FISHING IN CHURCH
Tommy Fuller put his right hand in his pocket. There was his apple,
Then he put his left hand in his other pocket.
There was his ball of fishing line.
" Quit wiggling"
Whispered his brother sam.
"Sit up straight!"
Whispered his brother andy.
It was late afternoon.
The three boys were in church.
They had been there all day long.
Mother and father were downstairs with grandmother Dudley and the rest of the grown-ups.
All the children sat upstairs in the gallery.
The girls were on one side.
The boys were on the other side.
Across the way Tommy saw his sisters----- Helen, Kate and Rachel.
Tommy took a big bite of his apple, then he took three more bites.
Out of the window he could see a flock of geese pecking at the grass on the village green below.
"Let us sing Hymn Two sixty-three," said the minister, Reverend Morse.
Everyone stood up. They sang " oh God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come...."
Tommy reached for his fishing line. He tied one end around the apple core.
"You'll be sorry!" Said andy.
Tommy opened the church window and threw out the apple core.
Three geese waddled over to see it could be.
A goose picked on the apple core. "Come on, goose!" Said Tommy.
The second goose clamped the core tightly in her wide bill.
Tommy tugged on the line. The goose rose up into the air. "Got her!" Said Tommy softly.
The goose squawked and fluttered, she would not let go.
All the other geese hissed and squawked and cackled too.
They made such a racket that the noise filled the church.
Everybody stopped singing.
Reverend Morse loooked up at the gallery.
"Deacon fuller," said reverend morse,
"I'm afraid it's Thomas again."
Father stamped up into the gallery. "Thomas dudley fuller," he said,
"Turn that thing lose!" Tommy dropped the line. The goose fluttered to the ground.
Father led Tommy out of the church.
"You march straight home, sir," said father, " and go to your room."
Then he went back into the church and banged the door behind him.
