“One by one,” she said, “I rounded them up and got them back into their pen. When I finally
got inside, I phoned your dad and asked him to come and take me to the hospital. I was too worn
out to even change my smelly dress. He was rushing in to the hospital when a police car pulled him
over for speeding, but seeing me, all muddy, covered in duck poo and pregnant, they gave us an es-
cort into the hospital with sirens blaring. I guess you made a pretty dramatic entry into the world.”
Jodie had never heard the story before and she laughed until tears were running down her
cheeks. Jodie’s mom hadn’t taken the time to tell the story before or even to reflect on how funny it
had all been. By asking a simple question, Jodie had helped her mother in a way that she hadn’t even
thought might be helpful. I guess they both learned that finding something to laugh about can help
if you are feeling down.
STORY 47
FLYING OFF THE HANDLETherapeutic Characteristics
Problems Addressed
■ Anger
■ Greed
■ Frustration
■ Blaming others
■ Expressing hostility toward othersResources Developed
■ Searching for what you want
■ Seeking other possibilities
■ Looking for solutions
■ Being persistentOutcomes Offered
■ Knowing that persistence may be rewarded
■ Knowing how not to react impulsively
■ Managing anger effectively
Once there was a fly who had the misfortune to be born in a very tidy town. As you know, flies
love trash, garbage, and all that sort of dirty, smelly, yucky stuff, but the people of this town believed
that cleanliness was next to godliness and—unfortunately for the fly—put their beliefs into practice.
Search as he might, there was never any garbage to be found in the streets and all the trashcans were
sealed so tightly that not even a half-starved fly could work its way in to get a decent meal. The fly
flew up and down the streets, searching everyone’s backyards, hoping that a careless owner or kid
might have dropped something tempting. Minute by minute he got hungrier and hungrier until he
reached the point that it felt like he really was going to starve.
He cursed his luck. This had to be the tidiest, cleanest town that ever existed and it was his fate
132 Healing Stories, Teaching Stories