Tabletennis For Tuplets by Joanne Okano

 This is a sequel to The Moose Story.

     To the Haras.


     "I hate it when there are flies in the bathroom, roosting on me while I'm bathing!"  cried the very pregnant Mrs. McLelland from behind the bathroom door.  "Shoo!"  she flailed wildly.  She was kind, but she'd had it with the flies.  She let them out the window.
     "The moose is outside the window, children!"  she called out to them.
     They ran to see it at the living room window.  "Aah," they said, when they saw the moose calf and its mother.  They were pondering the morning.  High time for a snack.
     The children all went to highland dance lessons and table tennis in this story.
     They had found that they didn't get enough social interaction with just homeschooling, church, and highland dancing, so they had joined a table tennis group as they had heard that this was a good way to meet nice people.  Boy, they had fun!  Round and round they went playing tournaments and making friends.  Mummy had to do a lot of driving though, but they had overcome their fear of the moose family.  They were friends, although they still kept their distance.
     Their teacher came round to help them with their schoolwork and they were just happy as sandboys about the way things were.  Their knowledge of Canadian history had grown and they knew just as much about Confederation as the next person.  Things were going along swimmingly in their other subjects and they had many friends in their highland dance classes and primary (church) classes.  Things couldn't be better.
      Mummy had a new baby coming and the children said it was tuplets, funnily.  But only one baby came out.  The baby's name was Hamish.  It was doing well and so was Mummy.
     They were very thankful and went to church and had the baby blessed.  ~
     The next few days they went out on a jaunt to a table tennis tourney, except things didn't turn out quite as expected.  They got lost.  There were beavers and bears.
     "Oh, Mummy," said the children.  "Take us home!"
     "I don't know where home is," said Mummy.  The baby was crying.  "The baby is hungry," she said and stopped to feed the baby.
     Fortunately they had enough supplies with them to last the trip.  Home was a long way away.
They were frightened. They were scared.  They were terrified.  What if a bear came for them?  What would they do?  They stayed in the jeep, sleeping in upright postitions, but it was very uncomfortable.
Soon they came to a town, an unknown town, but a town nevertheless.  They asked the way, and the man said over there was the best way to get out.  Over where?  Over that truck crossing.  So they went over the truck crossing and continued their journey. 
     "Phew!  Relief," said Mother to herself.  And that was all they had to worry about.  The rest of the trip went smoothly.  They won the tourney.  The baby cried less than usual, because Mummy was holding it all the time.  It was a nice day out for the baby, too, this way. 
      Mummy and Daddy held hands a lot when they reached home and Daddy heard about the waif and stray he had almost been without wife and little ones if they had got lost for longer.  How happy he was they were home!

The End

    

   

The Moose Story by Joanne Morris Okano

      To my mother, who was a lovely dancer

      "Please take your shoes off that scale, son," remarked Mother as she sauntered through the house.
     He did a handstand onto the scale.
     "Where are my spectacles?" she said absentmindedly.  She wandered through the echoey white-painted Edinburgh home, across a Persian carpet into the living room and peered at herself in the mirror over the beautiful mantelpiece adorned with roses and photographs.  "I'm wearing them," she said, relieved, taking them off her head.  She put them on and noticed the dust.  She fetched a duster from the kitchen and saw to the mess quickly.  She sadly picked up the duster and put it away, after a look in the mirror.  Her uncle had passed away.  He died yesterday, she said to the children.
     "I'm so sorry, Mummy," said her son said to her, the one who had been doing the handstands.
     "Why is he dead?" the other children asked.
     "He died of a heart attack," she answered kindly.  She showed them the letter she had received with the little house or cabin they had inherited through Mummy in a picture at the side.
     "That's a log cabin," said her son.
     "Why did he live in a log cabin?" said the other children.
     "He was a pioneer in an area up north in Canada," she answered again.
     Soon the signs of wear and tear showed and she went for a nap.

     They arrived in winter to find a cabin in the middle of nowhere.  A moose stood at the door.
     "He's guarding the place to make sure no one gets in until we get here," said the youngest.
     "No, he isn't," said Daddy.  "He's going to charge."  The family drove away in their jeep just in time before he charged and hit their car.  The moose paused, let out a Coo-ah-ca-coo-ah and headed off into the underbrush.  Cathy was petrified.
     She said, "I don't want to go to school here.  It's too far to walk!!"
     "I'd like to ride the moose to school, but I don't think he'd let me," said Iain.
     "I don't have to go to school, do I, Mummy?"  asked Hugh.
     "No, dear - I think we're homeschooling," she said, frightened out of her wits.
     Ronald, the youngest, was strangely quiet.
     They drove back quietly and went into the house.  It was dusty.  Mother started dusting.  They immediately started unpacking.  ~
     "Mother can I go outside for a walk?"  said Cathy, "or do I have to stay in here and unpack?"  once her fear of the moose being in the area had subsided.
     "Stay inside dear, then you won't freeze to death."
     "Just kidding."  ~
      Back in Scotland, each of the oldest two children had gone off to Highland Dance classes when he or she was four.  It was a family tradition.  Hugh went off to dance classes with the others this time and he did well.  His teacher loved him.
     They went to church which was a mile away and got there safely.  There they met several new friends.  They went on missions and then came back in this church.  They did not have a lot of money but they were kind people.
     The missionaries came over for supper, all three of them.
     They were so sad they didn't have any contacts but glad the supper was good.  They didn't have cheese on toast, it was a good supper.  They had saved their money to come on their missions.  At the end they said they had had a very good meal.  ~
      The children all wished that they could go on missions too.  ~
     They said, "I wonder where I'll go?"  ~
     The moose came to the door and bellowed.  Then it ran away.  ~
     The homeschooling books arrived from the school district and the children did their work.  They had lots of problems with the Canadian history and had to ask the teacher for help.  She came round to the house and helped them.  They succeeded in writing their reports and sent them away.  They came back again with an A in each turn.
     They went on a jaunt with Mummy to see a museum down south.  It was a First Nations museum.~
     They were enjoying life.  It was fun.  They went to bed happy at night.  Their mother did too.  ~
     Father, on the other hand, was having a rat of a time.  He had no money from his business almost.
There was no business at all.  All he got was the chewing gum machine money.  No one wanted French food.  They wanted burgers.  So he switched.  ~
     The missionaries came back again, this time with  a friend, a person who wanted to know more about the church.  His name was Bill.  They sat down and taught him a discussion in their home.
More and more discussions followed.  He was baptized.
     He went into the water and came out again a new man.  Then he went on with his life in a new way.  He was happier.  They were too.
     His family followed.  They had the love to get baptized too.  One of them had to be baptized twice, because her foot went up to the surface during the baptism.
     But there were problems.  Their relatives didn't like the idea.  And all hell broke loose.  They took them to court and sued them for things they had never had the thought to sue them for before.  And Bill's family won.  ~
     Back at home, the children were wildly famous in the district for their Scottish highland dancing.  They went to a party for the children of the ward (a ward is a congregation) to show love for their neighbours and invite them too.  Several children came who were non-members of the church.  Ukrainians came and danced and so did the highland dancers and this is what happened...People walked in and set up the party.  Soon the next door neighbours, the Kecharskys' grandson, little Nick, came in with other friends from the local Ukrainian dance group and their families.  The folks formed a large circle, the music went on and all took a turn dancing in the circle in a solo, duet or trio, those in the circle clapping in time with the music while they waited for their turn to dance.  The McLellands did Highland dance since they didn't know any Ukrainian dance, and it was all fun.  Mr. Kecharsky danced, too.  He went step shuffle, step shuffle shuffle kick, shuffle kick.
      Each group of people brought food from their own culture.
     The McLellands had a wonderful time.  They ate their fill and talked until Daddy closed up the restaurant and came to get them.
      The Ukrainian dancers were showing everyone a few moves when it was time to go.  A closing prayer was said and they went home.  ~
     They drove carefully home so they wouldn't bump into the moose.  There it was at the end of the road, with a mate.
      They drove into the driveway to see the letterbox was full with a letter from home.  Grandma was coming over. 
     A few days later she arrived  and the female moose was pregnant.  They went out to see it in the meadows and caught sight of it once.  It was a splendid sight.  They wanted to catch a shot, so ran in to get a camera, but when they came back it had gone.  Several days had gone by and they saw it again.  This time they caught a shot and submitted it to the local newspaper, and it was printed on the front page.  Grandma went home and they went on with their lives.
     She wrote them a letter telling them how much she'd enjoyed it at their house and asked them for a recipe.  She asked them for the recipe for moose stew.  They didn't go out of their way to find the recipe.  They wrote back a kind letter, saying, "We prefer to be friends with them!"
     They got their schoolwork done and let their hair loose at the end of the year.  When they went out in the yard one day, there was little moosekins, standing on wobbling legs, by a stream drinking.

THE END

  

Nana Of The Two Stoves by Joanne Morris Okano

   To my Nana

     Celia was sick in bed with the flu.  She rather liked being sick in bed because she had a mother who used to work in a hospital and loved working with sick people.  Celia's mother would bring her hot milk with honey, scrambled eggs with toast and orange boats, and would come and talk to her kindly.  The sunshine would come in through the windows of the big room and Celia would feel much better.
     (Incase you were wondering where Celia's father was, he was away on business in Kenya.)

     Celia's Nana lived far away.  Celia's mother drove her to her Nana's home to convalesce.
     "Fishcakes for lunch," said Nana cheerfully in her sweet singsong voice on the telephone before Celia and her mother left.
     Celia longed for those fishcakes  Those were the food she wished for most in the world.  Nana made them with canned fish and mashed potatoes, patted all round with her hands and dipped in breadcrumbs.

     Nana lived in a tiny bungalow on a quiet road in the country.  There was a coalshed out the back and a vegetable garden.  She wore a glorious dress and had a Morris Minor in the garage. 
     She arose at seven o'clock in the morning and made delicious porridge with milk and brown sugar.  Swing music played on the radio.

     She had two stoves, one electric and one coal-burning.
     "I'm just going out to catch a shepherd," she said before she made the shepherd's pie, although Celia knew she was joking.

     After the lunch, the three of them sat among the plants in the cozy armchairs in the conservatory.  A conservatory is a sort of greenhouse attached to the back of the house.  It is warm and has a sort of plant-smell like a greenhouse.
     Everyone read.  Celia read from a scintillating book called The Observer's Book Of British Grasses, Sedges and Rushes.  Nana read a little book about old English village life.  And Mother read medieval Welsh tales, in Welsh.  She had been sent to live in Wales as a child.  They were all so absorbed that they hardly noticed the time passing.

     They went out for a walk.  They walked along the sand dunes.  Celia played with her doll, Sarah, and buried her legs in the sand, making her into a mermaid.
     "Come on, Celia," cried Mother.
     Celia grabbed Sarah and hurried after Mother and her grandmother.

     When they came back, Nana showed Celia some of Auntie Mabel's drawings.  Auntie Mabel had taken up art in her late seventies.

     Everything seemed to be going well, until Celia accidentally got herself locked into Nana's bathroom.  Celia had locked the door with a key and, being young, she wasn't used to keys.  She cried and banged on the door until someone came to help her.

     "Are you locked in?" came her mother's voice through the door.

     "Yes," whimpered Celia, very tearfully.

     "Well, I'll get you out then," said Mother.  "Don't worry."  She went to get Nana. 
     Time passed and Celia gazed at the beautiful faux-marble wall tiles.  Mother and Nana returned.  Nana had a sheet of newspaper which she slid under the door.
      "Put the key on the newspaper, pet," said Nana kindly.
     Celia did as requested.  Nana slid the newspaper with the key on it towards herself under the door.  She unlocked the door from the outside and Celia was free.

     One day, Nana asked Celia to pick a treat for her to make.
     Celia thought about it for a minute.  Then she said, with an air of importance
     "Let me look through the Larousse," - a cookery encyclopaedia.  "...Vacherin with a crown of meringue," she said imperiously after looking.
     Nana rolled her eyes, but she took the time to prepare it - and was it good!

     "Thank you, Nana.  That was very kind," said Celia afterwards and kissed her on the cheek.  "You know what I love about you, Nana?  I love your fishcakes, your bungalow in the country, your coal-shed and your vegetable garden, your gorgeous dresses and the time you get up, your porridge and your swing music.  I love your stoves and your shepherd's pie, your conservatory and your drawings by Mummy's aunt."
     "Time for bed, dear," said Mother.
     Mother put Celia to bed.

     "What I love most about Nana is she has love," said Celia snuggling down under the blanket and going to sleep.  Celia felt better and went home the next day.

                                                                            THE END

My Religious Background

www.mormon.org is where you may go if you want to find out about my background religiously.
Jesus Christ is alive and he is my Saviour.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

The Elephant And The Girl by Joanne Morris Okano

Dedicated to Emma, Anna, Nadia, and Genya of St. Petersburg, Russia.  Many thanks to Kam.

     Ilya the elephant was born in Russia  The zoo where the elephant was born couldn't afford to feed him and his mother, even though the Russian people, who were very poor, very kindly brought them things to eat.  So the elephants were sold to London Zoo.  Ilya was a good boy and ate all his food.
     One night Ilya's mother died, during a lightening storm which caused power outages and the loss of land lines all over London and the surrounding countryside for miles.
     A careless new zoo worker forgot to close the elephants' cage after zoo workers took out the mother elephant's body.
     "Clang!"  went the door shut in the wind and opened again.
     Ilya was very lonely.  He didn't understand what was happening and tried to follow his mother.  He walked out of the cage and trotted down the road until he reached the Common, where people used to graze their animals in medieval times.
     In the countryside lived a fine family.  The father's name was Frederick, the mother's name was Dalia, and they had a little girl - oops, a big girl, named Daphne.  Their family lived in an old house that was part of an officers' mess for the Royal Air Force during World War II.  It had been bombed in the war and was now two homes.
     When the zookeeper found the elephant was missing, it was announced on the radio.  It didn't take too long before the elephant was found, you think. Who could miss an elephant in their garden?
     Well, this was a big garden and Dalia was rather short-sighted.
     "There's something moving about in the bushes," pointed out Dalia to her husband, a kind man, as she peered through the French windows.
     "Mmm, what's that, dear?" asked her loving husband, looking up nonchalantly from his newspaper.  He couldn't see Ilya, because Dalia was standing in the way.  By the time she moved, the elephant was gone.
     Being a kind husband, Frederick took notice of his wife's suspicions and gallantly went out into the garden to investigate.  The footprints were unmistakeable.
     Baby elephant.
     "Harrumph.  What?  That can't be an elephant, but it looks like one,"  said Frederick, and tramped back into the house to break the news to his wife.
     "Who could have lost an elephant?" she asked vaguely.
     "I will catch it," said Frederick, resolutely.  He put on his wellies and his Tilly hat and headed off with his fishing net to catch the baby elephant.  Into the bushes Frederick went, pushing back the undergrowth.
     "Come with me, little one," he said in a surprised tone, when he had come to the baby elephant.  He led Ilya gently by the trunk to the 1920s garage and closed the French windows behind him.  (The Jaguar was parked outside.)
     "There.  Done!"  Frederick said to his wife, brushing the elephant dust off his hands, when he had gone inside.
      "Well done, dear," she said admiringly.
     "Now we'd better get it some food, or it's going to perish.  And then we'd better telephone the police," said Frederick.
     "Yes, dear," said Dalia, blissed out at her husband's bravery.
     Together they fetched a small bowl of peanuts and some water, not knowing what else or how much elephants ate.
     Frederick was about to take out the food and water himself, but before he reached the kitchen door, his wife gazed adoringly at him and said,
     "I'll do it, dear."  Dalia took ti out to the garage and gingerly let herself in.

     "Hello, little one," she said, put the food and water bowls down on the ground and slipped out again, closing the door behind her.
     Now, as stated before, Ilya was a good boy and ate all his food!  He walked out through the French windows at the back of the garage and sauntered through the garden, eating plants and leaves.  He drank the water in the bird fountain, and ate the rhododendrons.  He drank the water in the fishpond.
     Frederick tried to phone the police, but although the power had come on again, the landline was still down because of the lightening storm the night before, and the cell phone had run out of juice.
      Now, Frederick had a cold coming on, so Dalia lovingly made him some Chicken Noodle Soup.  Then she took their 10-year-old daughter Daphne to the Open Day at Daphne's school.
     Dalia left the side door of the house unlocked and shouted, " Goodbye!"
     Dalia and Daphne drove away in the Jaguar, and Ilya emerged out of the bushes and let himself into the kitchen, along with the neighbour's cat, Pushkin.
     "Now, let's see what's going on in the world today," said Frederick to himself, getting back to his newspaper.  He stood up perusing The Times.
     Ilya found the pot of Chicken Noodle Soup and slurped up some of the noodles with his trunk.  "Slurp!"  He accidentally knocked the pot lid, which was resting on the counter, onto the kitchen floor.  The cat Pushkin jumped out of the way.  Hearing a lot of commotion, Frederick turned around and saw Pushkin, whom Frederick assumed to be the guilty party in the upset of the potlid.  Two vases also lay on the ground, smashed, Frederick noticed.
     "Well, well, my little friend, I think I'd better return you to your master," said Frederick, and then still reading his newspaper, Frederick walked over, picked up Pushkin, strolled out and called to the neighbour over the fence, "Richard!"
     "Good Morning, Frederick!"  answered Richard, marching up to the fence.  "How may I be of service?"
     "Pushkin got into my house, and was disrupting my home.  You know, an Englishman's home is his castle and all that."
     "Oh, yes," said Richard, taking the cat, and a bit puzzled.

     Frederick strode back inside, only to see smashed plates and bowls on the floor.  He looked into one corner of the kitchen to see the baby elephant with a plate held in its trunk.  The elephant noticed him and then dropped the plate, and looked down as it shattered, surprised by the noise.
      "Oh, no, no, no, little one!" said Frederick.  "Now what do I do?" he muttered.
     The doorbell rang.
     "Stay there!"  said Frederick to Ilya.
     A lady had come to visit Frederick and Dalia, his sister Agnes to be exact.
     "Hello," she said, wearing her most beautiful hat.  She didn't know the elephant was there and Frederick didn't tell her about him.  Agnes was very het up and said,
     "You didn't remember to send Mother's birthday card.  You know how important it is to her, now that she's in the nursing home."
     "I did...I mean I tried to, but it got lost in the post and was returned to me," he replied, brandishing the card which he produced from the mantelpiece.
     Unbeknown to Agnes, Ilya the elephant came up behind her and removed her hat.
     "Eeek!"  she screamed, when she turned around and saw him behind her, eating her hat.
     She stormed out.  Frederick led the elephant back outside and penned him up in the garage again, this time with a bucket of water and several armfuls of greenery...and the doors locked of course.

     The cell phone battery was recharged and Frederick phoned the Holy Brotherhood, as he liked to call the police, after the monks in medieval Spain who used to perform policing duties on horseback.
     Daphne and Dalia waltzed in from the Open House.  Daphne was right into a book she was reading and dashed up to her room to read, without wasting any time.  It had started to rain and she loved the rain, for she felt so cozy inside the house, snuggled with a book.  Her mother still hadn't told Daphne about the elephant.  Daphne hadn't given her a chance.  She had been too busy telling her mother the plot of the book she was reading, which in case you were wondering, was Children Of The New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat.
     Meanwhile, Frederick her father was busily cleaning up after the elephant's antics inside the house.
     "Just broken china,"  he told his wife.
     Soon the police arrived on horseback with the zookeeper in a big van.  The zookeeper caught the elephant, led it up a ramp into the van and drove away.
     The elephant was so sad.  He thought he had found some friends, you see.  He sniffled and blew his trunk on the zookeeper's handkerchief.
     Frederick and Dalia cried, too, for they loved the elephant.
     "Animal rescue has improved our marriage, I would say, wouldn't you?"  asked Frederick, as he wiped away the tears.
     "Yes, dear,"  said Dalia.
     "Tickety-boo,"  said Frederick.  "Let's get on with our day."
     Now this was a special day.  It was Daphne's tenth birthday and her Nana's too.
Daphne's parents had decided that for a special birthday treat, they would take her and her Nana up to London on the train for a visit to the ballet, which was in town. 
     "What's happening, Mummy?" asked Daphne, rushing to the door as the van and the horses moved off around the corner.
     "Oh, just an elephant,"  said Dalia, dreamily.  "Come on, let's pick up Nana and take her to the station."

     So Daphne, Nana and Daphne's parents went to see the ballet.  Daphne purchased a programme and read it.  That was one of her favourite parts.  She enjoyed the ballet and had ice cream at the interval from the ice cream lady standing with a tray of ice cream by the stage.  Daphne thrilled to the finale of the ballet.  A standing ovation was given by the audience at the end of the performance.  Daphne turned to her parents and said,  "I'd like to be a ballet dancer.  May I take lessons?"
     They told her that would be fine.  Then Dalia said,  "While we're up in London, let's go to the zoo and introduce you to the elephant."
     They took the Tube and marched right up to the elephant's cage.
     "Hello, Ilya!"  said Dalia.  "This is Nana, and this is our dear daughter Daphne."  All the time they were getting strange glances from nearby onlookers.
     Ilya touched Daphne's hair with his trunk and trumpeted with joy.  He loved children.  He was feeling rather tired from his early morning wanderings and went to the back of his cage and lay down.
     The zookeeper was happening by and asked if Daphne wanted to feed Ilya.
     "Would you like to feed Ilya a cabbage or two?"  They eat lots, you know,"  asked the kindly zookeeper.
     "Ooh, yes, please!"  exulted Daphne.
     "One moment!"  said the zookeeper and left to grab some food.
     Daphne turned and said to Ilya, "I'm going to feed you".
     Ilya, gaining interest, walked over.  Just at that moment, the zookeeper hurried back with a wheelbarrow full of cabbages and lettuces.
     Daphne gasped!  "That's a lot of cabbages!"
     "Well, I told you they eat a lot," said the zookeeper.
     Daphne fed Ilya through the cage bars.  He gobbled up her offerings faster than she could give them to him.
     The zookeeper came over to Daphne's parents and said,
     "Hey, aren't you the pair whose garden Ilya wandered into, earlier today?"
     "Could we borrow him from time to time?"  asked Frederick.
     "Why yes, then he'll be happy!"  said the zookeeper.  He shook their hands and sauntered off.

     Their first field trip was on a December day, to have the exhilarating experience of seeing the antiques at London's Bermondsey Market.  They set off on a frosty morning in the wee hours, for the market ran from 6am to lunchtime.  It was still dark out.  The family of three drove to London Zoo and picked up Ilya.  For want of space in the car, they let him ride on the roofrack.  They arrived at Bermondsey Market and ate breakfast together in a cozy little cafe.
     They pored through the bric-a-brac in the antique market, fascinated, not minding the musty smells and the dust.  Finally, the family and their friend Ilya came to their find of the day, an old metal sign from Liverpool Street Station, from the Victorian era.  Suddenly, they could hear the trains.  They imagined they boarded one.  They felt the wind in their hair and saw the steam puff, the wheels turn as the train chugged slowly out of the station.

     Again, a little while later, the family borrowed Ilya, to spend the day in their garden the following spring.  The daffodils and crocuses were blooming.  There was a little stone bench in a rose garden.  The four of them closed their eyes as they sat there, and heard the whispered words of a woman's prayer, "May Britain win the war".
     Suddenly, the roses bloomed and they could see the house as it used to be, as one giant building, used by the officers of the Royal Air Force in World War II.  The officers' mess was a little distance from the airport.  The four saw people in R.A.F. uniforms milling about in the garden, playing croquet and chatting.  The air raid siren went off.  The officers on duty, the commanding officers and ground officers jumped into their vehicles and drove to Biggin Hill airport.  Daphne, Frederick and Dalia ran for it.  Ilya just stood there and gawped, until Daphne grabbed him by the trunk and dragged him into the garage, just as enemy planes flew overhead.

     Daphne practiced her ballet every day and years passed.  She became a ballerina.

     Daphne danced the part of Rupinder in the story of the friendship of Princess Jazbreet And Her Servant.

     Rupinder was a little servant girl who lives in the poor part of town.  Every day she goes to work in the grand country home of Princess Jazbreet, sweeping and washing the floors.  They become friends and play together.
     One day Princess Jazbreet goes away to the big city to a palace and forgets about little Rupinder.  Jazbreet goes to parties, dinners and has new embroidered clothes made for her.  She is introduced to Prince Kulwinder and they fall in love.
     After a time, she goes back to her country home.  How ashamed she feels when she finds that Rupinder has been coming to her house every day, hoping to see her, while Jazbreet had forgotten her friend.
     Although it is forbidden by her father,  the King, Jazbreet goes to Rupinder's home, where Rupinder's mother makes Jazbreet chapattis.  In this humble home, Jazbreet feels love as she has never before felt.
     Her father, the King, is angry when he finds out, but Jazbreet knows she did the right thing, by being a true friend.  He throws her out for disobeying him, but Rupinder takes her in to live in their little home.  Rupinder loses her job, and the friends live in poverty.
     One day as Jazbreet is walking outside the house, she hears the sounds of elephants and voices coming.  It is Prince Kulwinder riding an elephant (played by Ilya).  Kulwinder recognizes her and they smile.  Rupinder tells him the story.
     Prince Kulwinder, Princess Jazbreet and Prince Kulwinder's entourage go to the country home of Jazbreet's father.  The King has been missing his lovely daughter and regretting the hasty decision he made to throw her out.  He welcomes them in joyously and announces their engagement.  The kingdom rejoices and Rupinder and her mother come to live at the palace, where they are warmly received.  Rupinder gets lessons with the royal tutor and gets her old job back.  True friendship wins out in the end.

     The ballet ended and Ilya kissed Daphne.  They are true friends forever.
    
     Years later, Ilya found himself up in Heaven with his mother and his father.  All three of them trotted along the sand together at the beach as the waves went in and out with the tide.  They shared a joke.  And only their footprints remained you think, but no, they remained because people never die and nor do elephants, in Heaven!  Do you want to know what the joke was?  I'll tell you now.
     "My, my, how you've changed," said one, the mother.
      "I'll say I have," said Ilya, who was now bigger than she was.
      "But I like you better this way."  And then she cried with happiness, don't you think?
                                                                    THE END





























  

the black beret starts out.

Thrills. I joined the local chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists. (Fraser Valley Chapter).  Now I can be an artist for real.  I do illustrations for my picturebook manuscripts, also paintings of scripture stories and I paint Venice.  I am 48 and I like to yodel.