Young performers take audience through humorous twists, turns of mistake, nuisances

Trying to bake without knowing how to read results in salty cookies, said Michael Rios, a West End Elementary student.

The young boy’s trouble of mistaking a bag of salt for sugar when he baked for the first time, before he’d even gone to pre-K, was the basis of Rios’ story at Monday’s second Young-Tales Summer Show at the Rome-Floyd County Library.

The three-show series is an off- shoot of the Young-Tales Storytelling Clubs at 10 elementary schools.

Rios was one of two young performers at the library Monday telling stories to a group of over 25 kids and adults about times where things just didn’t quite work according to plan. Also, four adults, including Ridge & Valley Storytelling Guild Inc. President Terrell Shaw, excited the crowd with both stories and song.

Switching to Spanish to bring to life his mother’s voice, Rios captured the frustrated inflection of her response to finding an empty bag of salt instead of an empty bag of sugar. Safe to say, Rios’ cookies did not turn out well, and the lesson he imparted on the audience was to “never cook when you’re 4 or 5 years old.”

The second storyteller was Courtney Hut cher son, an Armuchee Middle School student. Her story was about the nuisances brought on by feathery friends on her family’s farm, and her struggle

to stop the ducks from pooping in the carport.

These ducks, she said, were fearless in the face of her methods, as she installed motion sensors that anytime the ducks got near the carport, the sound of 20 dogs barking blasted from the speakers. Yet still it did not dissuade the ducks from doing their business where they should not.

The family installed a garage door, thinking this would put an end to the ducks’ unsavory behavior. And it did put a stop to the ducks getting in the garage, as least for some time. However, one day Hutcherson came home to find the ducks’ “usual gifts” waiting for her.

Eventually, security cameras were installed to capture just how these ducks were making their way inside a closed garage, Hutcherson said. Perhaps, this is where the tale gets a little tall.

The recording showed that as the family would back out of the garage in their car, Bubba, one of the ducks, would slip beneath the closing door. Bubba would then fly up to the remote control on the wall and hit the open button, letting in his comrades. Once inside, the birds fittingly played Duck, Duck, Goose — and, as usual, pooped inside.

Before l ong, Bubba would let the other ducks out of the garage and hurry under the dropping door, as if they were never there. Well, except for their trademark token of appreciation left behind.

The final YoungTales Summer Show is at the library July 17, starting at 10 a.m. For more informat i on on t he s ummer shows, the storytelling club and how to become a sponsor for next school year, contact Shaw at 706346-9155.

Click here for the Big Fibbers Storytelling Festival Facebook page.