A tall tale

Jodie put her hand up as soon as her teacher asked who had any news.

‘Me! Me! Pick me!’ she said, unable to hide her excitement.

‘Very well, Jodie,’ said her teacher. ‘You may go first.’

Jodie stood out the front of the class.

‘Good morning everybody,’ she started. ‘Well, on the weekend, I went fishing with my grandad. And we went in his boat. And when we were fishing, my grandad told me we were anchored at the very same place where he had lost his wedding ring over the side 20 years before. It had fallen in the ocean and he never saw it again. He said Nanna was very cross because she gave him the wedding ring.’

‘My goodness,’ said Jodie’s teacher. ‘I’ll bet your Nanna was upset about that!’

‘Yes, she was,’ said Jodie. ‘But ten minutes after Grandad told me that story, he started to sneeze. And he sneezed so hard that his false teeth shot out of his mouth and went over the side of the boat. They sank before Grandad could get the net. For a minute, I thougt Grandad was going to jump over after them. Then I thought he might throw me overboard to get them! I really expected him to pack up and head for shore after that. But because we were already out at sea, he decided we would keep on fishing.

‘What made it worse was that we only caught one fish the whole day— and I caught it, not Grandad. So he wasn’t in a very happy mood. When we got home and told Nanna what had happened, she wasn’t in a very happy mood either.’

‘Then I went with Grandad into the backyard to clean the fish. And while he was cleaning it, guess what he found inside?’

‘Wait a minute,’ said Jodie’s teacher. ‘You’re not going to tell us he found his false teeth inside the fish, are you? Because I don’t think I could believe that!’

‘Oh, no, Mrs Green,’ said Jodie, putting on her best smile. ‘Nobody would believe a story like that! No, when Grandad cut the fish open he found his wedding ring inside, the same ring he had lost over the side of the boat 20 years before!’