PECANS IN THE CEMETERY

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big,
old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence.
One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts
and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began
dividing the nuts. 'One for you, one for me.
One for you, one for me,' said one boy.
Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle.
As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside
the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure
enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you,
one for me.' He just knew what it was. He jumped
back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend
he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

'Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe
what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the
cemetery dividing up the souls.' The man said,
'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.'
When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled
slowly to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they
heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one
for me.' The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been
tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord.'

Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence,
yet were still unable to see anything. The old man
and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the
fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a
glimpse of the Lord.

At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me.
That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence
and we'll be done.'

They say the old man made it back to town a
full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike.