a view from under the pew: the great father s day quest

amos the churchmouse:

a view from under the pew

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation.

the great father s day quest

boss i bumped into

ollie the orphan sea otter

the other day and he said

he was on a spiritual

quest - to find a father

by father s day

you remember ollie boss

when he was a baby

otter his parents were

killed by seal poachers

and poor ollie was left

in the church s baptistry

the other little

creatures in the church

pew underworld would

tease him and call him

little orphan ollie

which didn t do much

for his outlook on life -

or his self-esteem

for that matter boss

as he grew up it took

ollie a little while to

develop his frolicking

sea otter nature

i must find a father figure

little ollie says to me

life has no meaning

no purpose unless an

otter be linked to the

generations washing

upon the shores of life

methinks you re putting

too much emphasis on

your seaweed roots says

me to him

maybe so but i need to

know that i have a

father figure someone

who cares for me

someone i can look up to

and pattern my sea soul after

but you can do that with

any old figure - pick you

a sports hero an author

or even a musician - after

all they say elvis is still

roaming around these days

no i want someone who

will be there for me

someone who will give

me wise counsel - and

the keys to the family

fishing boat

so have you found a

father figure in time

for father s day says me

i first asked old man

octopus but that relationship

became too entangling

if you know what i mean

then i chose stanley the

starfish but he just laid

around and pointed in

five different directions

it was very confusing

after that i tried a

couple of landlubber

dads but they turned

out to be duds for a

little frisky otter

like me says he

i latched onto louie

the songdog he was a

happy dad amos but

his fleas and me didn t

really get along at all

then i saw sammy

salamander and thought

he and i would make a

great team

we did but it was

kinda tough to call him

dad when i was three

sizes bigger than he was

so says me what are you

going to do now - give up

your quest for a dad and

say too bad so sad

no not i - i ll never say

die - i ll keep looking for

a dad both low and high

in the sea or up in the sky

just then boss wally

walrus came floating by -

we have a large baptistry

here in the church pew

underworld - and ollie

exclaimed it s him

he s the one he s got

to be my dad

wally turned on his side

and smiled a toothy smile

and off the pair swam

into the joys of a

happy father s day