By Julie

“Take the chairs away. Make sure that no one ever sees them again.” Gabriella told me firmly, looking me in the eye as she fastened her shawl. “Do you hear me? No one can ever see them. Hide them well.”
“But-”
“Lea! Hide them!” Gabriella stepped out the door and moved so quickly down the street that she seemed to vanish. There was nothing I could do but to hide the chairs.
I held my breath and muttered to myself as I pushed aside the secret door in the drawing room. “Message from Gabriella. We have to take the chairs away and hide them so no one can ever see them again.” I announced. Six pairs of eyes fixed upon me. “What?” Francis asked coldly, even though I knew she’d heard me. “Hide them? We can’t possibly hide them. Take them away? Gabriella said that? We were just about – put me on with her!”
“She’s not on the telephone.” I told Francis. “She was here.”
“Here?” Yolanda eyed me. “At the door? In this house?” I nodded.
“She still could be out on the street! She could be just down the street this very instant!” Amelia flustered, leaping from her chair.
“No, she’s not. She’s gone.” I clarified. “She stepped in just long enough to tell me to take the chairs away and hide them where no one would find them.”
“Well, what shall we do?” Minerva said, standing up from her chair.
“Hide them, I guess,” I snapped.
“We can’t possibly hide them! We were going to be world-famous! We were going to have enough money to go to bed on full stomachs and to pay the rent and get heating!” Francis argued, pacing and stamping her feet. “We can’t-”
“Yes, we can.” Savannah said calmly. Everyone jumped to their feet. “If that is what Gabriella wishes. She must be doing this for some reason.”
“Yes, yes… I suppose that she must have good reason to do this…” Yolanda muttered as she tried to collect herself. “Yes… we’ll hide the chairs, Gabriella will have a good reason… the project will be completed.”
“I think we should do it right now.” I suggested. “What?” Francis and a few others shouted shrilly. “Well, Gabriella sounded like we had to do it now. Like she meant business.”
Francis looked at me like she meant business too.
“All right, all right, we’ll do it now!” Amelia finally concluded. “Everyone in uniform, please.” The room was vacant for a moment, then everyone reappeared. Francis was dressed prim and proper as a city lady, Yolanda in the rags of a scullery maid, Amelia in a rich lady’s red dress, Minerva as a schoolteacher in uniform and a bun, Savannah as a nun, and Juanita a police lady in a navy uniform.
“Who shall take the seventh chair?” Amelia boomed. “Who shall take the place of Gabriella?”
“I’ll do it,” I volunteered.
“Of course you may not! Sending a ten year old on a trip as dangerous and as risky as this?” Francis scoffed. “Who shall do it, then?” Juanita asked. Francis didn’t have any suggestions, nor did anyone else. “All right, I believe Lea shall take the last chair.” Savannah finished.
Yolanda pulled the sliding door of the second secret chamber in the room, and in the small room I marveled at the seven chairs. Silver, but dull, they stood regally in the middle of the room. Each intricate design etched into the silver was unique, in the top half of the back of each was a unique silver object. The chairs were magnificent. “Which chair will you take, Leah?” Savannah asked me sweetly. “This one,” I said, nodding, after consideration. My favorite was small and dainty but still had a powerful, strong feel. Inside the back was a key. “Of course you may not take that one! That one is Gabriella’s chair! It is the commander of the fleet, the one with the mind of its own, the most powerful of-”
“I trust Lea with the chair,” Savannah defended me. “Do you not trust our young companion?” Francis stuttered a minute. “All right, but I shall lead the fleet. I won’t let you have responsibility of all of us. Extra power is entrusted in the leader that can outmatch yours.” Francis claimed the chair with the tiny sewing scissors in the back, Yolanda chose the one with the locket, Amelia chose one with two silver dice, Minerva with the kitchen whisk, Savannah with the spool, and Juanita with the hairpin.
“All right, everyone.” Francis commanded in a loud voice. “Ready – keep your destination in mind. The underground station in London. Chair one!” Francis vanished. Yolanda followed, then Amelia on her chair, Minerva, Savannah, and Juanita. I felt the chair and myself lift from the room with a sudden jerk. I couldn’t tell what anything around me was. I saw blurs of all the colors in the rainbow and more colors we don’t have names for, blending together into one larger color that I assumed that humans had not discovered. There is no way to describe it but that it was a mix of all the colors, just like it is impossible to describe orange but that it is a mix of yellow and red.
Then I heard Francis’ voice shrilly commanding, “No! No! Land in London! Follow my command! Land in London!” But the chairs did not obey. I am guessing from research that Francis’, the first one, ended up in Greece; Yolanda’s, the second one, ended up in Australia; Amelia’s, the third one, ended up in Russia; Minerva’s, the fourth one, ended up in Italy; Savannah’s, the fifth one, ended up in France; Juanita’s, the sixth one, ended up in Whales; and mine ended up in Ireland.
The chair plummeted to the ground more quickly than anything you can imagine, and I screamed louder than most humans would seem possible. When I awoke on the green field, the chair was already gone. It was too late for Gabriella’s warning to have taken effect. The chairs were to strong to act under our command. It was too late.

“Come on, Clara!” Gereldine wailed impatiently. “To the invisable wall!” Clara brushed her hair behind her ears. “Okay,” she said calmly. Gereldine dragged her over to the “invisable wall”. “Come on!” said Clara, now dragging Gereldine. They pressed their backs against the brick wall of the school. They could hear the other Kidnergarteners playing on the playground, but it didn’t tempt them at all. “There!” Clara finished. They stepped away from the the brick wall. In their minds, they saw themselves dissapearing from the face of the Earth, they stepped through the crowd of Kidnergarteners. “Whoa!” said Gereldine, when nobody appeared to see her. “Hey Clara,” they heard somebody say, but they ignored it. “We reappeared for just a second.” Gereldine guessed. They kept walking. “What is Sabrina?” asked Clara, their usual game of comparing the jewel princesses of the Jewel Kingdom. “Sabrina is the shyest.” Answered Gereldine. “I know. I’ve read all the books. Oh, and Emma is the wildest. Emma is the tomboy.” Clara nodded. “Without a doubt. But what about the ruby princess?” Gereldine thought. “She sings the best.” Clara frowned. “Then what’s Demitra?” Gereldine thought for a long time as they strolled down by the picnic table. “She’s… the prettiest, I guess.” Clara pouted. “That’s not fair! I wanna be Demitra! Not Sabrina!” Gereldine thought. “I guess you can be Demitra for one day,” said Gereldine. On they walked to the end of the Kidnergarter’s playground, to the little garden. “The Enchanted Garden in Emma’s emerald forest!” The 5 year old girls walked toward it. “Ooh!” they looked at the flowers. “This one’s mine!” said Clara. “This one’s mine!” said Gereldine. “No fair!” Clara said. “Yours is prettier!” Gereldine smiled. “Let’s trade.” But then a bee flew in front of her face. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” The girls screamed, fleeing the Enchanted Garden. “Save me, Sabrina!” screamed Clara. “Save me, Demitra!” shrieked Gereldine. Mrs. Z blew the whistle so Demitra and Sabrina tromped inside with their invisable feet.

Neomi threw back her head and bit into the newly picked peach. “Is it tasty?” her brother Frank asked, picking another and tossing it down into their basket. “No,” Neomi answered. “It’s not tasty, but it’s fresh and peachy.” She answered. Frank cocked his head and took a bite. “Tasty to me,” he shrugged. Neomi frowned and took another bite. “It’s not tasty to me, but it tastes like peaches to me. It tastes beautiful.” Frank cocked his head again. “Doesn’t that mean it’s tasty, though?” Neomi shook her head. “Tasty isn’t the right word.” Ma poked her head through the cottage door. “Are you picking or eating?” she asked. “Both!” Neomi yelled, as Frank yelled, “Picking!” at the same time. “Okay,” Ma poked her back inside. “I’m going inside,” Neomi decided. I need to work on my quilt.” Frank shrugged. “Okay, but I’m staying out here.” Neomi dragged her bucket of peaches inside and found her quilting basket. She began to quilt. All of the things on the patches she had embroidered herself, they were all things that she liked. “Ma, isn’t it beautiful?” Neomi asked Ma. “Oh, yes, Neomi.” she answered. “I’ve always loved your quilts.” On one patch was the cottage, another was the pigpen, on another the barn, and the church down the road. There was the chicken coop, and a cherry pie. There was Ma and Pa in their church clothes, and Frank. There was her in her cooking apron holding a pie, and the quilt was almost done. “This is my newest block,” remarked Neomi. She pointed to a new block near the edge that had not been there before. This block looked just like the others, made of an old dish rag that Ma did not need, but embroidered in the middle was a thin, dark branch. Sprouting from the branch were three tiny green leaves. Also sprouting from the branch were a pair of peaches. “Why are there peaches?” asked Ma. “Because I like them.” Neomi answered stubbornly. “They taste beautiful.” Ma smiled. “You can’t taste beautiful, you can see beautiful.” Neomi thought for a moment. “But if you can see beautiful, then can’t you also see tangy?” Ma shook her head no. “But you can taste tangy.” she added. “That you can certainly do.” Neomi skipped outside to join Frank, who was eating a peach. “I like peaches,” Neomi told him. “They look tangy, and they taste beautiful. They smell fuzzy. They feel peachy.” Frank cocked his head. “All this yik-yaking is making me dizzy,” he said, and Neomi took a bite out of another peach.

“Okay, Pardo,” my sister yawned. “Are you sure? A story so early in the morning?” My eyes grew wide. “Yes, Maria. You tell better stories than anyone else I know.” I spoke the truth. Maria should be a storyteller like grandma. “All right then,” Maria began. “This is a story about a young lady in Switzerland.” I nodded. “Begin,” I urged.
“Miles away in the country of Switzerland, there was a young lady named Sophie. Sophie Mills. This Sophie looked very boring. She always wore the same kind of faded red blouse like your cousin Rosa has, and always the same kind of old faded blue jeans like you always wear, with holes in the knees. She wore these clothes every day. Her hair was always pulled into the same tangly pony-tail. The same old straw hat sat on her head. Sophie looked very uninteresting. But she was not. Inside, she was erupting with ideas, inventions, shapes, sizes, color, photographs, memories, and firecrackers! She wanted to save the spotted hyenas! She had read her share of fabulous books and wrote her share of fabulous essays! Everyone was her friend. But the important thing about Sophie was that ever since she was about your age, Pardo, she has been the chosen Empress of Sunlight.”
I inturrupted my sister. “Who chose her?” Maria grinned a silly grin. “The sun, of course!” she answered. “Was she like the Keeper of Laughter?” I asked again. “Yes, except the Keeper of Laughter is old, and the Empress of Sunlight is young, and the Keeper of Laughter is from the Bahamas and Sophie is Swiss. Oh, and Sophie doesn’t keep the sun in her windows! That would be silly!”
“As the Empress of Sunlight’s job, she had to clean the sunlight. Or else it would be full of comets and planets and moon dust and lots of other things from where the sun comes from. So Sophie Mills pulled on her rubber gloves, just like the ones grandma has, and she filtered all of that sulight the very first morning she was an Empress.”
I coughed. “How do you filter sunight? With a big net? Or a coffee filter?”
Maria smiled and nodded. “More like a big net. One made of rope, like the ones you climb on in gym class at your school. The ones that burn your hands. But this net is as soft as silk. All the sunlight goes through and the other things stay behind. This is also why no aliens come floating onto our planet like in those movies you are always watching. Sophie also has the great Sundial.”
I laughed. “A sundial? Like the one in the park?” Maria smiled. “Yes, exactly. Only instead of all of the lines, there’s words. Countries. One says United States of America, another says Canada, one says Mexico, where we live. When the great Sundial points to Japan, Sophie fliters the sunlight for Japan, and when the sundial is pointing to Egypt, she fliters the sunlight for Egypt. Without the great Sundial, we would never get our light at the right time! Nobody would. Do you understand, Pardo?” I nodded. “But that cannot be true! Nobody has a sundial like that!” Maria breathed in. “Yes, someone does! Sohpie Mills does! The Empress of Sunlight does! Just go to her home in Switzerland and see! It’s there right now! In fact,” Maria pointed at the sunlight beginning to sprout from my window. “Sophie is using her fliter and her great Sundial to get our light to us this minute!
“Why did the sun choose Sophie Mills, you ask? From the moment tiny Sophie was born, the great Sun looked at Sophie’s tiny perfect hands and feet, and said ‘Sophie Mills shall be known as my Empress. My Empress she will be. Don’t set her to work right away. Start her off at 10 years old. Good luck, little Sophie!’ and the wonderful Sun even came down and welcomed her. He gave her the powers of heat and light.
“But now, we must stop explaining and get on with the story!” Maria blurted. “This is too much explaining! You get the idea, Si?” I grinned. “Si.” I answered.
“One day, in fact, just last week, Sophie realized that she could not be the Empress by herself! What if she needed to visit somewhere else away from all of her tools, or what if she grew ill? She nedded some helpers. Anyways, she was too kind to take all of the credit for taking care of the sun! She needed helpers, young ones that would not get tired or lose interest. Three was enough. So she picked out three hardworking children to be her Helpers of Sunlight. She picked two Dutchesses and a Duke. One Dutchess lived in Norway. Her name was Louise Maria. She was very hardworking. The next two were from Mexico. The Duke and Dutchess. The Dutchess was the Duke’s older sister. Their names were Maria and Pardo.”
I paused, excited. “Me? Me and you?” Maria laughed and smiled. “Of course! Of course! Of course they were me and you! I even have our headsets in the closet!” My wonderful sister opened the hat closet, and sitting on the hat rack were two crowns strung from beads and bottlecaps! In Maria’s special letter beads on the front read “Duke of Sunlight”, and “Dutchess of Sunlight”! “Are we really Dukes and Dutchesses?” I asked, pulling my crown over my ears. “Yes, Pardo!” Maria shouted. “Yes, yes, yes! I even have a fliter and a great Sundial in my closet so we can rule right here in our apartment! Come on, follow me! The adventures are just beginning!”

“Far, far, far away in the land of the Bahamas,” my sister began, “There is a meadow in which the children play. In the center of the meadow is a round sand pit which they use as a sandbox. Next to this meadow is a big rocky hill. Under the hill is a little dugout. In the dugout lives an old woman.” I listened in delight. My sister’s stories are the best in the whole wide world. She began again. “This woman is very special. She is the Keeper of Laughter.” I gasped. “Do you mean she keeps laughter inside her house? How does she do that?” I asked. “If you are quiet, Pardo, I will tell you.” My sister answered. “She keeps them in the windows of her very house. Remember how Mama always tells us that laughter is the window to our very brains?” I nodded and Maria continued. “The laughter lives within her windows. Every morning she sends some laughter off to everyone so that they may have an exciting day. Sometimes the laughter finds the way to the person it is looking for, and sometimes it does not.”
“Every night, very late, the laughter comes back to her, and she rounds it all up and puts it back in the windows. In the morning, she unleashes it again and out it goes.” My sister turned to me. “Are you tired yet, Pardo? Would you rather go to sleep than listen to me rambling on and on about the Keeper of Laughter?” I spoke the truth. “No Maria! Your stories are the best in the whole wide world.” So my sister kept going.
“Whenever anyone is sad, the Keeper of Laughter sends them some… extra laughter. When they are sick, she sends them more laughter than usual because laughter is the best medicine. But one day, nobody seemed to use the laughter anymore. Not even the sad people or the sick people. Nobody wanted to laugh. The world became dull.”
“Soon the old woman noticed that her laughter was getting tired. It all hurried out at the start of the day. All day it hurried along beside their people, but never being laughed. Soon it began to get tired. Sometimes when laughter is tired, it gets sick. This laughter got so exausted, it got the fever. So the old woman called it all in and put it to bed.” I interrupted her. “But what if it was sick forever and no one could ever laugh again?” My sister rolled her eyes. “Listen, Pardo, or go to sleep.” she said to me. That zipped my lips. “So laughter stayed home. For weeks, nobody noticed. But then, there was a lovely girl named Mary Lou Parsley.” I interrupted her again. “Parsley?” Maria paused for a second. “Yes. But anyways, Mary Lou was about your age, Pardo. About 10 years old. She was in the 4th grade at a grand school. But one day, a day long ago, Mary Lou Parsley was swinging on the swings. She laughed! But there was no sound! In fact, no sound was coming out of her mouth!
Mary Lou was questioned by news teams, newspaper reporters, and random people she met on the street. As the world became more and more exciting, everyone realized it was true! No one could laugh at all because they had all tired all of the laughter out.”
“Are the Keeper of Laughter and Mary Lou ever going to meat each other so you won’t have to jump back and forth anymore?” I asked Maria. “Yes, Pardo. In just a minute.
Well, back in the dugout, the old woman was gently tending for the laughter. But soon, she had gotten sick from being around the laughter so much! She hurried off to bed and soon enough, Mary Lou made a stop at her house. Mary Lou realized that the laughter was all better, but the Keeper was not. Mary Lou would have to let the laughter out. ‘I’ll open the window for you!’ sweet Mary Lou offered. She slid open the window, but the laughter would only come out for the old woman. ‘Have some bread and butter,’ the woman advised Mary Lou. So Mary Lou opened the cabnet. She saw the Keeper’s cookbook. It was flipped open to a page. It said:
Laughter is the best medicine! Take 1 half-teaspoon every 5 minutes for 10 minutes
Mary Lou Parsley had an idea! She measured out a half-teaspoon and fed it to the old woman as the instructions said. The woman, after 24 hours, was sick no more, and unleashed the laughter! Everyone lived happily ever after.”
“That’s it?” I said. “That’s the grand ending?” Maria tickled me. “Yes, Pardo. Now off to bed with you!”

One day, I was playing on the beach with my brother Nick. We had built a little fort on the edge by a little creek that went into some woods. “Crab attack! Crab attack! Evacuate immediately!” Nick screamed. We were pretending, of course. Runninng out of our small shelter, we hid behind a small rock that was way too small to completely hide us. “Jessie, the evacuation plan didn’t work,” Nick said, ” We need to elevate, fast! Crab attack!” So Nick and I climbed the sturdiest tree we could find, barefoot. Suddenly, I saw some glinting purple thing washed up on the beach. I showed it to Nick. Once the crabs, not being able to climb trees, cursed us and scuttled back into the ocean, we climbed down. “It must be an ancient pirate treasure! It could be worth finding! It could be purple jewels washed up from Fantasia!” I told Nick. So we ran over to find the glinting purple thing. Purple sunglasses. Worth finding, but definently not anything from Fantasia.
We went back to our humble little shack. We went back to making our super mud bombs and seaweed casserole. We tested our arrows and slingshots. Suddenly, Nick yelled “Eagle attack!! Get underground fast!”
I looked through the “purple telescope sunglasses” and into the most exiting, wierd, strange, cool, terrifying sight of my life.
There were, maybe, three hundred white eagles, carrying torches in their beaks. They had red eyes, and in their talons were big heavy rocks! Some of the eagles dropped theirs and they made huge splashes in the ocean, soaking me to the bone! I took the sunglasses off to run, and there was nothing there! Just calm blue ocean. Never ending. Swimmers swimming. Nothing was wrong.
Nick was hiding under an old tree root. “Jessie, run!” He screamed. Of course I did! I dashed under the tree root and we plummeted down a gopher tunnel. I looked through the sunglasses. The eagles were landed by our fort. They were still holding their torches. They were very confused. “Where did they go?” One of them said. They were so cute! So evil, though. That was when Nick did somthing amazing.
I don’t know how he did it. He snapped his fingers and ran in a circle and jumped up and down. The eagles got dizzy and tired after a minute. “Relax!” He yelled. “Relax and enjoy the show!” He smiled. “From now on you will be loyal, good eagles. You will perform good deeds and save people. And your eyes will be blue, not red. You will wake up when I clap my hands.” He clapped his hands. Their eyes were blue. They flew away. You could see them in a big cloud. I took of the sunglasses. The cloud vanished. Next came the asking Nick about what happened when I put on the glasses and how he hypnotized the eagles. “It’s all very normal, when you have imagination.” Was all he said. I was really confused now. “Are you saying that I didn’t have imagination 10 minutes ago?” I asked, half awake, half stunned. Nick didn’t answer. Now curious, coming out of my trance, I slipped the sunglasses on and looked at the fort. Same as it always was. A little hut. Nick started inside. Keeping the glasses on, I followed.
Our balloon swords were real, his jeweled serpent green and mine jeweled tickle-me-pink. The colors that the balloons were before I tripled my imagination. The mud bombs were perfectly round and slightly damp in a little bin that had once been plastic, now steel with a lock on it. Our seaweed cassaroles were real, real tortillas, not just jungle leaves, and the seaweed inside looked like lettace.
But I wasn’t surprised any more. It was like Nick said. “It’s all very normal when you have imagination.
A few days later, I was Princess Jessie, not just plain old Jessie. Nick was a noble knight. We still played by the seashore. I didn’t need the sunglasses anymore. I could have a lot of imagination without them. We buried them outside the fort. They grew an exotic purple sunglass bush.
It’s just the same as the day that we discovered the purple sunglasses. Except it’s not strange and mysterious and terrifying anymore. It’s all very normal when you have imagination.

Hattie Greene sat in the bench, staring at the dead dry grass. It hadn’t rained for a dreadfully long time. Throat parched, she walked home in her worn shoes. Horrible news was waiting back home.
Her oldest brother, Charles, and papa were staying back while mama, Michael, David, and her traveled back to Ohio to visit cousin Nessa. Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry were going to take them in until the drought ended.
They traveled by train. By noon, they were back at the old house belonging to cousin Nessa. Nessa was twelve, just like Hattie. They had met once before at Christmas. They were great friends. They found four beads in the cellar, two pink and two blue. They made bracelets.
That night, Hattie sat on the front step after everyone else was asleep. The air was cool and moist. “Hattie,” a small voice whispered. It was Nessa. They lept and pranced in the wet grass like young deer. In the morning they were found sprawled out sleeping on the grass.
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It was three weeks later now. Hattie and Nessa were the best of friends. They looked for deer in the woods and swam in the lake. They were the princesses when Michael and David played brave knight. They watched Nick the farm dog herd sheep. They ran and danced about in the rain. They cooked and sewed log cabin quilts. Nessa told Hattie her real name. It was Narsissa. Narcissa Isabella Byrd. It sounded like a song.
One day papa called on Uncle Jerry’s expensive telephone. It had rained! It was back to normal again. It had been sprinkling for the last two hours. The grass was green and the well was half full. Betta, their cat, had given birth to five kittens, four gray and one yellow. Papa was coming to pick them up and take them home very soon.
Aunt Jane made roast chicken stew with gravy for dinner.
Three days later at seven o clock, papa arrived. They were spending one more night and then going home. Hattie didn’t want to leave Nessa. When Nessa was helping Aunt Jane with the dressing, Hattie slipped out of the house with a penny or two to the store. She specially picked out some nice calico that was white with pink flowers. It would go perfect with Cynthia’s auburn hair. Cynthia was Nessa’s doll.
Hattie snipped and sewed and measured at full speed while Nessa worked on her bear quilt. Snip and stitch. Stich and sew.
Soon she was done. She put the beautiful doll-sized dress, purse, and hat in a box. Then everyone went swimming. Nessa’s old green dress billowed in the water. Hattie wondered if her old pink dress could billow. It didn’t. Nessa had smoother strokes.
But oh, how did Hattie’s hair billow. It billowed in and out and up and down. Nessa’s hair billowed too, but not as much. Hattie’s hair was longer.
As soon as everyone gat out of the lake, they ate. They ate dinner. They had prairie chicken and rabbit. It was delicious.
The next norning, Hattie had to leave. She gave Nessa her box. “They’re beautiful!” She gasped. She dressed Cynthia in them right away. Hattie got a box as well, from Nessa. It was a doll-sized dress and a purse and a little comb! They were all periwinkle blue, with little pink dots and tiny little sunflowers. They would be perfect for her doll, Maria, with little golden curls. She dressed Maria right away.
Then they all walked to the train station and said their goodbyes. Nessa and Hattie promised that they would write. Then the Greenes climbed on the train and left. They were home in a short time.
A WEEK LATER
Hattie sat down at the table and started to read her letter.
Dear Hattie,
How are the kittens? I hope they are okay. Can you write me their names? Sally had two kittens. Their names are Lucy and Seal.
My quilt contest went fine, the winner was a really really good quilt. It must have been starched white a thousand times. There was this huge pineapple and three coconut trees around it. In the corners there were little pineapples. I won seventh place!
-Nessa
Hattie smiled and dug out some paper.
Dear Nessa,
She wrote.

Jenna looked down from the maple tree she was sitting in and smiled. It was nice to be on top of the world. “Squackk! Hee hee hee!” Sang a kookaburra from far away. Jenna smiled. It was nice, living in Australia. Dusk fell. The kookaburras sang and grinned and giggled. Starburst, Jenna’s favorite kookaburra, landed on her head and slowly swung her head down to look into Jenna’s eyes. A song marched from Starburst’s mouth, singing a song of plain pride. A smile crept slowly up her face. “Squakkkkk! Hee ha hee hee ha!” Starburst burst into uncontrollable laughter. Jenna couldn’t help grinning. She burst into laughter too. Standing up on the thick tree branch, she smiled, laughed and then sang along with the kookaburras. Haunting song filled her ears. Suddenly, she stopped and gasped. Smile, laugh and sing! She thought to herself. It sounded like the name of a poem or book written long ago by a forgotten writer.
MANY DAYS LATER
Jenna danced along on a maple tree branch with the kookaburras. They all grinned and smiled at once, and then burst into a long, shaking, uncontrollable laugh. “Hee ha Hee ha hoo hoo hoot!” Then came the singing. Singing a song of pride, joy, and laughter the kookaburra way. “Eeeka leeka loo moo jot you kam a layyyyyaa..” Over and over again. This had become part of Jenna’s evening routine. Minutes later, leaving honey out for Starburst, she climbed down and walked down the path home. Even now, the smiling, laughing and singing was still ringing in her soul.

“Why can’t we go out and play mommy?” three year old Benny Greene asked.
Sarah Greene, Benny’s ten year old sister, rolled her eyes and looked up at the boarded windows of the family room. Sometimes her baby brother just didn’t understand. Of course he couldn’t go out to play in a hurricane!
“Because little Benny has to go to bed now,” Their mother answered. She picked up Benny and lifted him up the stairs. Sarah and Benny brushed their teeth and tucked themselves in bed. Hurricane Karen had been roaming their area along the outskirt of Pennsylvania for two days now. Sarah hoped it would stop the next day.
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“Now can I go out to play?”
lt was two days later. The hurricane had stopped around noon the day before and the water had gone down. They had cleared the yard and disboarded everything. It was safe to go down to the beach, now.
“Yes but be back by suppertime!”
Benny and Sarah grabbed their sun hats and ran to the beach. They gasped as they saw the edge of the beach.
lt was littered with dunes three feet high of seashells. Kids were filling their hats and stringing long chains. Benny and Sarah didn’t have to wait another second.
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“Mommy! can I show you something?”
Benny smiled at Sarah as she slipped into a closet with their new chain. They had formulated a plan to surprise their mother. “All right,” she said. She followed Benny briskly outside and Sarah heard her gasp when she saw the seashells. Sarah instantly slipped out and started to string the chain up across the small hooks hanging down off the edge of the family room ceiling. The instant she had finished, Benny and her mother walked inside. They were very very very pleased. “It’s a hurricane chain,” said her mother. “Made out of two hats full of seashells,” Sarah added. “I gathered another hat full!” said Benny. “Let’s them in that old porcelain bowl shaped like that little jean hat that I got for my 5th anniversery!” suggested their mother. “We can put it on the table!” exclaimed Sarah. “And it will be a hat full of seashells!” Benny cried. “Benny, never start a sentance with an and,” reminded Sarah. “I won’t from now on.” He skipped carefully over to the cabinet, already taking out the bowl, dumping out his seashells into it, and setting it on the table. “There it is! It’s very pretty,” said Sarah. “Yes it is, it is.” her mother said slowly. “Now help me set the table. We have turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. I’ll need lots of help setting this feast before us. “Mmmmm…” Benny and Sarah murmured in agreement. So they happily skipped off to set the table.