Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 1

Story Thinking

Our first stories come from our families, and they are intensely personal. My mother’s father died six months after I was born; yet through Mother’s stories, I feel as if knew my grandfather. He sold Kellogg’s cereals in the 1940s and 1950s. He was outgoing and loved practical jokes. I have a photo of him sitting like a general atop a pony so short his weight is not even on the animal. One of the stories Mother told me includes a joke he loved to tell. The punch line is at the heart of my book’s premise.

A man walks into a pet store and says, “I want a talking parrot.”

The clerk says, “Yes sir, I have two birds that talk. This large green parrot here is quite a talker.” He taps on the cage, and the bird says, “The Lord ...