The Stranger

        In the Wild West town of Lyncham lived a pretty, young woman called Anna. Now, although she was pretty, Anna was very shy. All the young cowboys in Lyncham thought she was being silly, and they often laughed at her. This made Anna very sad.
        One evening, when Anna was being particularly sad, her mother came into the room. "What's the matter, Anna?" she asked.
        "I'm bored," replied Anna. "I have nothing to do."
        "Why don't you go out and enjoy yourself?" suggested her mother. "You know how you like to sing and dance."
        "Yes, mother, I do, but I have no-one to sing and dance with. All the boys in Lyncham thing I'm silly."
        Her mother suddenly had an idea. "I know what," she said. "Why don't you ask a stranger to town if he'd like to sing and dance with you?"
        Anna was puzzled. "But I don't know any strangers."
        "Of course you don't," chuckled her mother, "or they wouldn't be strangers. But, as it happens, one arrived this very morning. He's a nice young man who sells spoons, and he's staying at the Hotel Corral."
        "I thought I wasn't supposed to speak to strangers, though," remembered Anna. "He might hit me on the head and steal my umbrella."
        Her mother smiled. "But I told you not to speak to strangers, Anna, and now I'm telling you that you can speak to this stranger."
        "Are you sure?" asked Anna, warily.
        "Yes," replied her mother. "This is a stranger to whom you can talk. I say so."
        The next day, Anna decided to visit the stranger and ask him if he would like to go singing and dancing with her. Ignoring the cowboys who laughed at her on the way, she went bravely to the Hotel Corral. She knocked at the stranger's door, and he answered.
        "Hello," she said. "My name is Anna, and I wondered if you would like to come singing and dancing with me?"
        He shook his head, and slowly sighed. "I'm sorry, miss," he said. "I'd like to, but my mother told me I shouldn't speak to strangers."

So

Never forget that other people have mothers, too.

Illustration by Roy Bartle
Image size: approx. 28K.