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 telling
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, one for me. 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.
© Copyright 2000, Paul Yoon Inc.