"Stop playing with your nuts son. You'll get them full of hairs",
Said SNL netball's most famous coach to his one and only heir.
"Pa... tell me another story...how the Scampers won the cup"
"Another one - there is only one", he said, lifting Junior up.

"But you tell it so well", Sean Jr said with a twinkle in his eye.
He has my wiley charm thought Coach, of that I cannot lie.
Coach Sean Shortt (Shortty) was full of pride - he gave his tail a twirl,
i'm really glad we had a boy though I'd have been happy with a girl.

He cleared his throat, "we'd reached the Finals in the year of ' 78,
Folks said it was 'cause I was chief but the team that year was great!
With Sammy Strain and Sereena Skylar; best Goal Attacks I ever saw
And Skittles Sloan - Wing Defence - what she couldn't do with a ball...!"

"Oh Dad! Fast forward to quarter 4 - the most exciting part !!"
Sean Jr was tired from school that day - Bless his little squirrel heart.
"Well it was even Stevens" Coach continued "only seconds on the clock.
I thought I'd never see the end my heart ticked with every tock."

"ShingleWood Sneakers were in terrific form - they hadn't yet been beat
But we played them at their own game and we really brought the heat.
Man marking and super fitness was the key to my strategy
Fair play as well but I fought for every single foul and penalty."

"Their main man was super tall - long tail - wore a medical mask,
For fear of seeming obtuse, I thought it prudent not to ask.
He never missed, this big GA - kept scoring goal after goal after goal.
I never seen the likes of him or his skills, son - Upon my soul!"

"His crowning moment a penalty - he surely couldn't miss, I'd bet.
He didn't!! And our hearts all sank like the ball, clean through the net.
Then they Gatoraded their coach but most of the liquid went the hero's way
Revealing a painted tail - a scandal!! - whispered about still, to this day."

"A raccoon ringer! - flown from the States, with a stripey lengthy tail -
To deceive the whole of our sainted league but their wicked plan had failed.
They were disqualified - to us, the cup -  I got Freedom of the Wood.
And though we ne'er won again - those memories still feel good."

Shortty gave the lad a loving look - bed time was fast approaching
- Stories have to end some time; so with Life and so with coaching -
"And what did we learn, my only son, on that fateful glorious day -
Apart from the obvious that squirrel tails arent monochrome, they're gray."

Junior huffed a pretend sigh because he really loved this tradition
And with a proper unpretend yawn he said without sedition,
"The moral of the story is to strive through thick and thin,
No Sir, winners never cheat - and cheaters never win !!"

...and so to bed...

Tell me something
Honey bee
What's the point
In you and me?
Is it to fly?
To fly so free?
Won't you tell me,
Honey bee?

Stripey black and
Yellow too,
What's the point
In me and you?
Is it the flower,
The nectar glue,
Which you find nice
And I do too?

I scratch my head
And drink my tea.
You dance your dance
And make honey.
Us two together
We know, do we
The sweet things we make
Make us sweetly free.

Dark stripey laminate
Sits comfortably underneath us
As we paint out a million colours
Into the dimly lit air
Silent tears roll off rosy cheeks
Yet somehow they are met
By the realness of happy smiles

We talk for what feels like hours
We talk about love
We talk about hate
We talk about monsters we haven't shared before

By the end
We are floating
Feather light from the weights we have shed
We grab our hands tight together and
Fly off to the stripey duvets next door

FUNNY FELLA
You wear a coat of many colours.
An eccentric soul you bear.
Your colours,
they're all stripey.
You sport a baggy jumper,
all full up with holes .
It flops from your lapels.

You jangle while you're walking.
My man of jingle bells.
They match your make up and your hair,
absolutely perfectly.

Your trews all brown and baggy.
They're just a little grubby.
Attached to your fragile ankles,
with bending cycle clips.
You wear a floppy sun hat.
In the depths of winter.
You're really a rather strange one.
Sometimes seen wearing flip-flops,
in snow and ice,
I'm told.

We'll see you in a few weeks,
as on your sleigh you play.
For in a few days out to play,
nice and neat,
all dressed in red.
You'll visit us, 'twill soon be Christmas day.
(C) LIVVI