed toward the cellar stairs,
walked down those steps by her self to get something for those folks minding the
children and the turkeys to snack on, the only thing that she had in
great abundance, cherries soaking in brandy for her holiday bacon. Well, she
brought up a couple of jars of those brandy cherries and set them on the
dining room table, and went on outside and got in the car and headed
for the new supermarket. And the folks inside opened up the window so they
could keep an eye on the turkeys and the children, and they opened up
those jars, scooped out two or three cherries, popped them in their mouths.
Oh, they were so good. But then they realized there was no
place for them to spit out those cherry pits. No wastebasket in the dining
room couldn't find it in the kitchen, so they just spit the pits out
the window, scooped out a couple more cherries, popped them in their mouths
delicious, spit the pits out the window, and after while those folks in
the dining room weren't watching the children or the turkeys. And about that time
they heard a car pull up. They heard the car door slim, they
heard Great Aunt Katherine's voice say, oh no. So they ran outside as
quickly as they could, and the children were fine, but all great Aunt
Katherine's turkeys were lying on the ground, dead, feet sticking straight up in
there. Great Aunt Kafine said, oh no, what have you done?
My turkeys are all dead, and I'm not gonna be able to get them
ready for the butcher I'm not gonna make enough money for the holidays. Some
folks said, don't worry, at cat will help you get these birds ready.
Why, we might be able to take them to that new supermarket.
There's a new restaurant in town too. We'll definitely get them to the butcher's.
But don't worry. We'll help you get these birds ready. And those
folks started pull going off the feathers from all those dead birds. And when
they proceeded to pull out the last feather from the last bird, that first
turkey rose up from the ground started wadling around, said gobba, gabba,
gobba, And then another turkey rose up from the ground, started waddling and
wabbling around, said empton, gob gobbla gobble. And all those birds started
rising up and waddling around because they weren't dead. They were dead drunk from
eating the pits from those brandy cherries. Well, gray Aunt Catherine said,
oh no, what am I gonna do? I got a bunch of naked
birds running around the yard. It's gonna get cold tonight. They're gonna freeze
to death, and I'm not gonna make enough money for the holidays. Well,
some folks that don't worry on, cat, we'll help you out.
And all those that could went and got her knitting needles and crochet hooks.
They started knitting little hats, crocheting little sweaters and jackets for all those turkeys.
And then they put those jackets in those hats on all those naked birds.
And that's how turkey dressing was invented. The award was from the National
Association of Black Storytellers. I won the liars contest with a star from my
pop Pox and the trophy that I got was absolutely appropriate. It was huge
and made of real gold plastic. STOs Solkowski Christmas Eve, nineteen forty seven.
I was six years old, raised in a Catholic family. Christmas Eve,
everybody goes to midnight Mass, but little stoh I had a fever and
mom decided I needed to stay home, and she made my brother Tony,
who was almost four years older, stay with me. He just went up
to bed at eleven thirty. When the family left, I went back into
the front room where Christmas tree was and I sat down on the floor with
my back against the couch, and I looked at all the lights. I
thought, they're gonna be at Mass. Maybe I'll say Santa. The tree
was decorated beautifully, and since I didn't feel well, my mom said she
would leave the lights on while they were out of the house. That was
special, and so I was sitting there looking at the tree and admiring all
the lights, and especially the Christmas balls. In nineteen forty seven, they
didn't have plastic balls. They were made out of glass and My mother had
a gorgeous collection from the time she was a little girl, and that tree
sparkled because of the lights and those glass balls. Some were decorated with colors
and pictures and things. Well, just then I heard a key in the
front door lock, and I scooched over towards the end of the couch,
and the door opened, and in walked Father Joe, my mother's younger brother,
a Catholic priest, and he stepped into that front room and said,
Stash, you should be in church. What are you doing home? So
I'm sorry, father, but Mom said I should stay here. I didn't
feel good and so I'm not at Mass and I miss it because I like
to see all the singing and angels and stuff. And he said, well,
here, maybe this will make you feel better. He had a bag
in his hand, a big bag, shopping bag full of presence, and
he set it down. He pulled out a box, a long, rectangular
box, and he handed it to me. It was decorated and nice paper,
and he said, go ahead. I tore the paper off. Mom
wouldn't like that, but it was Father Joe. Father Joe was the most
important person in our family, and he couldn't do any wrong. I opened
that thing up and it was a box with a picture of a rifle on
it. And I opened it and inside was this magic thing, a black
barrel, a piece of a black metal tube. And I wouldn't handle and
I just stared at it, and he said, here, let me show
you. He took it, put it against his knee and pushed it and
bent it back up and it kind of cranked and made a sound. And
then he reached into the box and he got a cork and he put it
in the end and he looked around. He said, I'll show you how
it works. And he knelt down and he pointed at the tree. Pop
one of those balls exploded. Home yoo. I didn't say anything. I
didn't know what all I could think it was Mom's gonna kill somebody. He
took that pop gun, put it over his knee and bent it again and
cranked it, got a cork out, put it in the end, and
he said, here you try it. Oh, it's uncle Joe. Father
Joe. Father Joe said I could do this. Pop whoa. Over the
next couple of minutes, we used the rest of the quirks, ten of
them all together. We never missed. The Nativity scene, which we call
a shobeck, was filled with glass and glass on the little train tracks.
It was a fake train track. But Father Joe looked at his watch said,
oh, it's almost five minutes of twelve. I have to go to
mass. He got up, and you know, the church was only two
blocks away, so when he wasn't serving Mass, he was just going to
attend because he was from a different parish. Well, my brother Tony must
have heard us laughing or something. He came downstairs and he walked in.
He said, he looked, Stush, what did you do? I said,
it's okay. Father Joe showed me and it's okay. He said,
Mom's gonna kill you, and then he went back up to bed. That
started to bother me. I started to think, no, Father Joe really
was here. I didn't go by myself, so okay, So I waited
twelve thirty one o'clock one fifteen, the family came in, everybody and Father
Joe was with him. My mother took one look at the tree, said
diabolic, which means little devil. What have you done? And I couldn't
think of anything to say, and I kept looking at Father Joe, thinking
he was gonna say, well, agnes I showed the boy how to do
it or something. But he didn't say a word, and my mother said,
go to bed, we'll take care of this tomorrow, and I went
upstairs. My brother was laughing at me, and for a long time I
really was upset about Father Joe. He was a priest. Why would he
let me get all the trouble when he could have fixed it. They wouldn't
have yelled at him. Nobody yelled at a priest. But then when I
got a little older, I realized the truth. Father Joe, my mother's
a little brother, was more afraid of her than I was. B in
the ground,