Dan Lukiv

Henry Cabbage and Krabb Cove, a crazy story for kids Dan Lukiv

Entitled Cabbage and Confusion Don't Mix, this story appeared in:

Ahoy (1981). [Canada].

Six Children's Stories (Academic Exchange Extra [University of Northern Colorado], 2005), published under the pseudonym Donovan A. Landers.

First Edition: LukivPress (Quesnel, BC), 2014.

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2021.

An excerpt

A brass bell jingled above the glass door. Henry Cabbage, the new grocer in Krabb Cove, looked up. He stood behind the silver cash register, his big lips stretching into a wide smile like a slice of moon.

"Hello," he said kindly. "Can I kiss you?"

His customer, a lady, had been admiring the shiny apples on his fruit stand. "Store is cleaner than that other grocer kept it," she'd nearly said. But Henry's question almost made her curly hair straight. "I beg your pardon?" she said indignantly.

Henry saw that she was upset. He felt bad. "Something bothering you today, oh witch?" he asked, and his wide smile grew even wider.

The lady's face turned white. "Just who do you think you are?" she exclaimed.

Confused Henry scratched his round head. He had terrible dandruff. His hair began to snow. His bushy eyebrows knitted together. He opened his mouth to speak. But, like a fiery wind sweeping out the door, she left, slamming it so hard that all the windows rattled.

Henry shook his shaggy head. The lady's weird behavior had bewildered him. "What a queer one," he said, and then he flicked a pesky fly off his raspberry nose.

The author

Dan Lukiv is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). His creative writing has appeared in 19 countries. Recently, he has been experimenting with temporal shifts and narrative strings in his haiku and senryu.