Just So Stories

(As ad-libbed to the kids a few nights ago, when they demanded a made-up story.)

Once there were a people who lived in the deep deep South. They were called Mexicans. The Mexicans were good people. They worked hard. They liked the same things we do. The liked their families, they liked Rajon Rando, and they liked deep rugs and comfy blankets.

They had one big problem. They worked hard and because they worked hard they had money, but all the money was a kind of money called pesos. And nobody liked pesos. Pesos!? That’s not money!, the shopkeepers would say. Come back with dollars. Pesos – is that even a real word? So the Mexicans went hungry. They hadn’t had any food for years. They would turn to each other and say, “These are tough times, we’ll get through this somehow.” Of course they would say this in their own language, which is called Spanish, even though they weren’t from Spain. Don’t ask about that part.

One morning, a young lad (for there weren’t any other kinds of lads) had an idea. He had seen Joan Rivers on TV a few days ago (imagine one of the skeletons from Scooby Doo), remembered his Dad telling him about a superhero who could help them. He called for Letterman!

Letterman saw the problem. He took the pesos, and turned the “P” into a “T”, the “e” into an “A”, and the “s” into a “c”. The day was saved!

And that’s how tacos were invented. Now go to bed.