One night, Millie was up late reading in bed. She finished the book she was reading (The Story of Ferdinand) and looked over to her shelves to see what else she might read before she went to bed. Right there on her shelf was something she had never seen before. It was a blue bottle. The blue bottle was about as tall as a small book, had a round bottom, and a thin neck. And while the bottle looked as if it were made out of glass, Millie could not see through it. Millie got out of bed and went over to the bottle. She picked it up, carefully, afraid that it might break. She was surprised at just how heavy it was. Certainly heavier than any other bottle this size she had ever before lifted.

She looked down into the bottle, but it was too dark inside to see anything. So she shook it. She heard a rattling sound. There was something inside! She turned the bottle upside down and shook it again, to see if anything would fall out. Something almost fell out and then it didn't. Whatever was inside was now stuck in the bottle's neck. Millie shook harder and harder. Finally, something small fell onto the floor. It was a ...

I'm sure you've heard of children who have imaginary friends.

Perhaps you had or have one yourself. But have you ever heard of grown ups having one? Would you think they were a little crazy? And what if they kept telling you that this imaginary friend was your older sister?

Deddy (short for "Daedalus") kept hearing his parents talk about his   older sister, Chandra, but he never saw her around. They would set out food for her, which she would never eat. Which was too bad, because there frequently wasn't enough food to go around and Deddy had to go a little hungry so his "imaginary sister" could have some, even though she never ate any of it.

Whenever Deddy asked his parents where his sister was, they would shake their heads, look very sad, and say, "We don't know." Whenever he asked if he could see a picture of her, they would shake their heads, look even sadder, and say, "We don't even have a picture of her."

So, you can imagine that Deddy thought his parents were a little crazy, setting out food at dinner for a sister that, as far as Deddy could tell, didn't exist.

Then one day, he realized his parents weren't so crazy after all.

At the edge of a forest, where a cliff overlooks an ocean, a couple tall trees were talking in the dark late one night.

One said, "May I ask you something?"

"Certainly," said the other.

"I know you all have been all over the world. I, on the other hand... well, I have never been out of this forest. So my question is, What was it like for you in other places?"

The other tree brought in its branches a bit to gather its thoughts.

"Well, I'll tell you," it said.

But it couldn't. Because at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew. And then another, and another, and suddenly you couldn't see the stars anymore for the clouds racing up.

As we drive to my favorite Chinese restaurant for my 13th birthday, I look out the window and watch the raindrops drizzle down the window. It’s April, my birthday month, so I’ve learned to live with the rain. “We’re almost there,” my mother told me. “I can’t wait for the egg rolls!” I exclaimed. The egg rolls are my favorite.

 As we pulled into the parking lot I was ecstatic. “Mommy? I’m hungry,” my little sister said. “I know, but we’re almost inside,” my mother said patiently. 

 After we ate, I told my parents I was full, so we took our fortune cookies home with us. After a few hours I got hungry and grabbed the last fortune cookie. As I opened the cookie I saw the fortune and it read…