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How do you eat spaghetti?

 One would think that in the jungle, the animals ate their food with little thought of how it passed through their lips. If they made a mess, so what? Who would notice and who would care? They could chow down in whatever manner delighted them. WRONG!

 Roar Lion had attended school in Johannesburg, Africa. It had been a private school, but when you are deemed "King of the Lions", you had to expect that. Roar learned about walked with his head high, shoulders back and his eyes never missing anything that was happening in his domain. He learned geography, tracking, psychology about minds and their activities and sociology dealing with organizations and dealing with groups. The school's most important class was Etiquette 101, which Roar passed with flying colours.

 You can imagine when Roar came upon Speedy Cheetah, his cousin, eating spaghetti in the old duck-your-head and slurp method, it bothered him greatly.

 "Mercy sakes! Look at the mess!" said Roar to Speedy, whose orange fur was now streaked in red spaghetti sauce with mushrooms.

 "I don't see any problem!" answered Speedy with a mushroom slipping off his nose.

 "There is a proper way to eat spaghetti, you know," advised the lion. "What you are doing there doesn't come even close to proper."

 "I thought it was better than this," said Speedy who proceeded to shove the plate into his face and wiggle his lips as the strands fell into his mouth, on his fur and on the ground.

 "You have a point, but Etiquette 101 says that spaghetti should be eaten with two forks. The first fork is used to twirl the strands around, while being held in place by the second. The fork is then lifted to the mouth and slipped between the lips causing no waste of sauce or mess to outer extremities," recited the lion by heart from his textbook "All You Ever Wanted To Know About Etiquette, But Were Afraid to Ask 101."

 "What does that mean in plain English?" asked Speedy.

 "It means to do it properly like this," said Roar and proceeded to show the cheetah with some strands that were still in the pot.

 The fork twirled and the other held it until the spaghetti was neatly in the lion's mouth.

 Speedy knew that his cousin had been sent to private school for those high-class lessons, but if Speedy twirled his spaghetti with the gang he hung around with, he would be the joke of the month.

 "That is all well and good and probably suits you, but spaghetti isn't spaghetti unless you make a mess," said Speedy. "Try it!"

 Roar did try it and enjoyed it. It taught him that maybe he held his head up a bit too high sometimes, and to be King, he must know his subjects and their habits.

 Question about the story: What was in the spaghetti sauce?

 Winners: Brittany and Sheena Heisler, Big Tancook Island, NS.

 Send answers to: Storytime, c/o Verna Dunlop, RR# 1 Moser River, NS BOJ 2KO, or e-mail the answer to the question to vernadunlop@yahoo.com. Prizes will be sent to those sending in answers