🌻 THE CLIVE SAGA — CHAPTER 11

⚔️ Clive and the Lathe Showdown — Plus a New Snack

Header Image

(Clive sitting proud in his chair, poncho draped, hat tipped low, cup in one hand and pink animal cookies in the other — the look of a skeleton who believes snack tasting is a management duty.)

Opening Scene

The shop was quiet except for the hum of the lathe and the occasional crunch of Clive’s new snack. He’d claimed the best seat in the house — chair angled just right, poncho perfectly draped, and a cup of soda within skeletal reach. Riley was cleaning up the lathe, and I was setting up for another round of turning.

“Kid,” Clive said, “it don’t matter to me if you get beaned in the noggin with a chunk of wood, but if you insist on turnin’ some pieces of lumber into bowls, all I gotta say is knock yourself out.”

I told him I’d already turned two bowls and a number of flutes.

“Kid, that resume makes you a sub‑novice,” he said, shaking his skull. “You’re supposed to practice turnin’ just like everything worth doin’. You don’t get promoted to ‘turner’ just because you survived two bowls without losin’ a finger.”

He leaned back, grinning, and added:

“Best seat in the house, Kid. I can watch your helper Riley work, keep an eye on the lathe, and supervise the whole operation. Frontier foreman duties.”

Snack Department Review

Clive’s latest obsession: pink and white animal cookies.

“Kid, I ain’t never eaten no pink and white cookies in my life. They look like somethin’ for the kiddies.”

I told him they were called Animal Cookies and that they were tasty.

“I’ve seen every animal there is to see in North America, and I ain’t seen any that look like this,” he said, inspecting one like it was a fossil.

He tried one. Crunch. Pause. Then that skeletal grin.

“Well, I’ll be. These critters taste like justice with frosting.”

He declared them frontier‑approved and demanded a dedicated snack shelf next to the lathe.

Maker’s Note

Clive’s combination of frontier wisdom and snack enthusiasm has officially turned the shop into a comedy stage. He’s equal parts critic and supervisor, and somehow every snack he touches becomes a frontier delicacy.

The lathe showdown ended without incident — no flying wood, no broken tools, just a skeleton with a full belly and a maker with a few new shavings to sweep up.

Tags

Clive’s Corner • Frontier Humor • Shop Life • Skeleton Wisdom • Sunflower Clan