How To Tell A Story

Sophie was in a bad mood all day. She had been left in charge of her kid brothers, James and John while her parents had gone to a gala. The two of them seemed intent on ruining her day with their crazy antics. She tried calling up her friends, but James and John kept interrupting her demanding a story.

               

Finally, she conceded to their incessant demand and sat them down on the couch. Sitting opposite to them, she carefully surveyed the look of expectant wonder on their faces as they sat with bated breath, waiting for her to start.

“Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen...”

She was cut off by her little brother James. “What were their names?”

Sophie was flummoxed. Her little terrors demanded details to her characters.

“The king was Ferdinand...”

She had barely spoken when John interrupted with a question of his own.

“Which Ferdinand was this? Was it King Ferdinand who ruled Spain in the 1400s? Ferdinand the Just, ruler of Lyon? Ferdinand I of Parma? Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in the early 1900s?”

Her brothers obviously knew their history well.

“Ferdinand of Spain!! Okay?” she said, in a distinctly frustrated tone.

“This would mean that his wife was the staunchly Catholic Queen Isabella.” said James, “They were the ones who funded the voyage of Christopher Columbus to discover the New World.”

“Hey! I saw a book in Dad's library about Columbus and his accidental discovery of America. Want to go see it?” said John, animatedly.

“Sure. Bye sis. We'll be in the library if you need us.”

Sophie recovered from her daze and smiled weakly. She had told a story good enough to get them off her hands.