YESHIE** Chapter 5

   Periodically, we‘d take a trip up into the hill country to visit my cousin Eliza and her son, who was a few months older than Yeshie and affectionately known as “John the Dunker“. When the kids were little, at least once every visit, Yeshie and J-the-D would ask “Uncle Zekki“ to tell them about the time he had argued with an angel… And then the two boys would be off, taking turns either flapping their wings or gesticulating like a dumbfounded man (literally!) At some point late one afternoon,  Yeshie posed a riddle: “What do John-the-Dunker and Winnie-the-Pooh have in common?“ We all just stood there scratching our heads until Yeshie proudly announced, “The same middle name!“ It took a second, but then we burst out laughing as we finally “got“ it. But not to be outdone, little J-the-D piped up with “Hey—we both love honey too!“

   On a odd note, though, I think it was a few weeks after that visit when Yeshie confided to us that he‘d seen his cousin catching locusts and popping them in his mouth, crunching happily and singing, “Betcha can‘t eat just one!“  “Ewwww, it was sooooo GROSS, Eema!“ I had to agree—and Joe quipped, “Good for fiber?!“

**YESHIE: Imaginative Tales of a Mother as Told by Another / amf

YESHIE** Chapter 4

  

I can‘t forget Yeshie‘s delightful laughter—that boy could find humor in almost any situation!  Like the time some poor old farmer was leading his elderly cow down the middle of the street. Yon bovine decided to do her best imitation of Shrek, letting out a blast of gas with full bass accompaniment. Yeshie laughed so hard he had tears streaming down his cheeks, and for the rest of the week, multiple times a day, he would chirp, “Better out than in!“ and break into peals of laughter!

 

And then there was that time in the middle of a super-hot summer that Joe decided a trip to the lake was in order. I had been there years ago with my parents, and he had gone a time or two before we got married, but this would be the first time for Yeshie. He was about four years old, and when we got there, he was a little puzzled about walking in the sand–the sinking/shooshing feeling took some getting used to, as did the presence of SO MUCH water!! But after about two minutes, he skipped out to the lake’s edge and started splashing through the gentle on-again/off-again waves, laughing and squealing, “Look, look, look!!! I’m walking on the water!!”

**YESHIE: Imaginative Tales of a Mother as Told by Another / amf

YESHIE** Chapter 3

   Yeshie was a very kind boy, always on the look-out for ways to be helpful.  When Mrs. Meyer from down the street was at her wit‘s end, what with trying to lug home her market purchases along with rambunctious twins and a toddler, Yeshie ran up to the older kids and said, “Hey! I‘ll race you! Last one to your house is a rotten egg!“ And with lots of squealing and laughter, the three of them tore off down the street, headed for the goal. Yeshie always had “a way“ with younger kids—they loved to be around him.

   I remember one day when a half dozen scrappy 8-year-olds were taunting two girls from Bethany, singing over and over again, “You look like a camel and you smell like one too!“ and “You‘re dumber than a Gerasene pig!“  The two girls were in tears, and I was on my way over to deal with it when Yeshie showed up. I think he was around eleven at the time, so he was head and shoulders above “the ravening mob“!  He yelled, “Hey, what‘s going on here? C‘mon, girls—Lazy Russ sent me to get you!“ At that, all the mean boys disappeared, leaving MaryAnn and Marta free to go…

**Yeshie: Imaginative Tales of a Mother as Told by Another / amf