Denny teaches Tom to eat crow
© 1999-2014 by Debbie Dunn
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44 MMaallee AAccttoorrss:: TToomm DDeennnnyy GGrraannddppaa GGuuaarrdd
11 FFeemmaallee AAccttoorr:: MMrrss.. JJeennkkiinnss 22 oorr mmoorree NNaarrrraattoorrss:: GGuuyyss oorr GGiirrllss
NNaarrrraattoorr : Thomas Dexter, better known as Tom or Tommy, walked in late to his 6th
-period
English class. The teacher named Mrs. Jenkins yelled:
MRS. JENKINS: Tom, I am fed up! This is the third time this week that you have been
tardy. Every time you have some fishy kind of excuse. Well, this time, no
excuses! You’re going to do 100 write-offs that need to be turned in to me
tomorrow. Also, it must be signed by one of your parents.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom glared at Mrs. Jenkins and yelled back:
TOM: That’s not fair! You just don’t like me!
MRS. JENKINS: Sit down and close your mouth!
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom stomped over to his desk and flung himself into his seat. He was silently
fuming; nevertheless, he grumbled quietly under his breath:
TOM: You old crabapple!
NNaarrrraattoorr : He could have said worse things, but he didn’t want to get into the kind of
trouble that might cause the teacher to fill out a pink slip.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Then, he might be grounded by his parents for sure. Right now, there was still a
chance they wouldn’t punish him just for being tardy a few times.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Just then, another student walked in tardy. His name was Dennis Salyer. Most
of the kids and teachers called him Denny. The teacher, still feeling angry at
Tom, yelled:
Denny teaches Tom to eat crow
© 1999-2014 by Debbie Dunn
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MRS. JENKINS: Denny! Why were you tardy to my class?
NNaarrrraattoorr : Denny knew better than to argue or to make up excuses. He realized that this
would only make the problem worse. He calmly and politely said:
DENNY: I’m real sorry, Mrs. Jenkins! I’m not going to make excuses, and I will try so
hard never to do it again.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Pleased with Denny’s respectful attitude, Mrs. Jenkins calmly said:
MRS. JENKINS: Thank you, Denny. I’ll hold you to that agreement.
NNaarrrraattoorr : No talk about write-offs. No anger. Just calm respect between teacher and
student. This really made Tom jealous. He called out:
TOM: Hey, that’s not fair! How come I have to do write-offs, and he doesn’t?
NNaarrrraattoorr : Mrs. Jenkins knew better than to be sucked into Tom’s power-play attempt. She
simply ignored him and began her class.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom slumped down into his seat, feeling angrier than ever. Under his breath, he
grumbled:
TOM: I hate her! I hate Denny! I hate everybody!
NNaarrrraattoorr : In reality, Tom didn’t hate anybody. He was actually kind of angry at himself
for not having the sense to handle the situation better. He felt rather envious of
Denny’s ability to stay on the teacher’s good side. Tom thought:
TOM: Why can’t I do that?
NNaarrrraattoorr : A couple of weeks later, Denny and Tom decided to go fishing on a sunny
Saturday afternoon. They were having a pretty good time; however, Tom had
something on his mind. He said:
TOM: Uh, Denny. Can I ask you something?
DENNY: Sure, Tom! What is it?
TOM: Well, remember a couple of weeks back when we were both tardy and I had to
do write-offs and you didn’t?
DENNY: Yeah, I remember.
TOM: Well, uh, …, what I’d like to know is, …, well, uh, …, how did you learn to do
that? And can you teach me to do what you did, so I won’t get in trouble so
much?
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NNaarrrraattoorr : Denny stared for a moment and then said:
DENNY: Are you sure you really want to hear this?
TOM: Yeah, I’m sure!
DENNY: Well, my Grandpa was in the Army way back. He fought in a war. He learned
the hard way that if his Captain called him down for doing something wrong, he
best not argue. Instead, he should just eat humble pie or eat crow.
TOM: Say what?
NNaarrrraattoorr : Denny laughed and said:
DENNY: Those are idioms that my Grandpa told me about.
TOM: Id-i-what?
DENNY: Idioms. They’re expressions that mean something.
TOM: Oh. Well go on with your story.
DENNY: Well, Grandpa said:
DENNY: Instead, Grandpa knew he better make nice. If he had to, he would even lie a bit
and say:
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DENNY: Grandpa made darn sure that his body language, facial expressions, tone of
voice, and word choices were absolutely polite and respectful.
TOM: Yeah, but it’s not right to lie!
DENNY: Tom, sometimes you have to weigh your priorities. That’s what my Grandpa
says. Since his Captain expected perfect obedience and my Grandpa wanted to
get a leave and maybe even eventually earn a promotion, he knew that it was
just good common sense to use the best survival skills he knew.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom wanted to be sure he understood. He asked:
TOM: So, what were those survival skills?
DENNY: Like I said, you need to eat crow. Be nice. Make nice. Be polite. That will keep
you in the good graces of ‘most any teacher or principal.
TOM: So, what caused your Grandpa to teach you that?
DENNY: Well, a couple of years back, I was real good at doing that ‘attitude thing’, as my
mom likes to call it. I was always getting myself in trouble. One time, they
called my parents in for a conference. The whole family came: Mom, Dad, and
Grandpa, too.
TOM: That sounds embarrassing!
DENNY: I’ll say! Boy, was I humiliated! My family was real disappointed in me.
Afterward, Grandpa took me aside and gave me a good talking to. Only he did it
in such a way that I no longer felt embarrassed or angry. My Grandpa is a really
good man. He and I are real close. That’s when he taught me how to stay out of
trouble at school.
TOM: Wait a minute! He told you about the Army. What’s that have to do with
school?
DENNY: Now my Grandpa can tell this a whole lot better than me. Let me try to do it as
close as I remember to the way he told it. And then maybe someday, you can
meet him in person, and he can tell you himself.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Feeling very curious and intrigued, Tom begged:
TOM: How about we go talk to him now? I kind of would like to hear it straight from
the horse’s mouth.
DENNY: Ha! Ha! Ha! Hey, Tom! You just used an idiom.
TOM: I did? What?
DENNY: The expression about hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth is an idiom.
TOM: Oh, cool! My family has been using that expression from as long back as I can
remember. Well, what do you say? Can we go talk to your Grandpa now?
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DENNY: Sure, why not?!!
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom and Denny gathered up their fishing gear and headed over to Denny’s
house. Grandpa was out on the back porch doing some whittling.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Denny explained to Grandpa what they wanted. Grandpa was delighted to
comply. He said:
GRANDPA: All right, young’un! I’ll tell you just like I told young Denny here. You listen
good, and you’ll get along real good with all your teachers at school.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Grandpa put down the stick he was whittling on, and he began to explain:
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom and Denny both nodded their heads. They understood perfectly what
Grandpa had said so far. Grandpa continued:
GRANDPA: Well, just like there are all kinds of people in the world you need to learn to deal
with, there are all kinds of teachers you’re going to have to learn to deal with,
too.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom quickly thought about all the teachers he had experienced and all the
classrooms he had been in since kindergarten and said:
TOM: That’s the truth! I’ve had all kinds of teachers over the years. Some of them
were great! But some of them were pretty mean!
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TOM: Placeholders? I don’t quite get that.
DENNY: You know, Tom! Like for example, Mrs. Jenkins. You know she can’t stand to
have any of her students be tardy to her class. She’s a placeholder or a
representative of a kind of boss that you might have someday or maybe even a
bunch of bosses as none of them like to have their employees be late, either.
TOM: Oh, maybe I understand. So like since Mr. Campbell is really nice and
respectful of us students most of the time, he’s a placeholder for the kind of
boss that I hope I get someday? Is that it, Grandpa? Uh, …, you don’t mind if I
call you Grandpa, do you?
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom nodded his head in sudden understanding. He thought:
TOM: Yeah! I guess I could sort of practice on Mrs. Jenkins. I could try to be more
respectful like Denny is, so that maybe she wouldn’t give me demerits anymore
or make me do write-offs. I guess I better learn how to do that now when it’s
just grades that I’m getting. I sure don’t want to lose a job someday just because
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TOM: I don’t know how to deal with people like her and some of the other teachers
that I have.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Grandpa interrupted Tom’s thoughts as he pointed out:
GRANDPA: Tom and Denny! You know that everybody’s different. Everybody has different
responses. So, instead of getting all bent out of shape about all those different
personalities, just step back and think, “Well, isn’t that interesting!” Know that
it’s not good and it’s not bad. It is just the way it is.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom couldn’t help interrupting when he thought about how angry he was still
about getting those write-offs. Forgetting all about how he had decided to be
more respectful to Mrs. Jenkins, he changed his mind and said:
TOM: Yeah, but it’s not fair that the teachers get so mad when I do the littlest thing
wrong!
DENNY: Grandpa, Tom wants to hear about the humble pie and eating crow part.
GRANDPA: All right. I was just getting to that. What kind of things do teachers get mad at
you for?
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom didn’t have to think too long. He said:
TOM: Well, for being tardy, for talking out in class, for talking back, and for getting
out of my seat without permission. Things like that.
GRANDPA: And how do you react when the teacher reprimands you for that kind of
behavior?
TOM: Well, I, uh, …, I get mad and well, …, I guess I talk back. I don’t like it that
they are always picking on me like they do.
GRANDPA: Tom, when those things happen, instead of talking back, you need to look in the
mirror.
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TOM: Huh?
GRANDPA: You need to look in the mirror. You need to decide what your responsibility is
in that situation.
TOM: Look in the mirror?
DENNY: Yeah! You know, Tom. What I do is analyze what my body language and facial
expressions are doing. I try real hard, like I did that day with Mrs. Jenkins, to
watch my tone of voice and word choices.
GRANDPA: That’s right, Tom. You need to decide whether you provoked this situation by
repeatedly doing the same bad behavior over and over again.
TOM: Well, I was tardy several times for Mrs. Jenkins’s class.
TOM: Yeah!
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DENNY: Grandpa, Tom still wants to hear about the humble pie and eating crow part.
GRANDPA: All right, I’m ready now. I just wanted to lead into it some first.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Grandpa sat up straight, leaned toward Tom, and said:
DENNY: Hey! That’s kind of like that WIN-WIN Outcome Mr. Campbell is always
talking about.
TOM: What do you mean?
DENNY: The boss wants a good employee and when she gets it, it is a WIN for her. The
employee wants to keep his job or get a raise, and when this happens, it is a
WIN for him. Same goes with the teacher! The teacher wants to teach without
students being tardy or misbehaving. That’s a WIN for the teacher. The student
wants to get good grades or to keep the teacher from getting mad at him. When
that happens, it’s a WIN for the student.
TOM: For you, maybe, Denny. For me, it’s usually a WIN-LOSE Outcome where the
teacher WINS and I LOSE.
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TOM: Yeah, but that’s going to be hard to remember.
GRANDPA: You might even want to think about it a bit in Army terms. Let’s say that a
teacher reprimands you. Your first temptation might be to talk back or roll your
eyes or make a face or hit your desk. Imagine that you are walking up to a
guard house. The guard calls out:
GUARD: Stop! Who goes there?
GRANDPA: You realize that the guard won’t let you in if you choose to give him any lip, so
you swallow those negative words right back down. Just imagine him saying to
you:
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GUARD: I’m not going to let you in if you give me any lip! So you better swallow those
negative words right back down, Mister! Otherwise, you’ll never get past me.
But if you use positive words, you can get by me for sure.
GRANDPA: You know that the guard won’t let you in if you make faces or roll your eyes, so
you control your face and eyes as you imagine the guard saying:
GUARD: Don’t you roll your eyes or make faces at me, or you will never get past me!
But if you look respectful now, I’ll be sure to let you pass.
GRANDPA: You know that the guard won’t let you in if your body language doesn’t match
your words and your tone of voice, so you make certain that your body
language gives off only pleasant vibes as you imagine the guard saying:
GUARD: Young man! You better watch that body language now! Walk like a man, not
like a little boy throwing a tantrum! If you walk with dignity, you can get past
me for sure.
GRANDPA: You use your power to put a halt on anything that might come off negative;
therefore, the guard lets you come in. So, Tom, you just need to put a
guardhouse in your mind. And if you’re tempted to fall back into old habits,
imagine that guard challenging you with a:
GUARD: Stop! Who goes
there?
GRANDPA: And then you do whatever you have to do to
make certain that the guard lets you in.
NNaarrrraattoorr : All this certainly gave Tom a lot to think
about.
NNaarrrraattoorr : He didn’t just change his behavior
overnight. But little by little, he practiced
‘eating crow’ with this teacher and then
another teacher.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Each time Tom experienced success, he
gained more confidence.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Then, there came a day when he actually
heard the teachers bragging on him about
what a good student he was. It was Mrs.
Jenkins. She said to another teacher:
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NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom hid his pleasure, but he just glowed inside. He thought of Denny’s
Grandpa and mentally said:
TOM: Thank you, Grandpa!
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom thought that one day, he might even go over to Denny’s house and thank
his Grandpa in person.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Tom had learned that he had a lot of personal power. And because he guarded
his behavior, his word choices, his attitude, his tone of voice, his facial
expressions, and his body language, he found that he actually had more power
rather than less.
NNaarrrraattoorr : Life was actually getting better for Tom, day by day.
Big Parts:
TOM DENNY GRANDPA
Medium to Small Parts:
MRS. JENKINS GUARD