Caution

In the fall of my little brother’s third year, he was asked what he wanted to be for Halloween.

“A coconut,” was his reply.

Being 5 years older and considering myself quite knowledgeable in the ways of the world, I broke the news to him gently…

“WHAT?! That is the WEIRDEST idea for a Halloween costume EVER! NObody is a coconut, no WAY, no HOW! Even Martians from MARS would not choose a coconut costume. That’s so nuts – it’s coco-NUTS!”

Yeah, I had that brand of kindness only 8-year-olds possess.

My sister was much more diplomatic. “You could be a ghost,” she offered.

“No.”

“A hobo?”

“NO!”

“Batman?”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Obviously, Mom was going to have to deal with him. Good luck, I thought, because there were two things I knew for sure – (1) No shop in the entire world sold coconut costumes, and (2) my mom would not be sewing one.

You see, she worked in a knitting factory for a couple of years after high school graduation, and when she left that career to have me, she vowed to never, ever, ever again pick up a needle and thread.

She stayed true to her word – loose buttons be damned!

Well, the Coconut Wars went on for weeks.

Finally, Mom devised a plan to take him to Woolworths (the big “W” store back in the days before Walmart), and wow him with the costume of his choice. After all, who could resist the call of a sleek Spidey or bulky Hulk? How could something brown, round, and hairy even compare?

We arrived at Woolworths on the fateful day of the coconut showdown. But as soon as we walked through the door, my brother shrieked, “COCONUTS!” and took off running straight into a giant heap of…

skeleton costumes.

Yes, even as a toddler my brother new the indispensable importance of the writer’s maxim…

SHOW DON’T TELL

Writers everywhere, please heed the warning within this cautionary tale – because if you get it wrong, if you mix it up, if you Tell Don’t Show…

You might be dreaming of bad-a coolness like this:



But end up sporting… well… uh… this:

PROMPT: I know we’ve covered Show Don’t Tell before, but you can never get enough practice in using this important tool. So, go through those manuscripts and wherever you see “feeling” words, add the shaky hands, darting eyes, and shining grins that will help make them real. Today’s a great day to SHOW off how incredibly bad-a cool you really are!