"Bald Barry" excerpt from "Lessons From a Barbed Wire Fence"

To give you a "taste" of our latest book - "Lessons From a Barbed Wire Fence" & Other Bible-based Stories For Children, by Gary W. Long - here's an excerpt from the story, "Bald Barry."

One warm, beautiful spring day, Louie the lonesome dove was up on a telephone wire, keeping a sharp lookout when Fred, the old neighborhood crow, landed on top of the telephone pole three or four feet away.
“How you doing, Louie?” Fred asked as he ruffled his feathers.
“Hello, Fred, I’m okay...but what happened to you?”
“What do you mean, what happened to me?”
Louie noticed that Fred tried to hide the situation and act normal.
“I mean, where’s the rest of your tail feathers? You look plumb ridiculous.”
“Oh that, I practically forgot about it. You really think it looks bad, huh?”
“Turn around, Fred.”
Fred slowly turned and Louie laughed.
“What’s so funny, Louie…have you never seen a crow with two tail feathers before?”
“Can’t say that I have. Even one of those that’s left is bent in two. How do you manage flying?”
“Well, it’s a lot harder, Louie, and I don’t much appreciate being laughed at by the likes of you.”
“Ah, sorry, Fred...what happened anyway?”
“It’s that old farmer Hayseed across Fire Creek. He snuck up on me in his garden and gave me a barrel full of .410 buckshot. Fortunately all he got was most of my tail.”
“My, Fred, you could have been killed. Were you stealing?”
Fred rolled his eyes in a look of contempt and said, “Not the way I see it. I figure that corn is as much mine as his….that is if I can get it before he does.”
“How do you figure that, Fred?”
“Well I watched him. All he did was put the seed in the ground, and that’s it!”
“That’s what, Fred?”
“That’s all he did. Our Creator watered it, caused the sunshine to warm the earth, and did the miracle of bringing it out of the ground. Why should ol’ Hayseed think it’s his?”
“Because it’s on his property, I guess,” Louie replied.
“I don’t accept that, Louie. We crows were here long before he was, and anything the ground grows, or is dead, is free game to a hungry crow like myself…You know, Louie, I’ve got a family to feed just like ol’ Hayseed. One thing’s for sure Louie: between me and Hayseed, I’m certainly a lot more honest than he is.”
“How do you figure, Fred?”
“Well, when I’m around, I don’t sneak: I’m out in the open, and I always give a ‘caw’ or two just to let others know I’m around. But ol’ Hayseed, he’s devious as a snake. He puts that fake farmer in the middle of his garden, dresses it in his own clothes, and always extends the arms to welcome us. And if we accept his invitation and he’s around, ‘Bang!’ I tell you, Hayseed’s a hypocrite!”

Get your copy today to find out how the story ends (Isaiah 40:31 & Psalm 103:5 are the Scripture references used). $16. 228 pages. Hardcover. Visit our website PBPress.org or give us a call at 417.883.0342.