The Old Red Rocking Chair

  • 2 days ago
by Phyllis Root
illustrated by John Sandford
Transcript
00:00The Old Rocking Chair by Phyllis Root. Illustrated by John Sanford.
00:17For Amelia and her friend Ilana, and for Ellen and her friends Ellen and Meredith.
00:23P.R.
00:25Your sugar grandma Claritate with love from me your daughter's mate.
00:30J.S.
00:31One spring morning Martha Jenkins put her old red rocking chair out with the garbage.
00:37She had rocked all her children in it, but the children were grown now the chair seat
00:42was worn and the color didn't match her new blue sofa.
00:46Sam Puckett was out walking his Saint Bernard dog Fergie when he saw the rocking chair.
00:53Just the thing for the living room. He told Fergie.
00:58Together they dragged the chair home along with an old radio they had found.
01:03The rocking chair fit perfectly into a corner of the living room and Sam tinkered with the
01:07radio until it worked.
01:10Evenings he would sit in the old red chair rocking and nodding his head in time to the
01:14music while Fergie thumped her tail on the floor.
01:18It was a lovely way to pass the time.
01:21Little Fergie decided she wanted to be a lap dog and broke one arm off the rocking
01:26chair.
01:28Sam was a wizard with radios but he didn't know a hammer from a hammerhead shark.
01:33Sadly he put the rocking chair back out with the trash.
01:37Sheriff Shannon was running to catch the bus for work when she spotted the rocking chair.
01:44Just the thing for my apartment.
01:46She cried.
01:48It would go nicely with her boxes of books, her violets and her sleeping bag.
01:54There was a scrawny cat curled up in the seat of the rocking chair so she lugged him along
01:59home too.
02:01She was late for work that day, but Sheriff didn't care.
02:05That night she bought milk for the cat and named him Alistair.
02:10She borrowed a screwdriver from the landlady downstairs and took the other arm off the
02:14rocking chair.
02:16Then she and Alistair sat and rocked and reed together.
02:20They were cozy and comfortable all summer long.
02:24Until Alistair decided to sharpen his claws on the seat of the chair.
02:29Sheriff was handy with a pilers and wrench, but she didn't know which end of a needle
02:34to thread.
02:36Sadly she put the rocking chair out by her garbage can.
02:40The Weller twins were skateboarding home from school when they discovered the rocking chair.
02:46Just the thing for our treehouse near told Ian, and Ian agreed.
02:51They skated the rocking chair home balanced on an old plank that they found.
02:57The chair didn't fit in the treehouse and its back cracked when they dropped it back
03:01down.
03:02But it did make a terrific teeter-totter when they put the plank across the seat.
03:08Up and down up and down they went.
03:10It was great fun.
03:13Until the rockers fell off and the twins went tumbling.
03:17The twins kept the plank to make a ladder for their treehouse, but the chair they put
03:22back in the alley.
03:24Agnes McGruder was raking leaves when she sped what was left of the rocking chair.
03:30Just the thing she thought.
03:32She had plenty of chairs, but she needed a stool to set by the fireplace.
03:38She dragged the chair into her house along with an old blue coat that was sticking out
03:42of somebody's garbage.
03:45The coat was missing a sleeve, but the fabric would make a beautiful new seat for the stool.
03:51Agnes sawed off the chair back to use for kindling.
03:56While a fire blazed in the fireplace, she embroidered a seat cover.
04:01There was even enough blue wool left over for a marching pair of slippers.
04:06When the legs were painted and the stool was done, Agnes sat by her fire in the mornings
04:11warming her toes.
04:13She was toasty and snug.
04:16Until the day she slipped on the ice on her way to the grocery.
04:20Enough of winter.
04:22Agnes decided.
04:23I am going to love on a houseboat in Florida.
04:28She sold her house and nailed a big sign to the front porch.
04:33Martha Jenkins saw the sign.
04:36She came to the sale and bought a teapot, two pictures, and a stool.
04:42When she got home she made a pot of tea, hung the pictures on the wall, and sat back to
04:47admire them.
04:49Just the thing for my weary bones she said with a contented sigh as she rested her feet.
04:55She sipped her tea and admired how well her sofa matched her new blue footstool.
05:01THE END