The Mermaid and the Centaur

It was a warm and sunny afternoon, when Shaira was happily splashing her tail in the ocean waters with her best friends, Aisha and Kasia. For hours  they would play their favorite game where the mermaid leaping the highest over the other would become 'Sea Princess of the Day.'
Giggling and laughing so hard that her tummy hurt, Shaira decided to let Aisha win today as she always felt that it was more fun to see her friends win.
Shaira's smile was wider than the horizon in the sky and her heart was bigger than the towering mountains above which seemed to touch the very sky.   Her eyes were brighter than the bluest of waters she knew as her home.  Her golden hair cascaded like a fresh waterfall down her back to her waist.  From here on, Shaira had the slender tail of a fish which helped her  swim faster and jump higher than any other human fish in the sea. 
 Her voice sang enchanting melodies that blew with the gentle sea breezes and stormy winds for miles and miles to lands faraway.
When Shaira was sad, she sang and hoped a special someone would hear her song.
There was someone she missed more than anything,  - Shanan, the love of her many lives. Oh how she wondered where and who he was this time.....
Shaira first met Shanan many years ago when the heavens burst and created the stars and planets of our universe.
Shaira and Shanan shone side by side, brighter than the two stars of Gemini, lighting up the night sky with the brightness of the Moon.   Long ago, Sol and Luna were taking turns watching over the stars and decided to entertain themselves by playing a game of dice. Proud Sol said,  " Let us make the game more fun by placing a little bet! "   Luna enthusiastically asked, "Yes, what shall we bet?"  Sol replied, "Every  one hundred earth years, whoever wins, shall be given for one brief moment, the power of  all the planets above  to grant a wish to any stars that the winner chooses!"
Luna liked the idea and it was not very long before she won this game of dice. Luna immediately knew  who the lucky star children would be - the two brightest in the heavens, Shaira and Shanan. 
Chosen for their pure hearts and love for each other, sentimental Luna could not help but feel somewhat sad for them.
On the night of an eclipse, when Luna was at her most powerful, she appeared to Shaira and Shanan and asked;  "Make a wish, children of the night sky, for I will make it come true!" "Oh Luna, we  want to be closer to each other than stars  in the sky!" cried Shaira and Shanan.  
Luna began speaking the words of power and when the eclipse passed, Shaira and Shanan were  reborn as two  red roses, the most beautiful of flowers. 
In a spectacular floral garden, they lived side by side once again, but this time, able to enjoy each other's company and sweet fragrance.
One hundred years passed and on this starry night, it was Luna's turn again to grant Shaira and  Shanan yet another wish.  With the help of Sol, Luna magically   transformed herself into a butterfly of the brightest and prettiest of colors.   She flew to the rose bush home of Shaira and Shanan and  spoke, " My old friends, there is nothing more I would like to do, than to grant another wish for the two of you!"
The two red roses pleaded, "Oh, if only you will, what we want most it to be closer still!"  The  butterfly smiled, winked an eye at them and gracefully flew and disappeared into the baby blue sky.
Then out of a giant cloud, flew two lovely white-winged doves.
 Shaira and Shanan were together again, but this time, traveling through the sky as symbols of universal peace. 
Meanwhile, Shaira and Shanan's hearts were content but something they felt, was still missing.   Luna  sensed this sadness and could not wait to be able to grant them another wish.
The time eventually came and Luna transformed herself into a magnificent palm tree and planted herself near the old rose garden home of Shaira and Shanan.
 
 One very hot summer day, the doves flew to this special palm tree to find a little bit of shade.  Suddenly, the palm tree spoke,  "Again a hundred years have come and gone, tell me what it is  that you wish upon?"    Shaira and  Shanan cried out  " By all your powers from  above,   what  we have together is true love, if only we could now hold hands,  and walk side by side through distant lands!"
Luna wanted to add some excitement and replied, "This will be done, but let's make it more fun,  to make your wish come true for you, there is one thing you both must agree to do." 
"What is it?"  asked the doves.  "You must wait longer if this is your will, but only to be  re-born  closer  still.

A thousand nights spent apart, will bring more strength to each other's heart." Said Luna.

Shaira and Shanan answered,  "Yes, to be closer than ever before is surely worth waiting for." 

Content with this reply, Luna vanished into the rich earth. 
And so they waited.....
Two hundred years passed and Shaira's sea-mates knew that she was sad as she often thought of  Shanan, hoping the day would soon come when they would be together again
Shaira felt a bit tired today and gracefully swam to the sandy shore for a little afternoon nap.  As she  fell asleep under the warmth of the sun, she dreamt of Shanan.  In her dream, a seahorse spoke,   "The one you wait for is nearby, this I promise you is no lie. "
Shanan had been roaming the lands all this time searching for his beloved Shaira.  He looked for her  in all forms of life on earth.  But today, he too grew most tired and discouraged. As he lay down to rest, he quickly fell asleep.  In his dream, a seahorse also appeared and said, "Wait no more for her my  friend, this is the beginning and not the end."    Shanan instantly awoke determined now, more than ever, to keep looking even harder for Shaira.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bushes, Shaira was awakened by the sounds of distant galloping. "Am I still dreaming?" she asked herself. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the handsome centaur who had stopped to drink some water from a nearby pond. Shaira's heart began to pound so loud that she could hear it! 
She immediately recognized Shanan's soul.  Feeling her presence, Shanan looked up only to find  himself gazing into Shaira's crystal blue eyes and said,  "I knew you were near because your song led me here!"  Shaira   replied,  "I sang to you from my heart, each day that we have been  apart."
From the distant waters you could hear Aisha and Kasia singing and rejoicing at the sight of them holding hands  for the very first time.
 Then suddenly, from the bushes appeared a unicorn of a lavender color who galloped proudly up to  Shaira and Shanan.  Like a warm spring shower, a golden ray of light shone from its horn bathing Shaira from head to tail and  Shanan from head to hooves.
The unicorn's work was done as she  galloped away into the bushes whereshe came from.  Shaira  and Shanan looked at each other and saw   that she was no longer a  mermaid and he was no longer a centaur. Now they were people just like you and me! 
As they gazed down and started jumping and skipping about getting used to their brand new legs and  feet, they suddenly realized that the magical unicorn had been their old friend, Luna who made true the best wish of all.
Together, Shaira and Shanan continued to live happily as Children of the Moon, King and Queen of  the Kingdom of Lunaria, named in honor of their old friend, Luna. 

 













 Source:  http://www.bedtime.com/html/the_mermaid_and_the_centaur.htm

I AM A MOLE

by Gordon Dioxide

There was once a hole that had a mole living in it. He didn't have a name because moles don't usually bother with that sort of thing. He was very happy though, and used to go around singing a little rhyme:-

"I am a mole
And I live in a hole"
He had lots of friends who lived on the nearby farm.
One day, the local tiger heard him singing the rhyme and very much enjoyed it. So the tiger, whose name was Barry, made up his own version which went like this:-
"I am a tiger,
And I live in a liger"
When you think about it, this was a bit silly because there is no such thing as a liger and he certainly didn't live in one.
Anyway, Barry skipped off down the path proudly singing his new tune and keen to show it off to all the other animals.
He met Wayne the hamster who was trying to look cool by blowing bubbles with a pack of bubble gum that he'd found near the road. Unfortunately he was having a lot of trouble because he'd forgotten to take off the wrapper.
Barry sang his song:-

"I am a tiger,
And I live in a liger"
and Wayne thought it was brilliant. It immediately set Wayne thinking, and within half an hour he'd come up with his own version:-

"I am a hamster
And I live in a camster"
Have you ever heard of a camster? I certainly haven't.
Wayne was so proud of himself that he soon forgot all about his bubble gum problems, and set off to look for Brian the Badger.
Brian was out tractor-spotting with a notepad and pencil, but Wayne found him in less than 12 minutes. Can you guess what happened next? Yes, Brian invented a song ... 
 
"I am a badger
And I live in a quadger"
Soon there were hundreds of animals all singing their own songs. By midnight they were making such a din that the farmer's baby woke up. The baby was furious so he climbed out of his cot and went outside to see what was going on. When he saw all the animals singing such ridiculous songs he couldn't help laughing. In fact, he laughed so much that he fell over into a big bowl of gravy, which made him laugh even more. Soon he was singing ...
"I am a baby
And I live in some gravy"
Eventually Barry the Tiger, Wayne the Hamster, Brian the Badger, the mole that didn't have a name, the Farmer's Baby, and all the other animals got so tired that they all fell fast asleep in the middle of the field.
This was a great relief to all the people in the nearby village that had been kept awake by the terrible noise.
The mole that didn't have a name woke up early the next morning and drove to the shop to get some milk. Its quite unusual to see a mole that can drive because most of them fail their driving test due to poor eyesight. In the shop he met Kylie the Hedgehog who was buying some toothpaste to clean her spikes. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise and the shop started to shake.
"Earthquake, Earthquake!" shouted the shopkeeper "We're all doomed! .... no, wait a minute, its just a plane flying overhead."
They all went outside and were amazed to see a big jumbo jet landing in the cow field opposite. A door opened on the side of the plane, so the mole that didn't have a name, Kylie the Hedgehog, the shopkeeper whose name I can't remember, and a couple of cows, climbed on board.
There were 17 cats inside and they told the mole that they were flying to Italy for a holiday and the plane had stopped for a rest.
"Great" said the mole "we'll come with you".
And they did. They flew to a place called Venice, which was very wet because of all the water in the streets.
"This is no place for a mole" said the mole "where am I going to dig a hole?"
And as you can imagine, it was no place for a hedgehog either, or a couple of cows, or a shopkeeper that couldn't swim.
After walking around for a few seconds, they went into a pizza restaurant to get some steak and kidney pie. One of the cows had a cold and kept sneezing over the table, which was a bit horrid. They each had 4 puddings - a chocolate eclair, a jam doughnut, some ice cream, and a toffee cake. Kylie mixed all hers together, but then the cow sneezed on it and she didn't feel hungry anymore.
At ten past two they left the restaurant, but forgot to pay the waiter. The waiter chased them down the street but tripped over and cut his leg on one of Kylie's spikes. The mole bandaged it up and paid him the money. Then the waiter told them that he was fed up with working in the restaurant and asked if he could join the animals on their adventure. So there they were in the middle of Venice - a mole that didn't have a name, Kylie the hedgehog, a shopkeeper, a cow with a cold, a cow without a cold, and a waiter called Luigi.
And then the cow without a cold caught a cold from the cow with a cold. This meant that both cows now had colds and the sneezing was horrendously loud. It started to quieten down a bit when the cow that had the first cold started to feel better, but soon afterwards the cow that had the second cold got worse and his sneezing got louder. They went into a shop to get some medicine, but it was a toy shop so they bought a Power Rangers laser-sword instead. Luckily, this cheered up the cow and he forgot all about his cold.
Later that day they caught a train to Paris and climbed up the Eiffel Tower. There were more than 900 steps to the top and the cows kept stopping for a rest. When they got to the top, the mole decided that he didn't like heights because he was more used to being underground. So they all went back down again, only to find that Kylie had left the laser-sword back at the top. So the shopkeeper had to climb all the way back up again. When he got there, the laser-sword was nowhere to be seen! This was because Kylie had actually left it on the platform at Venice railway station.
They were all starting to get a bit tired, so they checked into a hotel and went straight to bed.
The next morning they found that a curious thing had happened during the night. Their hotel had been moved from the middle of Paris to a place called Pisa in Italy. This of course was completely untrue. Had they checked their train timetable properly they would have realised that the train took them from Venice to Pisa, and they had never been anywhere near Paris. The tower that they climbed up wasn't the Eiffel one, but the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
However, they were sure that the hotel had been moved and were very angry with the hotel manager. He didn't know what they were talking about, but, in order to get a bit of peace and quiet, he agreed to move the hotel back to Paris. So a big lorry arrived and pulled the hotel all the way to Paris. Some of the hotel guests were slightly annoyed as they had been enjoying their holiday in Pisa.
The animals weren't very keen on Paris because the streets were too clean, so they decided to hire a car and drive back to Pisa. Unfortunately they didn't know the way and headed north instead of south. After a while they reached the Channel Tunnel, which is a big tunnel under the sea between France and England. They drove though the tunnel, which was a bit naughty because its a train tunnel. Luckily there were no trains coming the other way so they soon arrived back on their farm in England.
That evening they told Barry the Tiger and Wayne the Hamster about all their adventures. While they'd been away, Wayne had learnt how to blow bubbles and he really did look quite cool. Luigi married Kylie in the village church, while the shopkeeper sold his shop and built a pizza restaurant next to the farmhouse. The mole went back to his hole and dreamt about going on another adventure.
He also thought up a name for himself - Steve.

A LOVELY SUNNY DAY

by Gordon Dioxide

It was a lovely sunny day in Oak Tree Farm. An 8-year old boy called Tommy lay by the stream listening to the sounds of the countryside. The birds were singing, the cows were mooing, the lions were roaring, and the sheep were ..... Hang on, did I say lions? Yes I did, and they were heading straight for Tommy. Tommy stood up and saw the three fierce lions coming across the field. He heard a noise behind him, and, looking round, saw a grizzly bear stomping towards him. On his right were a large number of tigers staring at him, and on his left, in the stream, was a crocodile. There was no escape. Tommy didn't know what to do. He thought for a moment and realised that the only way out was downwards, so he got a spade and started to dig. But he couldn't dig fast enough - the lions were rapidly approaching, the grizzly bear was just a few feet away, the tigers were starting to move, and the crocodile was snapping at his heels. Suddenly, a spaceship flew down from the sky and picked him up. "Phew, that was a close shave" thought Tommy. Now he was flying through space at a hundred miles an hour. The spaceship was driven by two aliens, both called Dave. They were green with large red eyes and yellow horns. One of them was wearing a T-shirt with the words "I've been to Buckingham Palace and seen the queen" across the front. The other one wore an identical T-shirt. Tommy was pleased to have been rescued from the animal attack, but was a bit unsure about where these two Daves were taking him. It was quite warm in the spaceship, so Tommy asked if the heating could be turned down. Unfortunately, neither Dave was quite sure how the heating system worked so one of them opened a window instead. This was a big mistake because space is a vacuum and quite capable of sucking things out of spaceships. This is exactly what happened to the two Daves - they were sucked out of the window, never to be seen again. Tommy shut the window and sat down at the controls. He'd never driven a spaceship before and was going to have to learn fast, otherwise he'd be in big trouble. He saw a red button with the letter R on it, and pressed it. The radio came on playing Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Pressing a button marked W started the windscreen wipers, but it wasn't raining so he turned them off. Eventually he taught himself how to control the spaceship using the steering wheel and gear stick. He brought it down to Earth and landed in his back garden just in time for tea. He told his mum about his little adventure, but she told him to stop telling lies and get on with his fish fingers. Forty years later, Tommy was 48-years old and he went on holiday to Spain with his family. While relaxing on a beach he saw two objects falling from the sky. They landed on his towel, and, on closer inspection, Tommy realised that it was the two Daves! After all this time they had finally fallen out of space and back to Earth. The two Daves were delighted to see Tommy, and Tommy said he would look after them. Now, although the two Daves looked the same, they were in fact completely different. One was clever, and one wasn't. Let's call them Clever Dave and Not-so-Clever Dave. Tommy said he would drive them to a shop to get some decent clothes. Tommy got in the driving seat, Clever Dave got in the passenger seat, and Not-so-Clever Dave got on the roof rack. When the car started to move, Not-so-Clever Dave fell off the back of the car. He had to chase after them, but as he wasn't very good at running he decided to catch a bus. He climbed on board the number 46 bus and sat on the driver's lap. The bus followed the car all the way to the clothes shop. In the shop Clever Dave put on a nice black suit and tie. Not-so-Clever Dave put a shirt on his legs, some socks over his ears, a hat on his feet and some shoes on his shoulders. He thought he looked smart, but he actually looked quite ridiculous. Then they went to a posh restaurant to have a meal. Clever Dave picked up his knife and fork and ate his food. Not-so-Clever Dave picked up his food and ate his knife and fork! He even said it tasted delicious. For pudding, he had the tablecloth and a lady's purse. Not-so-Clever Dave had a lot of trouble adapting to life on Earth. He couldn't understand why people had to pay for things in shops, so he kept getting arrested for helping himself. One day, the two Daves were making a cake for Tommy's birthday. Clever Dave was mixing some flour and sugar, while Not-so-Clever Dave was mixing some eggs and dynamite. When Not-so-Clever Dave put the mixture in the oven, there was a huge explosion and both Daves were blasted back to space, never to be seen again. Tommy was sad to lose his friends, but tried to get on with life as best he could. Another forty years went past and Tommy was now very old. One day, he was doing some gardening when he saw an aeroplane flying past. There seemed to be something hanging from one of the wings, so he got his binoculars to have a better look. Suddenly, whatever it was came free from the plane and started to float down to the ground. It turned out to be two things, not one, and both of those things were Daves. Tommy was delighted to see his old friends again, although it was a shame that Not-so-Clever Dave had landed on his flower bed. They went into the house and got something to eat, because both Daves were hungry after floating around space for 40 years. Tommy mentioned that he wished he were young again, because being old can be a bit of a problem. Then an amazing thing happened. Clever Dave produced a pack of Magical Wishing Powder and sprinkled it over Tommy. Suddenly, Tommy was 8 years old again! He was lying by a stream in Oak Tree Farm and it was a lovely sunny day. The birds were singing, the cows were mooing, the lions were roaring, and the sheep were ..... Yes, thanks to Clever Dave, Tommy was able to live his life all over again. This time though, he dug a bit faster and escaped from the animals through a tunnel. In his second life he never met the Daves, but he always had happy memories of them ...

Lala And Her Butterflies

Twelve butterflies fluttered inside Lala’s little stomach that rainy morning. Maybe it was all the caramel fudge ice cream she ate last night. She should have stopped after the second bowl. She convinced herself that she was sick. The more she thought about it, the more feverish she felt. Her forehead was hot and sticky. Her temperature was probably a burning 106 degrees and rising.

Her mom poked her head into the room and asked, “Are you okay, dear?”
Lala shook her head. “I’m sick, Mommy. I can’t go to school.”
Her mom frowned, walked over, and placed a palm on her daughter’s forehead.
“Hmm…you feel nice and cool to me…”

Lala glanced outside the rain spattered window and sighed. “Okay, okay, I’m not really sick, but I swear, there are twelve butterflies inside my stomach. How do I get them out of me?”

“Oh, you’re being silly.” Her mom laughed and kissed her cheeks. “Your butterflies will disappear once you make some friends today at your new school. Now please get up. Your father is in the kitchen making breakfast. He’s waiting for you.”

Her mom quickly left the room as Lala slowly crawled out of bed like a lazy caterpillar on a green leaf. Her arms accidentally knocked over her prized My Little Pony alarm clock. It clattered onto the yellow floorboards. She reached for the clock and placed it back on her violet dresser top. She was relieved it wasn’t broken to pieces. Her mom would have a huge fit. She could imagine her angry voice, scolding, "Why don’t you take care of the things we buy you? We’re not made of money. You must learn to be more careful, Lala!"

She pushed her mom’s voice out of her ear, sighed, and hopped out of bed like a clumsy Easter bunny. She tumbled hard and fell flat on her tush with a loud thud. Boy, that hurt. So much for trying to show off.

"You okay in there?!" her dad yelled from the kitchen. "Yeah! I’m fine!" Lala shouted back, as she dusted off her bottom. She got up again, straightened her purple polka dot PJs, headed out the door and promptly tripped. Ouch! Her stupid green sneakers almost broke her big toe!

Limping all the way into the kitchen, she noticed her dad at the stove scrambling four eggs on a burnt, rusty wok. He did this routinely every morning, after her mom headed off to work downtown. Lala did not like the smell of eggs in the morning. She pinched her nose, walked over to the breakfast table, and sat down. Resting a hand on her chin, she listened to the pitter-patter of rain outside. Hmmm… where was the sun today? Was it hiding behind the clouds afraid to come out? Lala shifted her attention back to her dad stirring those messy gooey eggs.

He was wearing her mom’s frilly daisy apron, with the bold black words, Women Rule! on it. His usual blue-collared shirt and checkered tie was partially hidden beneath the apron. She wiggled her eyebrows and giggled hysterically.

Her dad spotted her from behind his black framed glasses and playfully wagged a red chopstick at her. "Morning silly bug. Your first day of school in the 3rd grade! Wow. Aren’t you excited?" She shook her head, as he spilled scrambled eggs into her favorite blue Smurfs plastic bowl. She made a face and said, "Yuck!"

"Eat up. You know you secretly love my eggs," he teased with a wink, ruffling her curly hair. “And don’t forget to use your chopsticks.” She smiled and reached for a pair of long skinny red sticks on the countertop. Lala had been practicing how to eat with chopsticks for the past week.

Her mom was teaching her more about Asian culture since Lala is Vietnamese American. Her dad, who only spoke English, recently started taking an interest in Vietnamese language as well. The two were learning together and having lots of fun. Lala listened to her dad whistle in tune to an old folk song on the radio. She could not understand why he was so enthusiastic on her first day of school. She tilted her head to look up at him. "Daddy, do you think I will make any friends today?" "Of course you’ll make friends," he predicted, still in that bubbly tone. “I know moving to the city isn’t easy. It’s hard being the new kid, but I’m sure the other kids here will be lining up to talk to you.”

Lala fidgeted uncertainly in her chair. “What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m weird? What if I don’t fit in?” Her dad shook his head. “That’s impossible. You had a ton of friends at your old school. I’m sure you’ll make even more friends here.” Lala scowled as he made a goofy monkey face in attempts to cheer her up.
As her dad drove to David Reese Elementary School, Lala felt like puking up those slimy yellow and white eggs. She distracted herself by counting all the green trees that flew by them. One, two, three, hey cool, a lemon tree, okay, focus...four, five, six, seven, eight.....wait, what is that horrible smell?

Their blue Buick suddenly jerked to a stop in the middle of the rainy road and started making gurgling sounds. Smoke rose from the front of the car. Her dad started to panic. Lala was shocked when he said the forbidden S-word three times while banging the steering wheel with his fists.

She watched as he made several frantic phone calls on his cell phone. Cars started to beep, passing them from behind. Wow, she had never seen her dad sweat this much before. When a giant gray truck came to tow their precious car away, he couldn’t bear to watch. Neither could she. The Buick was part of the family. It was the first baby.

They ended up taking one of the yellow school buses next to these little kindergarteners with pink cheeks. Lala slid down further in her seat and tried to hide behind her Princess Ariel backpack. Her father was sitting next to HER on the school bus. How embarrassing.

At school, the rain decided to take a break. Still no sun. Lala and her dad roamed the school grounds, like two hungry lions searching for food. They finally located portable 72A near the silver swings and the golden sandbox. She jumped onto a muddy dark puddle and accidentally splashed her dad’s brand new beige pants. He gave her an irritated look. She could tell that he was still worried about his Buick.

Inside the big square classroom, there were four huge tables with matching chairs, a wet sink, a dusty chalkboard, a green carpet, and ooh...wait, did Lala just spot a blue fish tank? She noticed a red starfish, two puffy pink fishes, and a green sea turtle about the size of her hand, swimming around left and right and sometimes in little circles. They looked safe and happy in their own little world. Lala quickly turned her head away. She refused to enjoy school.

There were ten other kids who had been dropped off by their parents that morning as well. Once the bell rang for class to begin, the children were instructed to sit on what the teacher said was a magic green carpet for story-time. Lala rolled her eyes, "Give me a break", she thought.
The teacher, Ms. Christie noticed Lala and her dad standing uncertainly by the doorway. "Lala Mei-Lee Connor?" she called loudly. "You must be the new student.”
Oh no, the teacher knows her full name! Was she in trouble already? Her dad waved hello to Ms. Christie. “Yes, this is Lala. It’s her first day here.” Ms. Christie smiled. “Hello Lala. We’ve been expecting you. Class, please say hello to Lala.” The class repeated in unison, “Hello Lala.” A few kids waved at her. Some stared at her.

Ms. Christie motioned for her to join the rest of the class at the carpet. Lala’s feet would not budge. Her hands clammed up. Oh no! Butterflies fluttering again! She felt hot and sticky. Her dad whispered to her, "Be a good girl and go to the magic carpet." Lala shouted, "It’s not a magic carpet!" The students watched her with amusement, as she clung to her father’s legs in fear. He started nudging her to go, but she stuck to him like superglue.

Then she heard heels treading close by. Click, click, clack, clack. Ms. Christie looked like her blonde Malibu Barbie doll up close. Why were her lips so red? Did she have a cherry lollypop for breakfast? She peered into Lala’s small face and said, "Hello. The class is waiting for you." Lala shook her head and crossed her arms. No way was she going to sit on that fake magic carpet.

Then she felt strong, muscular arms pulling her towards the carpet. Her dad was dragging her up there. She kicked, screamed, and resisted as much as possible. She felt so humiliated, as she squirmed to break free. The other children were giggling and pointing. How rude! Salty tears welled up in Lala’s eyes, blurring her vision. She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She didn’t want anyone to think she was a big baby.

Once at the carpet, she sat down reluctantly, wishing she was invisible. Maybe she could join Jack up in that beanstalk. Later when her dad left for the day, Lala peeked around the room and checked out her fellow classmates. They appeared friendly and seemed to have forgotten about the carpet incident.
After recess, she was surprised when Ms. Christie complimented her on her neat handwriting skills.

She was happy when a kid named Howie shared his only green crayon with her during arts and crafts. Lala’s first day of school wasn’t so bad after all. Well, except for the redhead freckled girl and the toothless boy who kept laughing at her, things were going to be fine.

She was still angry with her dad for dragging her up to the carpet. Lala decided she wouldn’t speak to him for ten days, no, wait, make it twelve days. That would teach him. Oh yeah, she almost forgot. Her butterflies finally went to sleep.

---

Lala And Her Butterflies by Ha Kiet Chau

KEVIN THE VERY OLD RABBIT

Kevin the Very Old Rabbit was very old. Believe it or not, he was 146 years old and his name was Kevin. He had always been old. In fact, when he was born he had glasses and a long white beard, which greatly surprised his mother because she had perfect eyesight and no facial hair whatsoever. His dad was called Kevin the Extremely Old Rabbit, but he's not in this story. Now, every Tuesday morning Kevin would drive to the post office in Swindon to collect his pension money. But today was no ordinary Tuesday morning for two main reasons. Firstly it was his birthday and secondly it was in fact Wednesday. This meant that he was actually 147 years old. The only problem was, he didn't know it! You see, because he thought it was Tuesday he thought that his birthday was not until tomorrow! Anyway, he parked the car in the usual place - on double yellow lines opposite the police station. He turned on the radio and got out of the car. He never had the radio on when he was driving because he hated pop music. Suddenly, a very watery thing happened. It started to rain. Not just a few drops, but whole bucketfuls. He ran to the bus shelter, but the bus shelter didn't have a roof so this didn't help. He'd forgotten to bring his umbrella and his fur was getting soaked. So he looked around and saw a big shop called Umbrella World, just next door to Woolworths. When he ran into the shop he couldn't believe how many umbrellas were in there. There were millions and billions of them, neatly lined up on shelves. The first one he looked at was made of silk with a gold handle, but this was too expensive. The next one was full of holes to let the rain through, which Kevin thought was a very silly idea. Then he saw a lovely yellow umbrella, covered in pictures of monkeys and tennis rackets. It cost just four pounds and ninety-nine pence so he took out his purse and bought it. When he went outside he found that it had stopped raining, which was a good thing and a bad thing. After looking at his watch he decided that he was probably hungry, so he crossed over the road to McDonalds. He bought a Big Mac, but threw the burger and bread roll into the bin because, being a rabbit, he only liked the lettuce. Three and a half weeks later he got a letter from the boss of McDonalds. It said, "Dear Mr. Very Old Rabbit Congratulations! You have won a trip round the world on Concorde in our Ronald McDonald Spot the Difference competition. The plane leaves Heathrow airport at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Have a good time! Love from Sir Malcolm Morris McDonald" Unfortunately, Kevin couldn't read so he screwed up the letter and threw it into the dustbin. He thought it was probably a soppy love letter from Mildred Parker who used to fancy him at school. A bit later that day, Kevin got a telephone call from Sir Malcolm Morris McDonald's secretary. She wanted to know if he was packed and ready to go on holiday. At first, Kevin thought it was Mildred Parker asking him if he was ready for a honeymoon. But after a while, the secretary, whose name was Gladys, explained all about the competition and how he had won a trip round the world on Concorde. Kevin was very excited. He packed his suitcase with two jumpers, one pair of trousers, a clean pair of socks, a spare pair of shoelaces, nine pairs of pyjamas, a book, another book, some sunglasses, one more book and a cuddly toy. Next day, he got up bright and early. He drove down the M4 motorway to Heathrow Airport and climbed on board Concorde. A nice lady called Air Stewardess gave him a cup of coffee and a chocolate biscuit. He didn't really like coffee, but drank it anyway because he didn't want to upset Air Stewardess. At 8 o'clock the plane took off into the air and soared above the clouds. Concorde travels faster than the speed of sound, which is very fast indeed, so it took just three hours to reach the city of Washington. The first person that Kevin met was a man called Bill Clinton. He used to be the President of the United States of America, but not anymore. He took Kevin to lunch at the White House. They had fried lettuce with jam and chatted about their favourite cartoons. Kevin's favourite was Bugs Bunny and Bill Clinton's favourite was Scooby Doo. At half past six Kevin was back on Concorde flying to Hollywood, which is where actors and actresses make films to show in the cinema. He was introduced to a man named Steven Spielberg, who has made very popular films such as E.T. and Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg was amazed to meet an English rabbit that could talk. He had been looking for a talking rabbit to appear in his next film, called Attack of the Bunnies. But Kevin didn't want to be an actor. He was a plumber and preferred tinkering about with taps and water pipes. Kevin spent the night in a very expensive 5-star hotel. His room had a television with 49 channels and he stayed awake all night switching from one programme to the next. When morning came he was so tired that he fell asleep. He missed breakfast, then he missed lunch, and then he missed tea. Worst of all, he missed his next flight on Concorde! When he eventually woke up he caught a bus to the airport. But he was very disappointed when they told him that the plane had already gone. So he caught a bus to the harbour and got on board a very big passenger ship that was heading for Japan. He was excited to find that he had his very own cabin with a bed and a porthole to look out of. There was a restaurant on the ship but there was a big problem with the food. The ship's crew had forgotten to load any food supplies onto the ship ... except for 600 sacks of broccoli. Now normal people don't like broccoli, but if you're a rabbit you'll find that broccoli is actually rather nice. So this was an ideal situation for Kevin - 600 sacks of broccoli and he was the only one on the ship who liked it. He ate 4 sacks straight away and decided to save the other 596 for later. At ten past nine a big storm blew up and the ship sank. Luckily, Kevin had been sitting in one of the life-rafts at the time so he was quite safe. He steered the life-raft to the nearest desert island, which was small in size, round in shape, and had a palm tree sticking up in the middle. It also had one other thing - a lady that looked a bit like Mildred Parker. In fact, she looked so much like her that it was her. This was a very depressing development for Kevin. Stuck on a desert island with Mildred Parker. Of course, Mildred was delighted to see Kevin and immediately wanted to kiss him. He quickly climbed up the palm tree to escape her clutches. But he didn't know that Mildred had once won an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. Basically, this meant that she was very good at climbing trees, so she was quick to follow him. Unfortunately, the palm tree was one of the weakest in the world, and it couldn't stand the combined weight of a 147-year old rabbit and a slightly chubby ex-gymnast. So the tree toppled over and both Kevin and Mildred landed with their heads in the sand and their legs sticking up in the air. They were stuck on the island for many years. Kevin spent his time playing with a Monopoly set that he kept in his waistcoat pocket. He didn't know many of the rules, but he enjoyed passing Go and collecting 200 pounds. Mildred spent her time trying to count the grains of sand on the island. She got up to four billion, nine hundred and forty two million, six thousand, four hundred and twenty three, when Kevin threw a couple of grains into the sea and she had to start again. The day after Kevin's 200th birthday a really great thing happened. A ship came and rescued them and took them back to Swindon. They had been stranded on the desert island for more than 50 years and, do you know, something really nice happened during that time that I didn't tell you about. They fell in love! So, soon after they arrived back in England they got married. They had two children and told them all about their adventure. A bit later, they decided to live happily ever after. Story by:  Gordon Dioxide