Summary: Taco Bell claimed it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.

On April 1, 1996 a full page ad appeared in six major American newspapers (The Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and USA Today) announcing that the fast food chain Taco Bell had purchased the Liberty Bell. The full text of the ad read:

In a separate press release, Taco Bell explained that the Liberty Bell would divide its time between Philadelphia and the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine. It compared the purchase to the adoption of highways by corporations. Taco Bell argued that it was simply “going one step further by purchasing one of the country’s greatest historic treasures.“ The company boasted, “Taco Bell’s heritage and imagery have revolved around the symbolism of the bell. Now we’ve got the crown jewel of bells.“

At first, Claas and Anitje were very happy and prosperous, raising geese and children. But the burgomaster was a vengeful sort of fellow, who began a series of “improvements” to the local neighborhood, charging highly for each one, until all their money was gone. The arrival of a blacksmith who repaired shoes with hob nails, so that the shoes lasted a year or more, left Claas, Anitje and their six children as poor as church mice.

Christmas Eve found the Schlaschenschlinger family down to their last, cold meal of bread and cheese. Claas was wondering what he had left to sell, in order to feed his family. Then he remembered a fine pipe that he had found in one of his stockings on a long ago Christmas morning in Holland. It was a fine pipe, too good for a mere cobbler. Claas knew even then that such a gift could only be from Saint Nicholas himself.

Claas leapt up and went to dig through an old chest until he found the pipe. As he unearthed it from under a pile of clothes, a draft of cold air came from the open front door. Claas scolded his children for playing with the door and went to close it, but found the doorway filled by the merry, round figure of a stranger.

“Thank you, thank you, I will come in out of the cold,” said the man, stomping in the door and taking a seat by the poor excuse for a fire that blazed in the hearth.

The family gathered around the white bearded old fellow as he tried to warm himself. He scolded them roundly for not keeping the fire hot, and when Claas admitted that they had nothing left to burn, the old man broke his fine rosewood cane in two and threw it on the fire. The cane blazed up merrily, heating the whole room, and singeing the hair of the cat, which leapt away with a yowl of indignation, making everyone laugh. It was hard to be sober around this merry old man, who made sly jokes, told riddles, and sang songs.

After sitting for half an hour with the family, the old man began rubbing his stomach and gazing wistfully at the cupboard.

“Might there be a bite to eat for an old man on this Christmas Eve?” he asked Anitje.

She blushed in shame and admitted there was nothing left in their cupboard.

“Nothing?” said he, “Then what about that fine goose right there?”

Anitje gasped, for suddenly the smell of a tenderly roasted goose filled the room. She ran to the cupboard, and there was a huge goose on a platter! She also found pies and cakes and bread and many other good things to eat and drink. The little boys and girls shouted in delight, and the whole family feasted merrily, with the little white bearded old man seated at the head of the table. As they ate, Claas showed the old man the pipe he meant to sell.

“Why that pipe is a lucky pipe,” said the old man, examining it closely. “Smoked by John Calvin himself, if I am not mistaken. You should keep this pipe all your days and hand it down to your children.”

Finally, the church bells tolled midnight, and the little old man cried: “Midnight! I must be off!” Claas and Anitje begged him to stay and spend Christmas with them, but, he just smile merrily at them and strode over to the chimney. “A Merry Christmas to you all, and a Happy New Year!” he cried. And then he disappeared. Ever afterwards, Anitje and her daughters claimed they saw him go straight up the chimney, while Claas and the boys thought he kicked up the ashes and disappeared out the door.

The next morning, when Anitje was sweeping the fireplace, she found a huge bag full of silver, bearing the words “A Gift from Saint Nicholas”. Outside the house, there arose a clamor of voices. When Claas and Anitje went to investigate, they discovered their wooden house was now made of brick!

At first, the townsfolk thought they were in league with a wizard, but when Claas told them the story and showed them the new possessions and riches left to them by the old man, they made him the town alderman.

The transformed “Dutch House” remained a landmark for many years following the death of Claas and Anitje, until the British tore it down to make way for improvements in the neighborhood.

Kagome flipped her thick black hair over her shoulder; she had been working on this homework assignment for an hour now and was getting nowhere. She looked up at her sleeping travel companions and sighed, how she longed to follow them into their deep slumber. However, this assignment was due tomorrow, and InuYasha had given in to her begging and decided to let her go for the day.

It surprised her to see Sesshoumaru was still around, usually when the rest of the party he was sleeping he went off by himself to think. His traveling group joined her party about a month ago, after Kagome convinced the brothers that they would need to work together to defeat Naraku.

He was watching her closely, seeming to be studying her as carefully as she was studying her books. “Why are you still up, Woman?” Sesshoumaru’s voice floated to her ears.

“I have homework I have to finish,” Kagome said then seeing that he didn’t quite comprehend she went into more detail, “Work from that ‘School’ I was talking with InuYasha about the other day.” She looked back down at the English book and shook her head, “It’s a whole lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“What does that say?” Sesshoumaru asked nodding his head nonchalantly at the book in Kagome’s hands. He hadn’t seen characters like that before, or anything that looked quite like that thing she was holding in her hands.

“It’s in English, the whole book is going to teach me how to speak English,” Kagome said looking from the page up to the demon lord sitting by the tree across from her. He gave her a blank stare and Kagome wracked her brain and decided to tell him something that would come from the heart, “Sesshoumaru, I really want to kiss you right now.”

He moved over to sit by her and took the book out of her hands, “These are the weirdest characters I have ever seen in my entire life.”

Kagome laughed and flipped her hair over her other shoulder, “I don’t know how to say ‘I need to go to bed’ in English and it’s the last question on the worksheet, it’s driving me crazy.”

Sesshoumaru looked at her and then closed his eyes, “You should probably get some rest, Woman, you might be able to think better when you wake on the marrow.”

Kagome had never seen him act this way, nor had she ever heard him talk this much, unless of course he was putting down his brother. She nodded her head and carefully gathered her stuff back into her backpack before stretching out on the ground to sleep.

The next morning she awoke with something fuzzy snuggled up next to her, and soon realized it was Ah-Un keeping her warm. Nobody else was awake yet, with the exception of Sesshoumaru, who didn’t sleep at all. Kagome predicted it to be around six in the morning.

“Good morning Sesshoumaru, how was your night?” She asked sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She ran her hand through her hair and smiled at him warmly.

“It was normal,” Sesshoumaru said with a nod then looked down at the girl and two-headed demon.

Kagome grabbed her English book and sat down against the tree; she had an hour before she had to get back to the well, and needed to figure out the last remaining question. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Sesshoumaru standing above her. He reached down and pulled her to her feet, looking into her eyes as he placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“But why?” Kagome asked looking up at him, confusion written on her face. She stepped back and plastered herself against the tree, in complete shock.

“Did you not say yesterday that you wanted to kiss me?” Sesshoumaru asked with a smirk then turned to walk away, “Can I not want to kiss a beautiful woman?” Upon He looked over his shoulder and said, “I think the phrase you were looking for was ‘I need to go to bed’ wasn’t it?”

Kagome watched him walk off, blinking away the surprise on her face. “What’s wrong Kagome?” She heard InuYasha ask.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” She answered with a smile.

Well, this mother told her little girl, who was very bright, that despite the brace and leg, she could do whatever she wanted to do with her life. She told her that all she needed to do was to have faith, persistence, courage and and indomitable spirit.

So at nine years of age, the little girl removed the leg brace, and she took the step the doctors told her she would never take normally. In four years, she developed a rhytmic stride, which was a medical wonder. Then this girl got the notion, the incredible notion, that she would like to be the world’s greatest woman runner. Now, what could she mean - be a runner with a leg like that?

At age 13, she entered a race. She came in last - way, way last. She entered every race in high school, and in every race she came in last. Everyone begged her quit! However, one day, she came in next to last. And then there came a day when she won a rece. From then on, Wilma Rudolph won every race that she entered.

Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met a coach named Ed Temple. Coach Temple saw the indomitable spirit of the girl, that she was a believer and that she had great natural talent. He trained her so well that she went to the Olympic Games.

There she was pitted against the greatest woman runner of the day, a German girl named Jutta Heine. Nobody had ever beaten Jutta. But in the 100-meter dash, Wilma Rudolph won. She beat Jutta again in the 200-meters. Now Wilma had two Olimpic gold medals.

Finally came the 400-meter relay. It would be Wilma against Jutta once again. The first two runners on Wilma’s team made perfect handoffs with the baton. But when the third runner handed the baton to Wilma, she was so excited she dropped it, and Wilma saw Jutta taking off down the track. It was impossible that anybody could catch this fleet and nimble girl. But Wilma did just that! Wilma Rudolph had earned three Olympic gold medals.

So don’t worry take that chance to tell that person how you feel because the worst thing you can do is miss the chance of your life to fall in love with the perfect someone.