A rope really wanted to go to an amusement park. He wanted to ride the rides, eat cotton candy, and play the carnival games. He was so excited, and on the day he decided to go, he set out early to be there before the park even opened so he wouldn’t miss any of the fun.

When he got there, he stood in line to buy a ticket. The man at the gate took his money, then looked at him and said, “I don’t think I can sell you a ticket. I have adult tickets, and children’s tickets, but I don’t have any tickets for a rope. I can’t let you in.”

The rope really wanted to go to the park, so he tried again. He stood in line, and when he got to the front and saw the ticket man he begged, “I drove all this way to be here, all I want to do is ride some rides and eat cotton candy… Can’t you please let me in?” But the ticket man said he didn’t have any tickets for ropes and turned the rope away.

Just then, the rope had an idea. He twisted himself up like a pretzel, and took a comb and ratted out the hair on top of his head. Then, he put on a big jacket and some dark glasses, and stood in line again.

When he got to the front of the line, the rope once again asked to buy a ticket. The ticket man looked at him for a second and said, “Hey, aren’t you that rope?”

The rope replied, “I’m a frayed knot.”

Bobby needed a summer job to save some money to go away to college. One day, while telling a neighbor about how he was looking for a job, the neighbor invited him to do a little work at the zoo. “We have a situation,” he said. “We need a little help for a couple days. If it goes well, I might be able to get you working there full time.” Bobby was excited and agreed to show up the next day.

In the morning, Bobby arrived at the zoo and found his neighbor. “Here’s the situation. Our gorilla has a touch of the flu, and is resting in our gorilla house, away from the zoo visitors. But lots of people come here every day to see the gorilla, and I don’t want them to leave disappointed. I have this gorilla costume. I’d like you to wear it, and sit in the gorilla enclosure. No one will know the difference.”

Bobby thought that sounded easy enough, so he put on the gorilla suit and climbed into the gorilla exhibit. After an hour or two of people staring at him, he started to get bored. He started to pound his chest, or scratch his head. The zoo visitors would ooh, aah, and laugh at him. So he started to think of other ways to entertain them. Before long, he was swinging on a vine. The higher he swung, the more the people liked it. Soon they were clapping and taking pictures. Bobby thought he was doing a great job. “At this rate, I’m sure to get a full-time job,” he thought.

Just then, he swung a little too high. He lost his grip on the vine and went tumbling into the next pen. As he sat up, he saw a lion creeping towards him. Bobby was scared, and as the lion got closer he started to beg him – “Wait, I’m not what you think!”

The lion closed in and Bobby thought he was done for. Bobby was begging for his life. The lion got right up to his nose.

Just then Bobby heard a voice whisper, “Quit your screaming or you’ll get us both fired.”

A boy was on a long train ride to visit his grandparents. Across the aisle from him was a neatly dressed older man, wearing a crisp grey hat and glasses. The boy noticed that he carried a briefcase, and that he looked grumpy.

A minute later, the man opened his briefcase and took out two paper napkins, an apple and a pocketknife. He started to peel the apple with the pocketknife, stacking the peels neatly on top of one of the napkins. When the whole apple was peeled, he wrapped the peelings in one of the napkins, got up, walked to the end of the train car, and threw the peels away.

When he sat back down, the man started to use the pocketknife to slice the apple. He sliced it into perfectly even, thin pieces. Then, just as he had with the peelings, he wrapped the slices of apple in the other napkin, walked to the end of the train car, and threw the apple away.

The boy was confused, and even more curious as the man opened his briefcase again and pulled out an orange, and two more napkins. Once again he carefully began to peel the orange, stacking the peels on one of the napkins…

(From here you extend the story for as long as you like, making the man peel kiwis, limes, lemons, cantaloupe, a watermelon, the stranger the better. Each time the man throws away the peel, then the fruit.)

Finally, the boy couldn’t contain his curiosity any more. He asks the man, “What are you doing?”

The man looks at him, puzzled, and says, “Why, I’m making fruit salad.”

“But why do you throw the fruit away?”

“What a silly question!” replied the man. “Isn’t it obvious? I throw it away because I don’t like fruit salad!”

A man rented an old home on a quiet hill in the middle of the woods. He had no neighbors to speak of, and was looking forward to peace and quiet.

About a week after he moved in, he received a phone call. “I am the Vinder Viper,” the voice on the end of the line said. “I am coming there in two weeks.”

The caller abruptly hung up, and the man was a little surprised. What was a Vinder Viper? What did he want? He tried to look up Vinder Viper on the Internet but couldn’t find anything.

A week later, the phone rang again. “I am the Vinder Viper,” he said again. “I will be there in one week.” Once again, the caller hung up the phone before he could ask a question.

Now the man was getting nervous. Who could the Vinder Viper be? He began to wish he lived closer to other people. Being all alone out in the woods – who knew what would come of him?

He counted the days until the Vinder Viper said he was coming. Almost a week later, the phone rang again, “I am the Vinder Viper. I will come there tomorrow!” Once again, the caller hung up the phone with no explanation.

The next day, the man was jumpy, listening for strange noises and watching for anyone to sneak up his hill. He had just settled down with a cup of coffee when the doorbell rang.

Cautiously, he approached the door and peered through the peephole. He didn’t see anyone. He slowly opened the door, and there on the porch was a little old man with a thick accent.

“Hello,” he said. “I am the Vinder Viper. I’m here to vash your vindows.”