"Because they are a lot
of trouble. Don't cry.
Maybe Daddy will change
his mind someday,"
I encouraged him.

  "No, he won't and I'll
never have a puppy in a
million years," Shane wailed.

  I looked into his dirty,
tear-streaked face. How
could we deny him his
one wish? So I said the
words that were first
spoken by Eve,

"I know a way to make
Daddy change his mind."

  "Really?" Shane wiped
away his tears and sniffed.  
I handed him a potato.

  "Take this and carry it
with you until it turns
into a puppy," I whispered.
"Never let it out of your
sight for one minute.
Keep it with you all
the time, and on the
third day, tie a string
around it and drag it
around the yard and see
what happens!"  

Shane grabbed the potato
with both hands.

"Mama, how do you make
a potato into a puppy?"

He turned it over and
over in his little hands.

  "Shh! It's a secret!"
I whispered and sent
him on his way.  

"Lord, you know what a
woman must do to keep
peace in her home!" I prayed.

  Shane faithfully carried
his potato around for
two days, he slept with it,
bathed with it and
talked to it.

On the third day I said
to my husband,

"We really should get
a pet for Shane."

  "What makes you think
he needs a pet?" my husband
leaned against the doorway.

  "Well, he's been carrying
a potato around with him
for days. He calls it
Wally and says it's his pet.
He sleeps with it on his
pillow and right now he
has a string tied to it
and he's dragging it
around the yard," I said.

  "A potato?" my husband
asked and looked out the
window and watched Shane
taking his potato for a walk.

  "It will break his heart
when the potato gets
mushy and rots," I said
and started getting out
food for lunch, "Besides,
every time I try to peel
potatoes for dinner, Shane
cries because he says
I'm killing Wally's family."

  "A potato?" my husband
asked, "My son has a pet
potato?"  

"Well," I said shrugging,
"you said he couldn't have
a puppy. He was so
disappointed, in his mind,
he decided he had to
have a pet..."  

"That's crazy!" my
husband said.

  "Maybe you're right, but
explain to me why he is
dragging that potato
around the yard on a
string," I said.

  My husband watched our son
for a few more minutes.  
"I'll bring home a puppy
tonight, I'll stop by the
animal shelter after work.
I guess a puppy can't be
that much trouble," he sighed,
"It's better than a potato."

  That night Shane's Daddy
brought home a wiggling puppy
and a pregnant white cat
that he took pity on while
he was at the shelter.
  Everyone was happy. My
husband thought he'd saved
his son from a nervous
breakdown. Shane had a puppy,
a cat and five kittens
and believed his Mother
had magic powers that
could change a potato into
a puppy. And I was happy
because I got my potato
back and cooked it
for dinner.  

Everything was perfect
until one evening when
I was cooking dinner,
Shane tugged on my dress
and asked, "Mama, do you
think I could have a pony
for my birthday?"

  I looked into his sweet
little face and said,

"Well, first we have
to take a watermelon..."