The Giant's Grave

I have a seriously big mulch pile in my driveway, and a giant's grave is in my back yard. I hear you: "A giant's grave?" Yep. 

Remember the story of Jack and the beanstalk? Well, when Jack cut down the beanstalk, and the giant landed in my backyard...

I'm a storyteller. It's all about the story.

So, what is the giant's grave really? When the houses were built in our neighborhood, much of the construction debris was buried in our backyard. As time has passed, that debris has broken down and left a couple of large sink holes. We’ve just kept filling the sink holes with leaves, branches and garden debris. 

To tidy it up we put wood chips on top, which brings me to the seriously big mulch pile in my driveway. I get mulch for free. When a neighbor is having a tree taken down, I usually ask for the chipped wood. More often than not, the landscape companies are glad to drop the chips in my driveway, because it saves them from paying a charge at the local dump. It saves me money, because I don't have to buy mulch. 

After years of putting all this organic debris on the giant's grave, I’ve been left with some really rich soil. You’d think that I would have finished filling up those sink holes by now, and actually I have. I just keep unfilling them and using the soil in other places in my garden. I suppose I could just leave it there and let the grass grow, but then what would happen to the story about the giant's grave? 

I'm a liar.

I told a lie on purpose. I admit it: I'm a liar, and I'm proud of it! I'm telling the truth about that. Honest. Okay, maybe I didn't really tell a lie, but everyone thought I did.

It happened at a Tall Tales and Liars competition, where I recently won both the Judges' Favorite and the People's Favorite. I can now say that I am an award-winning liar! That's kind of fun to brag about. The competition was held in Waxhaw, North Carolina at Made in the Carolinas, a quaint little shop that sells artisan work made by North Carolina artists. It was such fun to be there with all the other tellers and listen to their stories. They told tales about Johnny Appleseed, Southern Accents and college adventures; there was even one about a mother who was carried into space by stray fireworks. All in all, it was a pleasant evening of lying. 

When my turn came, I told a story about a farmer's unconventional way of protecting his cattle from city deer hunters while, at the same time, sparking an open air forum where children could learn to spell their very first word. Thing of it is, the story is based on truth; it actually happened! Since it was a Liars competition, perhaps you think it was unfair for me to win with a story of truth. But, if you really think about it, I did lie by saying the truth was fiction.

Sometimes life really is unbelievable.