Pappy the Troll

The whole family was recently in Texas to attend the funeral of my father-in-law.  It was nice to get the whole family together even though it was for a sad occasion.  My family all roomed in the Ranch House motel where we have spent nights before on numerous more pleasant occasions such as Christmas and anniversaries with grandma and grandpa.

 

The two oldest daughters and their families always get adjoining rooms so the kids have a bigger running space than just one room.  This is both good and bad since it seems the little tykes can get a bigger head of steam built up with the greater distance to run.

 

The morning of the funeral, the daughters ask us to come "baby sit" the grands while all three of them practiced the songs they were to sing for their granddad's funeral.  That sounded easy enough so we went to their adjoining rooms while they searched out an empty, much quieter room to practice.  They had assured me that the outside door in the other room was dead bolted and chained so the kids couldn't "sneak out".  OK, no problem (I thought).

 

Well the noise level was just below sonic levels as the grands tried to burn off some energy.  I still have a hard time understanding how 4 kids can make that much noise!  The Warden and I looked at each other and silently worried if our family would be banned from ever attending any family functions again.  But anyway after pappy had enough, I set them down on the end of the bed to tell them a story of "Pappy the Troll" who carried a big belt and hated noise!

 

They listened intently as I described the belt and how it was used on real noisy children.  And went further to explain how quiet they should be at the family dinner and services in the afternoon.  Well now I was right proud of myself and my story since I hadn't raised my voice and the kids had taken it all in!

 

As soon as I had finished, I winked at the Warden in a show of male intellectual superiority.  I had headed off a potentially noisy afternoon.

 

The two oldest looked at each other and said how they had best stay away from Pappy.  Then they bolted off the bed with the younger ones in close pursuit and headed into the adjoining room quickly shutting the adjoining room door......the one without the doorknob on my side!  So here I set as the noise level increased in the other room......unable to open the door and with the outside door bolted and chained!

 

Each time I asked them to open the door, they hollered back that Pappy was a troll!  The Warden now stood there with arms folded and that "know it all look" on her face.  Finally the daughters returned and the kids opened the door for them as they promised the grands they would protect them from "Pappy the Troll". 

 

Then all the daughters took their mothers know-it-all stance and Becky said, "Next time Dad, we'll just lock them in a room when we leave!"

Dennis