smile, dressed in a bright red T-shirt, jeans
and white runners, he began to run to-
wards their home. Rosanna had never seen
his feet move so fast. He couldn’t get home
fast enough.
Now that her dream of becoming a bird
had come true, Rosanna was happier than
she could ever remember being in her life.
From way up high she could see all the
children playing in the park. People walked
and jogged, and the seagulls and pigeons
gathered by the shore just like they always
did. Now she was one of them. Where
would she go now that she was a bird? she
wondered.
She could go to China to see Grandad’s
village where he lived as a small boy like
they talked about. But she thought that
without Grandad the village might be hard
to find and decided it wouldn’t be that
much fun without him. She’d nev-
er been that far from home and it
might be scary going all that way
alone.
Even though Rosanna knew Grandad
was worried about her, she wanted to fly
around the edge of the park and see what
she could see. She saw a boat in the har-
bour, people taking pictures and cars driv-
ing along the road.
Then she saw the large totem poles near
the entrance to the park and decided to take
a rest—flying was hard work. Perched on
top of the highest pole, she looked around.
What a glorious view she had from up here.
She loved feeling the wind in her face.
After a few minutes rest, Rosanna felt
better and flew across the park to find her
home. She knew she could rest in the tree
outside her bedroom window for the night
or until she decided where else to go.
When she got near her home she realized
everyone in her neighbourhood was panick-
ing. A police car was parked outside her
house. From up in the tree top outside her
bedroom window she could hear people call-
ing out, “Rosanna, where are you, Rosanna?”
Her brother stuck his head out the win-
dow and called, “Rosanna!” Her mother
leaned out the kitchen window and hol-
lered, “Rosanna!” Then her father walked
out the front door and yelled at the top of
his lungs, “Rosanna!” Grandad sat on a
chair on the veranda looking very sad.
My goodness, she had quite a problem
now! She was having such fun up in the sky
being free, but her family was so worried
about her. What should she do?
After thinking for awhile , Rosanna decid-
ed she would fly down to the veranda. She
swooped down and saw her family through
the window. They admired the beautiful
bird that had come to visit. One of them even
came out with bread crumbs. Her Grandad
looked up and smiled at her, but she was a
seagull and he didn’t recognize her.
When everyone was back inside, Rosan-
na decided to wish very hard to become a
girl again. She knew that she wouldn’t be
able to fly and be free as a bird, but that she
would make her family very happy by
becoming a girl again.
In a few seconds, Rosanna looked
down and saw that she looked just the
same as she did this morning when she
left home. She could see her white runners,
her jeans and her hands. She boldly stepped
towards the door and knocked.
When the door opened, everyone called
out “Rosanna, Rosanna is home. Where
have you been? Hurray! Rosanna is home!”
Someone called out, “Let’s have a party,
tell the neighbours, Rosanna is home!” It
wasn’t long before people were streaming
in the door with food. Someone even
brought a cake. Everyone was overjoyed
because Rosanna was home. Rosanna was
very happy they weren’t all angry with her.
The little girl felt very happy inside, and
just at that very moment, she heard her
mother call loudly, “Rosanna, you must get
up now or you’ll be late for school!” ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTOFEELING INSPIRED?
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