From: jondarr@macadam.mqcs.mq.oz.au (jondarr c g h 2 gibb)
Subject: Once upon a time
Organization: Macquarie University, School of Mathematics, Physics, Computing and Electronics
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 02:09:30 GMT


   Once upon a time there was a little boy who would leave home at
the crack of dawn and head off into the forest near his home, not
returning until sunset. He could usually be seen carrying a knap-
sack and a small paper packet, but nobody knew what was in it.
   One day his father decided to follow the lad and find out what
he got up to out there in the forest for the day, so he got up at
the same time as the boy ( without being noticed ) and prepared to
walk a short distance behind him into the forest to find out what
all the fuss was about and what was in the paper packet.

   The boy didn't notice his father as he left the house, just 
like every other morning and followed the narrow trail through the 
forst undergrowth, disturbing the early morning creatures as he
went, but his father wasn't far behind him, sufficiently out of
sight that he wouldn't lose the boy, yet he walked carefully enough
that he couldn't be heard.
   At the other side of the forest there was a very large lake of
the purest blue, and as the boy approached the water he took from
his knap-sack a pair of super-duper-kipper-flippers and swam across
the lake so fast that his father only appeared at the edge of the 
forst as the boy got out on the other side. The distance around the
lake would have been too far for his father to traverse because the
boy would then be well out of sight, so the father turned back and
decided to buy his own pair of super-duper-kipper-flippers and
follow the boy again tomorrow. He would not know what was in the
paper packet today.

   The next morning, the father followed his son through the forest
to the lake, and the boy took out his super-duper-kipper-flippers,
and then when the boy was across, his father did likewise and came
out of the water on the other side within sight of his son, but as
yet unseen, following him up into the hills.
   After climbing a short distance, the boy got out his holy-roller-
solar-skates and skooted up the hill of deep green grass at top speed
because it was a pretty nice sunny day. His father was dumb-founded :
there was no way that he could catch up with his son, he would have 
to go back and buy a pair of holly-roller-solar-skates for tomorrow 
and try again to follow him. The secret of the paper packet would 
have to wait.

   The next morning, father and son could be seen walking through 
the forest, swimming across the lake with their super-duper-kipper-
flippers and speeding up the hill with their holy-roller-solar-
skates. At the top of the hill, the son pulled out his Thai-high-
fly-or-die-kite and took off into the gentle warmer currents, 
floating away into the distance, much to his father's distress. 
Again, his plans were foiled, and he went back to the all-purpose
shopping complex to keep up with his technologically-advanced son.

   On the fourth morning, the father followed the son again, through
the forest, super-duper-kipper-flippering across the lake, holy-roller-
solar-skating up the hill and Thai-high-fly-or-die-kiting into the
distance towards the mountains. The father landed his kite at the base
of a mountain just in time to see his son put on his mighty-spikey-
hiking-boots and clamber up a nearby craggy cliff face. His father
watched as the boy disppeared into a cave about half-way up the 
mountain. There was no other way of getting to the cave, but at 
least the father knew where his son spent his days. He went home
and prepared himself for the final day of travelling when he might 
finally know the secret of the little paper packet.

   Day five : father and son make their way through the forest, across
the lake with their super-duper-kipper-flippers, up the hill with their
holy-roller-solar-skates, across the valleys with their Thai-high-fly-
or-die-kite and then the father followed his son up the mountain using
his own pair of mighty-spikey-hiking-boots.
   As the father climbed into the cave and let his eyes adjust to the 
complete lack of light he saw his son sitting on a rock, with his little
paper bag opened up in front of him - and it's full of cashews ! The 
father, on seeing this, says "What are you doing ?"
   To which the son replies "Nuttin'."



                    
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jondarr@macadam.mpce.mq.edu.au  (137.111.216.12)
jondarr@mpce.mq.edu.au
jondarr@mackay.mpce.mq.edu.au