Dividing the
Pecans
On the outskirts of town, there was a big old pecan tree by the
cemetery
fence. One day two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by
the
tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy.
Several
were dropped and rolled down toward the fence.
Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed,
he
thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to
investigate. Sure enough, he heard,
"One for you, one for me. One for
you,
one for me."
He just knew what it was.
"Oh my," he shuddered, "it's
Satan
and the Lord dividing
the souls at the cemetery. He jumped back on his bike and rode off.
Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.
"Come
here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard. Satan and
the
Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls."
The man said,
"Beat
it, kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk. " When the boy
insisted,
though, the man hobbled to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they
heard,
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me. The old man
whispered,
"Boy, you've been tellin' the truth. Let's see if we can see the
devil
himself."
Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still
unable to
see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of
the
fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of Satan. At
last
they heard, "One for you, one for me. And one last one for you.
That's
all.
Now let's go get those nuts by the fence, and we'll be done."
They say the old guy made it back to town 5 minutes before the boy.