Life's Little Victories

Life's little victories. Ah, they are sweet. Even in the life of a storyteller, they do indeed occur. Here's a true one.

The Moore Center for the Developmentally Disabled, a nonprofit based in New Hampshire, asked me to create a story to sensitize ordinary children to accept developmentally disabled kids mainstreamed into their schools.

My solution was a story called WGACA.

Funny name for a story, WGACA, pronounced Wahgahcah. I strum my twelve string guitar and tell it to fifth through twelfth-graders.

Briefly, the story is about Meadowbrook School, where a clique of popular, talented kids routinely mistreats a child with special needs named Jeff Powers. That is, until a mysterious workman installs what looks like a giant thermometer outside their cafeteria door.

Across the top are the letters WGACA.

Jon, the hero of my little tale, notices over the course of a week that every time someone hurts Jeff Powers' feelings, the red liquid in the WGACA meter rises toward a reservoir of yellow liquid at the top. It's metering the child's emotions.

Finally, it spills over. Bubbling, orange mist fills the tube. Next day, the WGACA Effect strikes the clique.

• Meadowbrook's star athlete loses his ability to pitch in the big game.

• The two best dressed girls in school bomb onstage at the Talent Extravaganza, unable to spontaneously create fashion ensembles as they always have.

• The star storyteller can only bark like a seal, unable to speak liquid words onstage, just for one evening.

The next Monday, having experienced what it is like not to possess the gifts they take for granted, their attitudes toward Jeff Powers change. They have walked a mile in his shoes. Meanwhile, the workman arrives, removes the WGACA meter, and vanishes forever.

It isn't until midsummer -- after these events have faded -- that Jon figures out what WGACA means. It's an acronym for an old expression.

So I told this story recently in a Massachusetts school on a sunny Monday. I returned the following Wednesday to tell different stories. As I grunted down the hall with my huge harp, a woman ran up, all aflutter.

"Mr. Bodkin!" she gushed.

"Yes?"

"We can't believe it! The boys actually invited Tommy to play kickball with them yesterday! They've never done that! Ever!"

Ah, life's little victories. They can be sweet.

Tommy, it turns out, is their child with special needs.

Check out Odds Bodkin's homepage!

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