Hail to the Dinosaurs!
This is part 2 in the 2014 Dinosaur Christmas Story.
If you missed part 1, go here to read it at the
Dinosaur Training Blog:
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-smallest-elf-at-north-pole.html
THE SMALLEST ELF AT THE NORTH POLE (PT. 2)
At first, Meek hated working in the old-lines room
at Santa's workshop. Everything was so OLD! And
he had no idea what any of it was -- or how it
worked. The idea of cataloguing everything
seemed utterly impossible.
But gradually, Meek started to figure things out.
He learned that the old-line toys almost always
came with some sort of instruction booklet -- or
that they came in a box that told you how to put
the toy together -- or that he could find an old
book that had photos of girls and boys playing
with the toy, and work things out from there.
The day he figured out the Captain Marvel
Decoder Ring was a red letter day for him.
So was the day he figured out the marbles --
and the Lincoln Logs -- and the jump rope --
and the Raggedy Ann doll -- and the Red
Ryder BB gun.
But there was one toy he couldn't figure out
at all. He couldn't even find pictures of it.
It was a long, heavy iron bar, with round disks
that had holes in the center. There was a hollow
bar that looked like it was made of silver, although
Meek doubted that. It seemed to fit over the iron
bar, but that didn't seem to make sense. It
always slid right off.
The round disks were real puzzlers. They were
black, and they were all different sizes. He laid
them all of the floor one day, and discovered
that they came in pairs. He also realized that
they had numbers on them, ranging from 1 1/4
to 50. The ones that said 50 were so heavy that
poor Meek could barely manage to roll them
across the floor.
There also were much shorter bars, and a box
that said "collars" on the outside. But that made
no sense, because there were no shirts that
needed collars. And the only thing in the box
were funny pieces of metal with different kinds
of screws in them.
The black disks all came from New York. Meek
knew that because they all said "York Bar Bell"
on them. But they didn't look like any kind of
bell he had ever seen, and children's toys never
had anything to do with a bar. (Santa had strict
rules about things like that.)
He read everything he could about old-line toys
made in New York City -- but found nothing that
explained the mysterious disks or the metal rods.
He expanded his search by reading about toys
from anywhere in the entire state of New York.
That didn't work, either.
The York Bar Bell was a complete and utter
mystery.
One day, York was trying to research a funny
old board game about someone named Monopoly
who lived on the Boardwalk and sometimes went
straight to jail and did not pass Go. It was all very
puzzling, especially the little iron, the thimble and
the "chance" cards.
A large file marked "Games" balanced precariously
on top of an unmarked box perched on top of the
tallest bookcase in the workroom. Meek could see
it, but he couldn't reach it -- so he brought the
tallest ladder he could find -- but even that wasn't
tall enough, so he balanced the ladder on a wooden
chair, and climbed up to retrieve the file.
And, of course, just when he was congratulating
himself on his ingenuity -- the ladder slipped, and
Meek and the file came crashing down -- along with
the unmarked box.
Luckily, Meek landed on a large pile of old-line
clothes. They broke his fall, and he only hurt his
pride.
Of course, that can hurt as much as a broken
leg -- especially for an elf who had already been
banished to the most remote of Santa's work-
rooms because he was too small, too weak and
too clumsy to do his job.
Meek wanted to cry -- and truth be told, he even
sniffled a little as he picked up the papers that
had fallen out of the box.
One of them caught his eye.
It was a little booklet.
"York Barbell and Dumbbell System -- Course No.
1 and 2."
It came with a wall chart with grainy old photos.
And suddenly, Meek understood.
"It's not a bar bell," he thought. "It's a barbell!"
(To be continued.)
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day.
Be looking for Part 3 tonight or tomorrow.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. We're still taking orders, packing and shipping as
fast as we can -- and that includes orders for Knife,
Fork, Muscle:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. "Train hard, eat smart, stay strong!" -- Brooks
Kubik
*******************************************
