{"id":476,"date":"2009-03-25T20:37:38","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T03:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/?p=476"},"modified":"2009-04-21T19:57:38","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T02:57:38","slug":"story-no-more-car-wash-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/2009\/03\/25\/story-no-more-car-wash-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Storybook: No More Car Wash Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA)
\nthe author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories<\/a>
\nillustration by Kevin Scott Collier<\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cEthan, I don\u2019t know how much longer I can do this. My feet really hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, so do mine, Sammy. Maybe we should just live at the zoo like Uncle Carl. He gets fed well and just relaxes all day,\u201d said Ethan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I said I don\u2019t know how much longer I can do this, I meant this job. I didn\u2019t mean give up on our dream of being independent elephants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRelax. I haven\u2019t lost sight of that dream either, Sammy. Look, I appreciated Mr. Dilley giving us a job at his carwash, but using my trunk as a water hose isn\u2019t how I want to spend my days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think I do? I have one dream in life, just one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, I know, I\u2019ve heard this story a thousand times; you want to be a chef more than anything else on Earth,\u201d said Ethan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right, a chef,\u201d said Sammy. \u201cBut that\u2019s never going to happen, because nobody wants to eat food cooked by an elephant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just haven\u2019t found the right restaurant yet,\u201d said Ethan. \u201cDon\u2019t give up, Sammy. Somebody will give you a job eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve applied to every restaurant in town and they all said the same thing\u2026\u201cSorry, but we don\u2019t even serve peanut butter stew here.\u201d What are they thinking? How can you not serve peanut butter stew at a restaurant?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree. It doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d said Ethan. \u201cIt\u2019s not worth getting upset over though, Sammy. They obviously don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about, since they don\u2019t even serve peanut butter stew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks Ethan. I\u2019m just tired of waiting for someone else to give me a chance, so first thing tomorrow morning I am going to the bank for a loan. We\u2019ll just open up our own place. And every customer that walks through the door will be treated with respect. And I mean every customer; little boys and girls, grown-ups, puppy dogs, elephants, even a tiger if he\u2019s willing to behave himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I be the one who greets them at the door with a song?\u201d asked Ethan. \u201cI\u2019ve always dreamed of being a singer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d said Sammy. \u201cI\u2019ll make the stew and you can sing your heart out to all the customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan took the sponge he had been using to wipe down a little blue car and pretended it was a microphone. To the surprise of Sammy and the man sitting in the little blue car, Ethan began to sing:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur days here,
\nAre almost through,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot;
\nNo more, Carwash Blues,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot;
\nBecause we\u2019ve got better things to do,
\nLike singing tunes,
\nAnd making stew,
\nThat\u2019s
\nAll
\nWe
\nReally
\nWant
\nTo
\nDo,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s great. That\u2019s wonderful,\u201d said the man in the little blue car. \u201cBut until then, can you please get the suds off my car?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan and Sammy finished washing the little blue car as the man requested and smiled the whole time they cleaned it. Even with sore feet it was easy for them to smile now, because they knew their dreams were going to come true. Their days of working at the car wash would be over soon; or so it seemed.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dilley had been paying Ethan and Sammy with peanuts, which they felt was the only good thing about working at the car wash; but when Sammy tried to use several bags of peanuts at the bank, he was informed he would have to shell out something else, money. Sammy was heartbroken. He and Ethan didn\u2019t have one nickel between them, and the cost of starting up a restaurant was more than Sammy ever imagined. He didn\u2019t know how he was going to explain this to Ethan when he got back. But Sammy didn\u2019t have to say anything; the sad look on his face spoke a thousand words.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right, Sammy,\u201d said Ethan. \u201cWe\u2019ll figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sammy just nodded as a little tear rolled down his cheek.<\/p>\n

A good thing happened the next morning though; Mr. Dilley agreed to start paying Ethan and Sammy with money, and not just peanuts. But the job paid very little, and if they saved every penny they made between them it would take a very, very, long time to afford a restaurant of their own. Ethan and Sammy tried to keep their spirits up, but it was tough. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and Sammy still couldn\u2019t find anyone willing to give him a loan for his restaurant. For a while it seemed as though Ethan and Sammy would spend the rest of their lives working at the car wash, until something unexpected happened. Something wonderful!<\/p>\n

While hosing down a car one afternoon, Ethan and Sammy abruptly stopped what they were doing when the sound of bells and music filled the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s that music coming from?\u201d asked Sammy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeats me, but it sounds like it\u2019s getting closer,\u201d said Ethan. \u201cLet\u2019s go take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan and Sammy walked to the front of the car wash and were surprised to see a big orange truck in the parking lot. The big orange truck was playing music and had bells that chimed repeatedly. Several people walked up to the truck and began speaking to a man who stood inside it. Everyone was smiling and looked very happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you go young lady,\u201d said the man in the big orange truck. \u201cEnjoy your ice-cream sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? You\u2019ve got to be kidding me. That man is selling ice-cream to people from his truck,\u201d said Sammy. \u201cWhat a brilliant idea. Don\u2019t wait for your customers to come to you, go out and find them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he is playing music for them too,\u201d said Ethan. \u201cAre you thinking what I\u2019m thinking, Sammy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, how does he keep the ice-cream from melting?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that\u2019s not what I was thinking,\u201d said Ethan shaking his head. \u201cI am sure there\u2019s a freezer on the truck, Sammy. I\u2019m talking about us, silly. A truck should be a lot less
\nexpensive than a restaurant. Why don\u2019t we start our own business by renting a truck, and just go out and find our customers like the man with the ice-cream?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sammy didn\u2019t say a word, but smiled from ear to floppy ear. He knew right then and there that his life was going to change. And it did! After a pay raise and a couple more months of working at the car wash, Ethan and Sammy went to the bank and got the loan they needed to start their business. They had the words \u201cStew and Tunes,\u201d written on the side of their truck. It took awhile to catch on, but eventually the whole town of Belvar fell in love with Sammy\u2019s peanut butter stew. Unlike the big orange truck that delivered ice-cream, bells didn\u2019t chime on Ethan and Sammy\u2019s truck, but there was plenty of music to be sure. And everyone in Belvar knew the truck was close by when they heard Ethan sing:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so happy,
\nTo see you,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot;
\nNo more, Carwash Blues,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot;
\nBecause we\u2019ve got better things to do,
\nLike singing tunes,
\nAnd making stew,
\nThat\u2019s
\nAll
\nWe
\nReally
\nWant
\nTo
\nDo,
\nDoot-doot, doot\u2013doot, doot-doot, doot-doot, doot.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE END<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“No More Car Wash Blues”<\/span><\/em> Copyright \u00a9 2007 by Artie Knapp
\nAll Rights Reserved <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA) the author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories illustration by Kevin Scott Collier \u201cEthan, I don\u2019t know how much longer I can do this. My feet really hurt.\u201d \u201cYeah, so do mine, Sammy. Maybe we should just live at the zoo like Uncle Carl. He gets fed well and just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-stories","tag-artie-knapp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}