George and Harry

For all of George and Harry’s stories click here or on the photo.

WHAT ARE GEORGE AND HARRY STORIES?

I’m glad you asked.

When our sons were young they liked to have a story read to them at bedtime.

They had their favourite books but sometimes I would make up a story using something that had happened during the day or just something that seemed like fun. I read somewhere that up until a certain age children relate better to animals than they do to people so I always introduced animals into these stories.

It didn’t seem to matter to the boys if George and Harry were people or animals or a mix of the two; they never questioned it.

The stories didn’t need to be elaborate, there just needed to be a bit of an adventure and, of course, a happy ending.

I’m not sure where the names, George and Harry, came from but they certainly made several appearances in our lives.

After something killed our rooster and all the chooks, the boys borrowed an incubator, and out of the eggs we were able to rescue two hatched out………….. what do you think the boys wanted to call them?

George was healthy but Harry was not and she lived only a few weeks and I had the devastating tasks of putting her out of her misery. I like to think of myself as a reasonably tough bloke but I remember being in tears for a very long time afterwards.

George lived on happily for about a year and could not understand why we would not let her into the house She was reared by hand in the boys’ room but when she got older she had to go outside and be a chook. She liked being outside but at night she wanted to come inside.

We compromised and she would roost on the firewood at the back door, which was sheltered and undercover.

She left us one night when she was surprised by a possum and her little heart could not take the shock.

These life and death experiences were a challenge for our boys and a bit of an introduction into the harsh realities of life. They handled it all pretty well and I’m glad that we were able to be there for them and help them make some sense out of it all.

Life goes on, time passes and now our eldest son has kids of his own. As I write this our granddaughter is about to turn four and our grandson has just turned one.

Time moved on, and our grandaughter is a teenager and she has two younger brothers as well as two cousins.

I sent her the story ‘The mouse Who Liked Cheezels’ to see if she is ready for some George and Harry stories and as luck would have it, my wife was with her when the letter arrived [they live a long way away from us in another state]. She liked the story and even answered the question that is at the end. In true little kid fashion, she had her own reasons for picking something different from that which I would have chosen.

Some of the George and Harry stories in this collection are for when they are a little bit older and that’s OK, they can grow into them.

I hope that you enjoy these tales and I hope that this ‘back story’ adds a little bit of spice to your enjoyment.

Terry

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