“Good Gracious!” said Millicent.  It was what she always said when she was surprised or shocked.  “Look at that blue pig.”

Her little brother Franco stood beside their mother dressed in his blue shorts and green shirt.  He had on his brown shoes. It was a good thing too. He ran to the pen right through the mud and muck so that he could get a better look.

 

“Holy Moly,” exclaimed Franco. “It is, it really is Mommy, a blue pig!”

Mrs. McHenry stood in the meadow and spoke to Pops Diddlyops. When she saw Franco, she was very angry.

“Franco! Look at yourself! You have mud all over your new shoes. You’re impossible.  IMPOSSIBLE!”

“It’s OK Mommy. It’s the Day of Choose Your Own Color and I can be muddy if I want.  Look Mommy! The little pig chose blue.”

“Muddy is not a color Franco,” said Mrs. McHenry sternly, but he was so excited he didn’t hear.

Mrs. McHenry looked back at Pops Diddlyops and just shook her head. She was very prim and proper. This Day of Choose Your Own Color put her out of sorts.

Pops Diddlyops stood helplessly with his hand by his side.

“The boy has a point, Mary Helen. There’s not much we can do about it. You know the Day of Choose Your Own Color is in the month of It’s Just The Way It Is.”

Millicent let out a shriek.

“Goodness Gracious, Goodness Gracious! There goes a red horse galloping by in the field.”

 

“This is all just too much for me,” said Mrs. McHenry. “How do the animals choose their own color?”

“They just imagine the color they want to be,” said Pops Diddlyops.

“I didn’t know that animals can imagine things.”

“Of course they can. Even you can imagine things, Mary Helen. Why don’t you try to imagine a color that you would like to be?”

The very thought of it scared Mrs. McHenry.

“Ohhh! I don’t think so. What if I couldn’t get back to my natural color?”

“I’ve never thought of that,” said Pops Diddlops.

“She doesn’t seem to mind so much when it comes to her hair,” chuckled Pops Diddlops to himself.

Franco ran after a pink duck, but the duck was too fast for him.

 

“Come back, come back!” he yelled, but the duck just kept on going and going.

“You don’t know anything about ducks Franco,” said Millicent.

“I do too!” said Franco.

The brown mud on his shoes was beginning to dry. His feet looked like two fudge brownies.

A green cow walked over from the barn.

 

“Does a green cow make green milk? Does it Pops Diddlops, does it?”

Franco wondered if a glass of green milk would taste like peppermint.

“I’ve never heard of it,” answered Pops Diddlops. He pitched some hay in the cow’s direction with his pitchfork.

Millicent couldn’t believe her eyes. “Good Gracious. That purple chicken is laying a purple egg.”

 

“We save up the eggs from the Day of Choose Your Own Color for Easter. It’s just around the corner you know.”

Pops Diddlyops was very proud that each of his chickens had chosen to be a different color.  It would make for a splendid Easter this year.

Mrs. McHenry thought she saw an orange lamb, but it was just her imagination. That’s when she made a bold decision.

 

“I know what color I want, Pops Diddlyops. I want to be a Golden Woman. Wouldn’t that be something!”

“Are you sure Mary Helen?” Pops Diddlyops had a worried look on his face.

“Of course I’m sure,” said Mrs. McHenry. “That’s exactly what I imagined just now.”

No sooner had she spoken than the change took place and everyone was stunned.

 

“Mommy, Mommy! You look terrible. Change back. Please change back.”

Franco was frantic.

“Goodness Gracious,” said Millicent.

“I’m sorry children, there’s no going back when you choose gold.” I had a donkey once that wouldn’t settle for blue, or red, or pink, or green, or purple, or orange. He insisted on gold. Isn’t that right, Buster?”

 

Buster was Pops Diddlyops favorite dog on the farm. He wanted to be gold also, but he settled for yellow. He was very happy about that.

 

“Woof, woof,” said Buster and he wagged his tail.

“I’m sad to say that your Mommy will just have to stay here on the farm with my golden donkey.”

“Gee Whiz,” said Millicent.

“No Kidding?” asked Franco whose feet looked more and more like chocolate brownies.

“Well, maybe not,” said Pops Diddlyops. “I have a little secret. If we all snap our fingers at the same time, everything will go back to normal, even your Mommy.”

“I don’t know how to snap my fingers,” cried Franco. “I don’t know how.”

“Good Gracious,” said Millicent. You do it like this.” And, she showed him.

“Geeminy, Millicent.  You mean it’s that easy.”

“Of course, Franco. Okay, Pops Diddlyops, we’re ready. On three—ONE … TWO … THREE.”

They all snapped their fingers at the same time.

“Look,” yelled Franco, the pig’s not blue anymore, it’s pink.”

“And the horse is a beautiful reddish brown,” said Millicent.

“The duck’s no longer pink, and the cow is brown not green, and the chicken’s not purple, and the lamb isn’t orange.”

“Look at Mommy, Millicent. Look at Mommy.”

She was back to normal. Franco was delighted.

“Good Gracious,” said Millicent. “It’s really true.  How did it happen, Pops Diddlyops?”

Pops Diddlyops looked at his watch which kept the days and the months as well as the time.  It had just rolled over.

The month of it’s Just The Way It Is is over, and now it’s the day of Snap Your Fingers and It’ll Be True.

“Does that mean we can get anything we want if we just snap our fingers,” asked Millicent.  Franco was looking on anxiously and Mrs. McHenry’s face was loosening up.

“It would, but Snap Your Fingers and It’ll Be True is a very short day. It’s already over.”

“What day is it now, Pops Diddlyops?” asked Franco.

“Let me look. Ah, we’re back to ……… JANUARY FIRST! Happy New Year!”

 

NOTE: All images in this post were made by CHAT GPT-4o