Joy Galore!

Hello, all.  Hope you are faring well. Will be posting later in the day, probably this evening. Have to go in to sub today. If I can work it in, then I will post earlier. I'm working on two short narrative pieces for today's poem. I call them pieces because they will not be full stories, probably snippets of stories.
(Until later, then...)

Some folks have a smile, though tremulous 

That is a joy to behold

For that timid smile shouts

From their ears and every pore

Joy galore!

Snippet1:

She was a daddy's girl. She always had been. When she heard her daddy's footsteps on the porch, she would light up with joy. He always brought her home some kind of trinket or toy. Sometimes plastic beads from a gum ball machine, sometimes a box of animal crackers or some such, but it really did not matter much. Her daddy! Her daddy was home for the day. She would not eat her evening meal without her daddy being home and had to be scolded to be bathed and put to bed if he happened to be late. No amount of scolding would make her eat, though, if her daddy were not home. She went to bed hungry some days clutching her princess dolly by her side. She hid her face in her Dolly's hair as she softly cried. She knew that her daddy would feed her a bite of chicken when from her tear induced sleep he awoke her. Her daddy! Everybody said she was spoiled but she didn't care. Her daddy could swing her high in the air until she giggled with glee. Her daddy could do most anything! 

Footsteps on the porch...that means Daddy's home! But wait, the steps don't sound quite right. (Bam, bam, bam) A knock at the door, somebody talking to Momma, Momma wiping tears as she whisked the old suitcase from under the bed, and Momma telling her that she would have to stay the night at her Aunt Jackie's house were what she remembered the next day. All through that next day, she waited for her daddy and her momma to come to take her home. She was hungry but she would not eat until her daddy came to get her. Her Aunt Jackie had spanked her and tried to make her eat, but with tears coursing down her cheeks, she had defiantly stomped her foot and refused. When she had to go to sleep again the next night at her Aunt's house, she started to worry. She knew, she just knew that her daddy would come home and wake her up and feed her chicken because he knew she had been hungry for two days! Nothing would make her daddy stay away unless...!  Unless he got dead like Poppa Luke did!  Her daddy! Her daddy! "Wake up! Wake up! Stop screaming! You are upsetting my children! Go back to sleep and stop your sniveling! Be glad when your Momma comes to get your spoiled butt," said Aunt Jackie. She lay there quietly, with tears streaming. She wiped her nose and tears on her dress sleeve. She did not go back to sleep. She was not going to stay with Aunt Jackie anymore. She was going to go home to her house and cry and wait for her daddy. He always came when she cried, always!

She waited until she heard snoring coming from Aunt Jackie's room, went to the bathroom and opened Aunt Jackie's window and crawled out on the roof. She banged her head and scraped her hands when she crawled onto the tree branch that grew along the roof. She saw those little swimming pins that she saw when she banged her head when she fell off the shed that time but she didn't stop. She used the wooden planks that Poppa Luke had nailed into the tree. She missed the last plank and plummeted to the ground with a whump! She sat up and tried to make the pin lights go away. Then she stood and made her way four doors down through the back alley and let herself in through the back gate beside their dog,  Butch's house. Butch opened one eye and looked at her and raised his head. Then he lay his head back down. She climbed up the stone back steps, skinning her knee in the process and climbed in through the cardboard over the lower kitchen window. (To be continued this evening, if the Lord wills)

(Snippet 1 Cont.)
When she got in the kitchen, she started to cry because she could not reach the light switch. Then she scooted a chair over to the refrigerator and opened it. She got her plate that her momma had put up for her two days ago and the one for daddy, too. She sat on the floor and ate her chicken wings and ate a part of daddy's chicken breast. She forgot to remember that she did not even like chicken breast, she was so hungry! She wanted some bread but could not get it from the top of the refrigerator. 

When she finished eating, she got put the food in the garbage can so she didn't make a baby mess. She knew Momma would not like that. She put the plates in the sink. She had to scoot the chair over so that she could put the dishes in the sink. Then she went to Momma and Daddy's room and climbed up in their bed. She got under the covers and cried for her daddy. She cried til her head hurt. She cried til she hiccuped. Still her daddy did not come. She went to sleep hiccupping and whimpering. 

Baby! Baby! She woke up under the cover. Somebody was calling her! Momma! Daddy! She got tangled in the cover and fell off the side of the bed banging her head. She started crying. Then strong arms lifted her up and scruffy whiskers scratched her face as daddy, her daddy said over and over. "My baby! My baby!" Daddy was crying. She said, "Daddy, don't cry. I been a good girl and I wun't scared when I walked down the alley in the dark and came in by Butch's doghouse. And I didn't cry when I bumped my head and fell out of the tree. Daddy was squeezing her so hard that it was hard to breathe. She gave him a joyful, but tremulous smile and said, Daddy, I ate your chicken. And I didn't make a baby mess."

Just then the back door banged and Momma came running into the room. Momma scooped Baby out of Daddy's arms and yelled, "It's okay, Jackie. We found her." Aunt Jackie came into the house out of breath and said, "Don't you ever scare me like that again! And sat down hard on the couch. Baby looked at Momma, Daddy and Aunt Jackie. When they all stopped laughing and crying, into the silence Baby said, "I scratched my leg, but I didn't make a baby mess." Momma and Daddy looked at her leg. Daddy grabbed his head and  Momma uttered a shriek. Aunt Jackie, she just fainted. And Baby, what did she do? She just reached for her daddy and threw her tiny arms around his neck and with a tremulous smile said, "My daddy!" And promptly went to sleep. She didn't even stir when Momma cleaned her cuts and scrapes with alcohol. She did whimper, however when Momma dabbed antibiotic ointment on the spot where she had banged her head and broken the skin. She let out a whispery breath and a tremulous smile settled on her tiny face and her arms tightened imperceptibly around her daddy's neck.

Snippet 2:
The joy that Mr. Robinson, strong, tough fellow, that he is, felt when he discovered that the body in the trunk of his brother's car was not his brother but a neighborhood drug kingpin who was also into car thievery could be called joy galore. The car had been stolen from his brother's garage the night before.

Biblical Scenes of Joy Galore:

1. When the prodigal son's father saw him coming home
2. When Sarah, Hannah and Rachel, all barren, were allowed children
3. When the saved get to heaven (Has not entered into the hearts of man the joys the Lord has prepared for those that love Him)

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Tomorrow's Poem:

A mother's love is always there

But a godly father is somewhat rare

One who will lead his family to the

Lord, while providing loving care.

Doing What I Can, While I Can,

Alma Jones