The Story of The Dinner Bell

There once lived a old woman in a pretty blue house. She had a name, of
course, but everyone really only called her Granny. She was a kind woman with
gentle eyes and an inviting smile. Granny loved to cook for her family. She'd
make fried quail, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, orange salad, green beans, dinner
rolls and apple pies. Everyday at Noon sharp, Granny would walk out to the edge
of her drive and ring her black dinner Bell, which she truly treasured. Granny
was the only one in Coles County to own such a thing and it was the only way to
pull the men's focus from their harvesting. They would hear the beautiful gong
of the Bell, park their tractors and come running to the house for dinner. It
was said to to be Granny's favortie time of day; her whole family gathering in
the midst of their hard work to relax, eat and laugh together.


One day, Granny woke up and began her day as usual; coffee in the pot,
breakfast on the stove and prayers through it all. Everything seemed to be as it
should, but when granny looked out her window that cool morning with her coffee
mug in her hand, she saw that her prized dinner Bell was missing. She instantly
ran outside to see what had happened, hoping all the while it had just fallen
over in the night from wind. But as she got closer, Granny realized it was not
mother nature who seized her Bell but vandals. Her dinner Bell had been cut down
and stolen.


Now this may seem trivial to some but Granny loved that Bell, or the things
that bell represented. Granny knew the sound of the bell brought her family
home, laughter at her table, smiles from the ones she loved and memories she
would never forget. (Like the time she didn't know the tiny piece of paper on
her counter was connected to a sopping wet tea bag and so when she briskly
walked by and snatched that tiny piece of paper to carry to the garbage can, she
instead threw the entire sopping wet tea bag across the room, missing the
garbage can I might add. This of course insued uproarous laughter from her
grandchildren).


Granny knew the memories she cherished were not made merely because of the
dinner Bell but she couldn't help feeling a connection between the two.
Unfortunately the dinner bell was never returned to Granny. There were rumors
and suspicions of who stole the Bell but, the vandals never caught. Granny,
being the woman she was, of course, found other ways to call her family home for
dinner, making many more memorable memories but, the call was never as special
as the Bell.


Decades after the Bell was stolen and Granny had passed, her son-in-law,
Paul, received a mysterious phone call. A man claimed he had Granny's Bell. He
told Paul he couldn't tell him where he got it but considering who he purchased
it from (remember the suspicions of who the thieves were) he was almost positive
it was Granny's Bell. Even though Paul was a bit skeptical he arranged a meeting
with the man and was shocked and pleasantly surprised when the man lifted the
tarp from the bed of his pick-up. Paul nearly gasped when he realized what he
was looking at. It was Granny's Bell. All Paul could do was smile as a tear
rolled down his cheek. 

Now Granny's Bell stands proudly on Paul's property. There are no men to call
in from the fields anymore, no fried quail being pulled from the oven, and no
Granny waiting patiently on the porch, but, once in a while, when the wind is
calm and the sun warm, if you stand really still, you can almost hear the sound
of the Bell and sense a smile on Granny's face.