Forever Rushing About
Richard Mc Sweeney
(Richard Mc Sweeney, Sept. 7, 2016)
“When he got to school he was impatient with everything, in that he was always thinking of what was coming up next.No sooner would he be sitting at his desk than he would be anxiously looking forward to the mid-morning break.After the break he would be straightaway anxiously looking forward to launch.After lunch he would be anxiously looking forward to going home.He had little or no patience with what the teacher was teaching.He would only write down what he was told to write; only do what he was told to do.He wasn’t really listening to what was being said as his mind was always anxiously wanting to hear what was coming up next.Needless to say, that kind of way got him into plenty of trouble with his teachers, and he was forever failing and redoing tests because he never really listened to what was being said.Whenever speaking his words would be tripping over each other trying to get out of his mouth.For this reason it was hard ever to catch what it was he was actually saying.And besides, when he would be talking to you you would be showered in spits.When he going home from school he never slowed down to take a look across the fields or say hello to the animals or to anyone he happened to meet along the way.He was always running half stooped over; constantly looking to the footpath or the road.He never knew what was going on in the sky because he never took the time to look up at it.For him the sky was . . .” Forever Rushing AboutFrom Ireland: a mystical and beautiful isle of the north eastern Atlantic Ocean renowned for its mighty storytellers comes the sixth of ten original long stories for children aged 8-12, their parents, grandparents, and their teachers. These are imaginary stories told by an imaginary schoolteacher to imaginary students in an imaginary Irish countryside primary school.Principal, Declan McGrath is highly respected by parents and greatly loved by his students not alone for the way he admirably teaches them but also for the marvellous lively-paced contemporary narratives he shares with them. In his voice is found a lovely natural rhythm and rhyme that is pure music to the ears of his students.He has twenty-nine students in his classroom. In 4th class there is Amy, Brian, Ciara, Cormac, Craig, Heather, Laura, Martin, and Patrick; in 5th Anthony, Aoife, Ciaran, David, Gerard, Jennie, Julia, Mary, Natalia, Niamh, Sean, and Thomas, and in 6th Colin, Emily, Finbarr, Hugh, Natasha, Owen, Sophie, and Tara.He uses storytelling very effectively to refine his awareness of the wellbeing of his students. Occasionally, they will say out things during a storytelling session that they would not say otherwise.Although the stories have a local Irish setting or bearing they are not parochial; far from it for they aspire to and deal with universal themes and concerns in a way that a reader in any part of the world will be able to relate to and enjoy.The world is ripe for the fresh voice and personal style found in these richly multi-layered story lines; stories which parents and teachers alike will find most appealing and indeed quite useful for their own storytelling times.Approximate word count: 3,588Principal McGrath’s marvellous stories always finish with:“And that, Students is today’s story.Thank you; thank you Teacher.That was a great story.We will be thinking about it and looking forward to next week’s one.Me too; me too.”_____A print edition containing all ten stories will be coming out in early to mid-November 2016 which will also be available here on Amazon. This would make an ideal Christmas gift.