Counting Nuts
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. As
they were sharing the nuts, two nuts dropped and rolled down towards
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 and 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 hobble to the cemetery.
Standing by the fence they heard,
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for, me."
The 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.
That's all. Now let's go get those two nuts by the fence, and we'll be
done."
They say the old guy made it back to town five minutes before the boy.
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