CHAPTER 15 —

MOUNT THINKING/WORKING

Tammy and Tommy stood at the foot of a gently sloping rise after climbing awhile on Mount Thinking/Working. As they looked up the path, they could see a portion of the jagged T and W shapes they had noticed from a long distance away. From where they were standing, the “letters” seemed part of a rocky area near the top of the mountain.
As the pair stared upward, Choosy Chicken said to them, “This should be an easy climb for a bright pair like you! All you have to do is make lots of thinking/working choices.”
“Well, it sure sounds easy enough,” said Tommy. “After all, everyone thinks and works, even kids. Right?”
“Oh, you might be surprised,” clucked Choosy Chicken. “Some people don’t bother to think for themselves — they let others do it for them. Some people can never make up their minds and others are so lazy, they’ve never put in a really good day’s work.”
A metal sign creaked loudly in its metal frame, swayed by a passing breeze. The sound caught the twins’ attention and they read the faded letters, OK THINKING/WORKING IS EXPLORING, PLANNING, CHOOSING AND DOING, it said.
“Homework!” Tammy exclaimed, excitedly, after reading the sign. “That’s a thinking choice.”
“It’s a working choice, too, I bet,” added Tommy, “like cleaning the basement or helping Grandma put away the groceries.”
“Or doing a special bulletin board,” added Tammy.
“Or deciding what you want the bulletin board to be about,” said Tommy.
“Those are excellent examples,” said Choosy Chicken with a soft cluck of pleasure. “I was sure this would be easy for the two of you.
“Well, are you ready for the next climb?”
Tammy and Tommy nodded their heads and started up the gently sloping path with Red and Choosy following. After taking several steps Tommy halted.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Choosy,” said Tommy. I’m having trouble putting my thoughts into words,” Tommy confessed.
“Gee, that’s how I feel too,” said Tammy. Then she added, after thinking for a time, “but I think maybe it would help if we use the things we see here to figure out different kinds of thinking/working choices.”
“I don’t get it,” said Tommy.
“Well, let me see if I find an example,” said Tammy as she looked around for an inspiration.
“Look at that bush over there,” she said pointing to a low, scrubby bush covered with shiny red berries. “I wonder what kind of bush that is.”
“Yeah,” said Tommy, nodding. “And are these berries safe to eat?”
“That’s just what I meant,” said Tammy, “I guess that wondering is a thinking choice — and if it isn’t, it ought to be.”
“So is being careful,” Tommy said as they resumed their climb. “We’d better not taste any of those berries until we know more about them.”
“And comparing,” Tammy said as she bent down to pick up a rock that glittered in the sun. “Look at the different colors in layers in this rock. Some of the layers have silver-looking flecks and others don’t.”
“Or how about just noticing things?” Tommy said as he pointed out some blue flowers along the side of the path. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any flowers like that before.”
“And anything useful that we do here would be a working choice,” said Tammy, moving aside a branch that had fallen on top of the fragile blooms.
Tommy laughed. “Even climbing is work.”
“Even climbing!” exclaimed Tommy. “Especially climbing!” he said.
Red barked as if in agreement.
Choosy Chicken gave both of the children a big smile to show she was proud of the thinking/working choices they had sorted out.
They passed through a belt of trees and emerged into a barren, rocky area that they had seen from below. Up close, Tammy and Tommy could see that the crevices and mineral deposits forming the T and W were full of the dark rust-colored material and seamed with the shiny black veins.
“Must be iron and coal deposits,” muttered Tommy to himself.
A narrow rock ledge snaked along the bottom of an almost-vertical cliff wall that loomed above them. After some distance, the ledge widened and the angle of the sheer wall became gentler, and the twins had easier access to the top of the mountain.
Moving slowly, the group had almost reached the widened part when the ledge abruptly turned a corner. They carefully inched around the turn in the ledge and found themselves staring at a huge wall of thorns blocking their way.
“Oh, no!” the twins cried in unison, their hearts sinking. As they crept forward to inspect the twisted tangle of thorns, they heard an odd voice begin to cackle and chant over and over, in a high-pitched monotone. “It’s cleaning day. I’m sweeping the dirt away. It’s cleaning day. I’m sweeping the dirt away.”
Looking up, Tammy and Tommy saw a practically toothless green-faced witch, with straggly gray hair and a long nose that ended in a sharp point. She was standing on a ledge high above the trapped foursome with a broom in her hand. Beside her was a scrubby-looking black cat.
Red barked twice, and the cat arched his back and hissed menacingly. This sent Red into a frenzy. Barking and leaping, he scrambled madly up the rock wall, onto a tiny dirt outcropping, just below the witch and her cat.
And there Red stopped, unable to move. He was right above the sharp wall of thorns and the dirt mound was beginning to give way beneath his weight. His angry barks turned into frenzied yelps of distress.
“Oh, no,” cried Tammy, as the witch cackled gleefully and continued to sweep, ignoring Red’s attempts to get a foothold.
“Excuse us, ma’am,” said Tammy in a shaky voice to the witch. “We’re sorry to bother you. But can you help us?”
The witch went on sweeping. “Got work to do, can’t stop for you. Got work to do, can’t stop for you,” she cackled.
“Come on, Tammy, we haven’t any time to lose. She won’t help us,” said her brother urgently. “We’ve got to get these thorns out of the way before Red falls on them. OUCH!”
“Careful, Tommy!” Tammy moved closer to examine the prickly bramble, being cautious not to touch it. “It doesn’t seem to be attached to anything,” she reported after a moment. “And it doesn’t look very heavy. If we had a rope or something, we could probably pull the thorns aside.”
Tommy thought a minute then he began unbuckling his belt. “I don’t have a rope, but I think this might work just as well.”
He looped the belt around a thick branch. Together the twins pulled and tugged until the bramble bush was teetering on the edge of the cliff. Quickly Tommy undid his belt, and gave the tangled mess a vigorous shove with his foot. The twins watched as it slipped over the edge, bounced and crashed its way down the.
No sooner had the thorns gone over the side of the cliff when Red gave a sharp howl as his tiny perch gave way beneath him. He tumbled onto the ledge exactly where the thorns had been, and landed right on top of Tommy, who was buckling his belt.
Throughout all the commotion, the witch, with her cat following, continued on her way, sweeping and muttering over and over, “It’s cleaning day. I’m sweeping the dirt away. It’s cleaning day. I’m sweeping the dirt away.”
The children looked at each other. They were tempted to laugh but tried hard not to. Red scrambled to his feel and shook off the bits of dirt that clung to his fur. Then as the witch’s chanting became fainter and fainter, the foursome resumed their journey.
“Tammy,” Tommy began, as they neared the peak, “I’ve been trying to think who that witch reminded me of, and I just thought who it was. Can you think of anybody?” Tammy looked puzzled, then shook her head.
“Somebody we were only with for a couple of days,” he said, and Tammy nodded her head.
“She said to us, ‘If I have to be a witch with you kids, I will,’” Tommy explained.
“Oh, yeah,” Tammy said. “She was that substitute we had when the teacher had the flu. Actually, she was pretty nice.”
“Tommy broke into a funny one-sided smile. “I don’t think I ever told you, but in art class, I made a picture of a black cat with his back up, and I gave it to her.”
“Ooh,” said Tammy. “Did she get mad?”
“Naw,” said Tommy, “she just laughed. She knew I was kidding.”
At the peak they saw a sign that said, OD THINKING/WORKING IS THINKING OR WORKING WHEN ANOTHER CHOICE IS NEEDED.
“Boy,” said Tammy after reading the sign, “that’s just what that witch did.”
“Yeah,” agreed Tommy, then he looked thoughtful for a time. “You know,” he began, “sometimes when I see that Grandma needs help, but I’m doing something like that old witch, I don’t stop to give her a hand. I think about it, but I don’t do anything about it. I guess that’s OD thinking.”
Choosy Chicken nodded.
“What about working without thinking? We can do that, too, can’t we?” asked Tammy as she turned to Choosy. Like the time I tried to make brownies without reading the instructions carefully, and I put too much water in the batter.
Choosy Chicken clucked and nodded, “Those are all examples of OD Thinking/Working.”
Suddenly, as the twins watched open-mouthed, the five huge tail feathers of Choosy’s tail began flashing on and off like a bright neon sign.
“Oh!” Tommy exclaimed, his eyes open wide, fixed on her tail. “I just realized something — this is the last mountain!”
“Does that mean we can go home now?” asked Tammy hopefully.
“Soon,” Choosy Chicken said solemnly. “Very soon.”

Chapter 15 — THE BIG IDEA

For Chapter 15 the Big Idea is: We make a great many thinking/working choices every day.

At the top of Mount Thinking/Working was a sign that said: OD THINKING/WORKING IS THINKING OR WORKING WHEN ANOTHER CHOICE IS NEEDED.

Most of the thinking/working choices people make are OK, but other choices are needed as well. Do you make good thinking/working choices, or do you leave those choices to others when it’s really “your turn.” Do you make too many thinking/working choices when others want or need you to make other choices? Think about this idea and how you can use it to make your life better.

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