Out to dinner one evening Alana is introduced to a man her mother says is the father she never knew. Alana is reluctant to accept him wondering why he has suddenly appeared in her life. He has offered to help pay her tuition fees but at what price?

Are You My Father?

Alana scraped her chair back. She stood up and looked searchingly at the man sitting across the table from her at the restaurant. His complexion was a shade darker than her own honey-brown. She tried to visualize him as a younger man, his balding head with a full crop of black hair, his hanging jowls with firm cheeks but could not. Alana watched his Adam’s apple rise and fall. Mesmerized by his iridescent black eyes angry tears stung her brown ones when she couldn’t find a scrap of resemblance between them.

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The  fear and uncertainty a woman feels when she is alone after her husband dies. The fear of dealing with workmen, of feeling safe in her home in a politically charged atmosphere and the realisation that even those of her own cannot be trusted.

Fear

Stacy awoke with a start. Damn dog, what’s he whining about now? Droopy, her dog, had yelped as though someone had stepped on his tail. Then he was quiet again. Footfalls retreated. The bang of the outside door sent shivers through her. Someone had been in her house.

She pulled her nightshirt away from her body. It was wet. Soaking wet. Not the middle-age sweat she had grown accustomed to but a cold and clammy dampness that smelt of fear. Her heart thumped, her hands shook as she reached for the bedside phone. No ring tone. Good grief.  Were the lines cut?

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Princess Zsa Zsa lives in a tropical rain forest and sees a white topped mountain from her bedroom window. She asks her dad about it and he says he thinks it is snow and ice which he has never seen. Princess Zsa Zsa vows to see snow and ice someday.

Princess Zsa Zsa and the Dragon

Six-year old Princess Zsa Zsa lived in El Dorado, the city of gold, in the Amazon rainforest. Her mansion was surrounded by tall trees on three sides and huge mountains on the other. There was gold in the hills, in the rivers and in the ground but the people did not care much for the gold.

Her father, mother and two sisters lived here with the princess. She was the middle child. Sarala, the eldest sister, loved to read so had little time to play with her. Baby sister Tayo slept during the day. This left Princess Zsa Zsa lots of time to daydream. From her bedroom window she looked out at the mountains.

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A week after  Princess Zsa Zsa’s seventh birthday Komodo Dragon returns to El Dorado. He takes the Princess to the top of a mountain where she sees snow for the first time. But did she like it?

Princess Zsa Zsa Finds Snow

Princess Zsa Zsa sat in her hammock one hot, summer day. She looked up and there in the sky was a long, smoky streak making its way towards El Dorado. Not sure what it was, the Princess ran to hide behind a giant tree. From there she peeked through her fingers as the line got nearer and nearer.

Thud. Thud. The thing landed. The Princess stared, rubbed her eyes and looked again. “Komodo Dragon you came back.” She squealed and ran to hug him.

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It had been three months since the Paul family,husband, mother and son Jason had arrived in a little village in China. She was a teacher of English and Mr. Paul  was a post-graduate student. November had arrived and still the villagers did not accept them. Christmas was approaching and  missing her home in Canada Mrs. Paul made a little tree from  scraps  of materials she found. The twinkling lights she strung around the Holiday Tree as she named it ,caught the eye of little Feng-Feng. He wanted a Shu  just like that for his home.

His mother came to the school to see what had  caused  her only child to be so excited. Life for the Paul family changed dramatically .

The Holiday Tree

“Teacher, can I take this shu to my house?” Feng-Feng asked Mrs.Paul the morning after she’d set up an imitation tree in her classroom. His legs splayed, eyes glued to the flickering bulbs, his right fist opening and closing in unison with the lights, the five year old boy seemed entranced.

Mrs. Paul smiled. “If your mother can come to the school tomorrow, I’ll show her how to make one. We’ll keep this for the class. Okay.”

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The migration of human souls legally or not is age-old and one easily exploited when only an imaginary line separates countries such as Canada and the USA.

Ivan attempts to cross that border three times on the ice bound River Road, but luck was not his on that fatal night.

The River Road

Ivan Ivanco laced up his construction boots and ploughed through foot-high snow drifts on River Road. The crisp, cold air invigorated him. There was purpose in his stride when he headed towards the Niagara River that December morning.

He focused on the second half of his journey. He knew the river was his ticket out of Canada into the U.S.A. but how he crossed that waterway was still to be determined. He had no identification papers.

In 1946 Ivan, like many other restless Europeans, had set his heart on sharing in the American dream. To achieve that prosperity he came to Canada. He’d find his way down south, somehow.

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