RAotW #65

Hello all, and welcome to a new edition of Reader Art of the Week. This week’s art comes to us from blog reader Anna (me!!!!). Check out her short fiction story below:

Why: A Short Story on Wonder

I was walking back home. Well, skipping, actually (I had gotten full marks on a test), when out of the blue, literally, a small, dark shape came careening down from the sky, breaking up my everyday routine, though I did not know it, forever. As it fell, I thought. I was in an enclosed bubble. Time stood still. And slowly, slowly, I came to a conclusion. I would save that falling object. And it was small. It would not crush me, or pin me beneath its pitiful body. I would save it. As I lay, trying to get to sleep that night, I wondered why. I had not known that I would soon hold a living, breathing creature, or that the same creature would be curled up in my arms later that evening; large, fleshy fingers against small, delicate wings. All that I had known was that I could not let that small object lie broken on the ground, heart as faint as a butterfly’s wings, doomed to be no longer part of the world, when I could have been there, cradling a small baby bird in my arms.

Neat, huh? I like how Anna keeps the suspense up and keeps us guessing at what the object in the sky is until the very end of the last line. I also like the message it sends about how small, brave actions can change us and others around us forever. Very cool.

Many thanks to Anna for sending in her story. ’Til next time…!

Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com