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{SFTH} *THE POWER OF PLEASE* 7/25/01
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Michael's long awaited book Straight From the Heart: "A Celebration
of Life," is finally here! Close to 200 pages of true short stories filled
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Michael T. Powers
1918 Liberty Lane
Janesville, WI 53545
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We love to run stories that leave the reader with a warm feeling
in their tummy when they walk away from their computers each day.
However, we are also not afraid to run stories that touch other places
in your heart...the places where tears come from.
You'll know what I am talking about when you read what Roger
shares with us about the power of the word "please."
Michael
P.S. If you missed the interview we did with Roger on Monday, be sure to
check out the link following his story today!
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THE POWER OF PLEASE
By Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
"Get into the library and do your homework," said Mr. Henderson, the
house-parent who looked after us boys at the orphanage, where I lived.
"I didn't get any homework this time. It's Friday, Pop Henderson." I
told him.
"I really don't give a #@$%. Just get your little butt in there, sit
down and STUDY SOMETHING," he hollered at me.
I walked into the small library, where five or six other boys were doing
their homework, and I took a seat at one of the two large wooden tables.
About fifteen minutes later the library door flew open and Pop Henderson
was standing there with a very mad look on his face.
Pointing his finger at me and two other boys sitting around the table
he said, "You, you and you. Come with me right now."
I got up from the table, placed the Hardy Boys Mystery book back onto
the wooden shelf and followed the other two boys who were now following
Pop Henderson.
Up the front stairs we headed, all walking at a fast pace and all in a
single file line. Finally we stopped at the entrance leading into the
small bedroom where the three of us boys slept.
"You gonna tell me who did this," he said."
The three of us boys looked, back and forth, at one another as though we
had no idea what he was talking about.
Pop Henderson grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the
bedroom and closed the door, leaving the other two boys standing
in the hallway. He reached over and opened my locker door, which
was located behind the door leading into the room.
"What is this?" he asked me.
"Nothing. Just underwears and stuff like that," I said.
He reached into the closet and jerked out a towel which had been
wadded up into a small circle on the third shelf. As he jerked the
towel from the closet a small baby squirrel, and several bread
crusts, fell onto the floor.
"This crap is what I am talking about." He said, looking at me directly
in the eye.
I just stood there biting my lip and not saying a word.
"Get the thing and flush it down the toilet," he told me.
"But it's just a little bitty baby, Pop Henderson." I said to him.
He reached over and grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and shook the
pillow case causing the pillow to fall to the floor.
"Put the thing in here," he ordered, as he threw the pillow case at me.
I reached down and picked up the small baby squirrel and I placed it
into the pillow case. Then I reached down and started picking up the
bread crusts which we boys had brought back to the dormitory from the
dining-room when we ate our supper earlier that evening.
"Give me the critter," he demanded, holding out his hand.
"Please. Can I put the bread in there with him so he can eat tonight?" I
asked.
"He won't be needing to eat tonight." He said as he raised the pillow
case above his head and began to swing it around in a circle, as fast as
could.
"What are you going to do?" I asked him.
Just at that moment Pop Henderson let go of the pillow case and it flew
across the small room and hit the wall, right next to the window.
I ran over to the pillow case and I picked it up off the floor and I
began to cry as I slowly looked inside. When I opened the white bag I
could find nothing inside, except the bread crumbs. I stood up and
looked around the room but I saw nothing.
"Is it dead?" he asked me.
"I don't know." I answered, wiping my eyes.
"Take the thing down stairs and put it in the garbage can in the garbage
room." He told me.
I walked over to the bedroom door and I opened it. Standing there were
the other two boys, both in tears.
Without saying a word the three of us eight year old boys walked down
the back stairs, to the garbage room and I placed the bread crusts into
the garbage can.
The other two boys went back to the library to finish up their home work
and I walked back up stairs to my bedroom.
When I arrived there was Pop Henderson sitting on my bed holding the
small squirrel in his hand.
"Thought you fooled me. Didn't you?" he said.
"We can't fool you, Pop Henderson," I stated to him, looking down at the
ground.
"I don't know what to do with you Roger Dean." He told me.
"I'll be good forever, Pop Henderson. I'll do anything you want if
you'll just let me let him go and be free," I told him.
"Can you say 'Please?' " he asked me.
"Please." I said back to him.
"I had best not find it in here tomorrow." He said, as he got up from
the bed, laid the small animal onto the bed and then walked out of the
room.
Late that night I opened our bedroom window and I slid, on my butt, out
onto the small porch roof where I placed the little squirrel onto the
limb of an oak tree.
We boys watched him for about an hour and then we went to sleep. We
never did see the baby squirrel again after that.
That was the first time in my life that I learned the power of the word
"Please."
Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
trampolineone@webtv.net
Send Roger an e-mail and let him know what you thought of his story!
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Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. and his wife Judy live in Brunswick, Georgia. They have
four cocker spaniels (Lady, Prozac, Precious and Little Bit), a large chow
named Cody, as well as Roger's aquarium with fifteen tiger barbs. Roger is
the author of the book "ORPHAN", which hit bookstores in December.
You can purchase Roger's book, "ORPHAN"
in major book stores or order from Amazon.com at:
Orphan
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580624480/o/qid=975333679/sr=8-1/straighfromthe0a/107-5931457-7011735
If you missed the interview we did with Roger, you can check it out at our
web site at this link:
http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com/roger_dean_kiser_sr_/
AOL Users click here
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From the E-mail Box:
Dear Michael,
Every time I see the name: Al Batt, I save the story so that when I read it,
it has my full attention. His stories deserve no less and it is the highest
compliment that I can pay with pleasure and immeasurable gain.
Maria Carey, CT
MCAREY@GreenwichLibrary.org
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Dear sir, I just read your story on lightning bugs and it truly touched my heart. I live in Florida and we do not have lightning bugs here. Just last week I took my daughter to Illinois and that was the highlight of our trip. It's truly a shame that Florida doesn't have these. I grew up with them as a child and couldn't wait for her to see them. We chased them for hours and even brought some to Florida in a jar. When nightfall came, we let them go. Who knows, maybe we can get them to Florida after all. Again thank for that wonderful story.
Laura Grannemann
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Thought For The Day:
"You can't hold a man down without staying down with him."
(Booker T. Washington)
Verse for the Day:
"The man who sets a trap for others will get caught in it himself."
Proverbs 26:27
Kid's Thought For The Day:
"If your dog doesn't like someone, you probably shouldn't either."
Parent's Thought For The Day
"How do you explain 'counterclockwise' to a child with a digital watch?"
Coach's Thought For The Day
"I've learned over the years how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they've got one heartbeat, together, a team."
(Paul "Bear" Bryant)
Deep Thought For The Day:
"Why are wrong numbers NEVER busy?"
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REQUESTS:
I would like to thank you and the readers for prayers said for my
longtime friend with breast cancer that had come back. She passed away
Sunday and her funeral is today. Please pray for her husband and family
as they go through today and the tomorrows that come. Her husband was
the first and only person she had dated and they had been married over
40 years.
Thank you,
Judy
JudyFromGadsden@webtv.net
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
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Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business.)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video
we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds
my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best
Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful
job! They were so surprised and so touched---they really, really,
really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all.
My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the video too!
Thanks again!"
Kelli-- College Station, TX
Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies!
Check out the web page for Michael's video production business!
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AOL Users click here: Video Imagery
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