It’s a Love Story: Part I

It was a hot June Saturday when 17 students from all over made their way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They all arrived at different times, so there were games and such in the chapel of the brick building. The first floor houses the chapel and a ton of offices; the second floor also houses offices. The third and fourth floor have been turned into dormatories with a common bathroom. The girls lived on the 3^rd floor; the guys on the 4^th. No girls were allowed on the guys’ floor, no guys allowed on the girls’ floor. But there was a common room besides the chapel that would be open to both everyone part of the project, all the time. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It had been a long car ride from Austin, Minnesota, with my new friend Ashley and her family, who brought us to the building called “City on a Hill.” My mother had gotten me from my home in Cottonwood, MN to Austin the night before, when I met Ashley and her family for the first time. Anyway, her family, as well as the Project Staff, helped us bring our things to our perspective rooms. When we felt we were somewhat settled (to unpack then or not? How about….not really), we were invited to go downstairs (or elevator) to the chapel and join the game of Nertz. I, being my timid and shy self, was nervous about meeting new people. But over a game? That was alright. This is when Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I first met. As I sat down, names were shared around the table. And actually, I didn’t give Dr. Coyote much thought. The Summer Missions Project, hosted by Cru, lasted from the middle of June to the beginning of Here are some of our most memorable moments together:

1. In conversation with each other at an outdoor picnic at somebody’s house:

Dr. Coyote: Sometimes I don’t know what to think about, so I just think about nothing.

Anna: Nothing? Like, the concept of nothing?

Dr. Coyote: No, nothing.

Anna: I didn’t even know that was possible.

Dr. Coyote: Yeah, I do that a lot.

2. At the beach:

Anna: Will somebody help me put sunscreen on my back?

Dr. Coyote: Sure.

Anna: Thanks.

3. After Project, when I was texting a bunch of my Summer Project Family because I missed them, Dr. Coyote and I were talking about being motivated to get into the Word:

Anna: Well, do you have an accountability partner for that? To make sure you are getting in the Word?

Dr. Coyote: No

Anna: You should find one.

Dr. Coyote: Would you be my accountability partner?

And we did talk about the Bible a lot….still do, actually.

 

There were a few other moments that happened on Project with no words, that I thought was pretty cool:

1. We played a lot of Rummy 500 in smaller groups—about 6 was the max that played. I taught everyone, and I won a lot. I liked that. But sometimes other people would win. The Rummy 500 groups got smaller and smaller. I even remember playing Rummy 500 with just Dr. Wile E. because I wanted to play it with someone and he liked cards. I beat him. Most of the time.
2. There were a lot of throwing water on each other and pranking each other. Once, we went to a Brewer’s game, and Dr. Coyote was sitting in front of me. I had just gotten a cold water bottle. So I did the only other logical thing and pressed it to his neck. He gave me no reaction. When he was walking to a seat a few rows above me, I looked at him, and he just smiled. To this day he still doesn’t give me reactions.
3. I wrote a bunch of letters in codes, and most of my friends were like, “Cool, but I don’t have time to translate that.” But DR. COYOTE WROTE ME BACK, IN CODE! This is while we were still on project. The trend continued.

Here are some pictures from summer Project:

 

I think this was the first picture that we were both in together. Wow, we’re even sitting next to each other! Nope, don’t remember that.

I only slightly remember this, and I DON’T remember the guy on the right-hand side of this picture being there…

I remember this. By this time I thought this Doug person was cute, but I was too shy to ask for a picture with just him…..

I don’t remember this, but we were geniuses together even then, apparently.

Aww, our first photobomb together!

And all these pics were taken before we reached the Project half-way point!  But you see the trend. By the end of Project, I had this little crush on this “Doug”-person. I even talked about him a little to my family, I guess. Anyway, I started writing hand-written letters to everyone on Project. Only one person continually wrote back. I get a reply, I write back. And so Dr. Coyote and I kept in touch, mostly through snail mail, for three-ish years. Texting a little, too. Especially to talk about the Word at first. But then there was this one texting conversation June 2013, where this little story took a little turn.

 

Stay tuned! 😉

Anna

“A Blessing in the Dust”

A Blessing in the Dust
From Jan Richardson’s Painted Prayer Book

You thought the blessing
would come
in the staying.
In casting your lot
with this place,
these people.
In learning the art
of remaining,
of abiding.

And now you stand
on the threshold
again.
The home you had
hoped for,
had ached for,
is behind you-
not yours, after all.

The clarity comes
as small comfort,
perhaps,
but it comes:
illumination enough
for the next step.

As you go,
may you feel
the full weight
of your gifts
gathered up
in your two hands,
the complete measure
of their grace
in your heart that knows
there is a place
for them,
for the treasure
that you bear.

I promise you
there is a blessing
in the leaving,
in the dust shed
from your shoes
as you walk toward home-
not the one you left
but the one that waits ahead,
the one that already
reaches out for you
in welcome, in gladness
for the gifts
that none but you
could bring.

 

My cousin Katrina shared this on her blog, thinking about the friends who became family over the last year.  This spoke to me, especially, because of the move Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I will be making to Kentucky to begin our lives together after we are married.  I have always had the opinion that the people you are with make the places you go special. I love the flat prairies of home, while even a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota can wear me out.  Who knows what living in the mountains of Kentucky will be like.  There are blessings in the dust– in the little things, wherever you go and wherever you leave.  This path where life has taken me is great, and I am so excited to see what comes next.  Oh, the places we’ll go!

I won’t say too much, because too many thoughts and emotions come to my head to write about decently.  I see blessings everywhere.  In the coming, in the going….even when you wanted to leave but you stay (last summer) or you wanted to stay and you leave.  In the smiles that greet you different places you go, in the familiar or new things you experience.  It’s just great.

 

Blissfully,

Anna

Grace, Getting Married, and Gearing Up :)

Two weeks. HEY EVERYONE, I’M GETTING MARRIED IN TWO WEEKS! Less than that now. 🙂 I am doing physical therapy (last one will be the Wednesday before), I will get my new AFO brace the Tuesday before, and I just have a lot of feels right now. I went to my cousin Trish’s wedding on Saturday, and I started losing it at her reception. Totally not the place to start crying. I don’t even notice stress anymore, and I push it to the side. But it’s messing with me, and I don’t like it. Oh, no. I’m not stressed about the wedding or anything. I’m actually quite excited for that. Everything is falling into place, and it will be the best day I can’t even imagine. It’s other things. You know, leaving everyone and everything here. Saying good-bye to my roommates last week, when I have no idea when I’ll see them again. Packing when I don’t really have any idea what I’ll be needing for work. Starting a new adventure of many unknowns. Being able to see Dr. Wile E. Coyote more than once a month because of a nine-hour difference, but every DAY because we’ll be married! The inevitable culture shock that moving to Kentucky from the northern Midwest of the South Dakota-Minnesota-Wisconsin region.

I’m also kind of worried that at first, the pre-doc and I will drive each other nuts. In our premarital counseling, we spoke of examples of this: Say I put the spatulas in one drawer, but Doug thinks they should go in a different drawer and we fight about it. We’re not really fighting about where the spatulas go, but grieving the loss of our childhoods. Now, this is only a hypothetical example. This has been bothering me quite a bit lately, as I see some of Dr. WEC’s quirks and view them in a negative light. I even see some of my quirks and worry about how D will perceive them. But there is this ridiculous word that God has been leading me to, and I can’t really give Dr. Wile E. Coyote any grief. This word is GRACE.

This morning at church, we talked about the parable where the landowner goes into the village to get workers for his vineyard more than once in a day. Some workers were hired at noon, 3pm, and 5pm, even, when the rest of the workday started at 6am and finished at 6pm. The end of the day comes, and the landowner pays those who came last to work first, and those who got there in the morning last. And he gave them the exact same pay. There are other parables in the Bible that make us feel good and rejoice. Like the prodigal son, who returns home after some bad choices but is welcomed home and his return celebrated. Woo! The Good Samaritan who helps the injured man on the side of the road. Woo! But the employer who pays all of his workers the exact same thing, whether they worked 12 hours or 1? That goes against a lot of things. But that is the crazy, ridiculous grace that we so often hear about. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been running the race—someone could have found the race path yesterday and reach the finish line tomorrow. God wants to welcome us all into his kingdom. In the parable, the owner speaks to the grumbling 12 hour workers: “I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” (Matthew 20:14b-15a).  Yep, God wants to give us all the same gift of eternal life.  Are you okay with that?

Talking with Dig-Doug this afternoon, he spoke about how on top of things we are. We totally have a plan, and God has been helping us throughout. He added, “We have each other through it all. And even bigger than that, we have the Lord.”

So, in answer to questions I have been hearing: Yes, I am excited to get married. Even though we have a few little things left to do, I am totally ready. Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I will be starting the adventure that will start in this chapter of our lives. The words “I do” will mark a beginning, and I am so excited.

Love to you all!

Anna

I Love, I Friend, I Keep in Contact!

One of my roommates told me today that if I move to KY and drop off the face of the earth where she’ll never hear me again, she’ll be very angry at me. Um, relationships are huge to me. I have learned the hard difference between authentic friends and convenient friends. I have been convenient for people to be friends with before, and I much prefer those authentic and true friends. And I look for them wherever I am. And I was thinking about how Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I will be moving around a lot for the first handful of years (it may be like, every hand being full between the two of us—maybe even toes, but I don’t know). So I decided that my Christmas list would keep growing, I would keep getting more awesome friends on Facebook that I’ll never want to unfriend because how can you creep on them?

One of the people I look up to tons is my Grandma Lois. She passed away about 5ish years ago, but I keep discovering more and more about her incredible life. She had MS, too, and there weren’t any medicines that worked well when she was diagnosed. So she was pretty immobile toward the end of her life. But every Christmas, somebody (usually my mother) would go through her Christmas list with her, update addresses, and see who could be taken off (but there usually was some adding, as well). Grandma Lois sent Christmas cards to her kids’ friends from high school and college. Now, I probably won’t do something like that, because I have enough friends as it is, and mailing Christmas cards is getting expensive (but totally worth it because everybody loves getting mail and checking in to see what everybody looks like now, who the kids are starting to look like, how old you should be feeling, etc). But everyone loved my grandma because she was so cheerful all the time and was nice to everyone. There are so many people that I don’t even know who know who I am and will tell me how much my grandma meant to me.  (I hope people say that about me someday!)

Anyway, I also like writing snail mail letters to people. This, too, is getting to be an expensive and time-consuming hobby. If I could, I would write way more letters than I actually do. But everybody smiles when there is non-bill-or-junk mail in the mailbox! I think I’ve mentioned it before, but my two biggest love languages are words of affirmation and quality time. Writing letters certainly takes time, and I love putting smiles on people’s faces. Note: If you write me a letter, I will most likely write you back. (How did Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I keep writing letters for so long? HE WROTE ME BACK. Just saying. Okay, so I wrote him more letters than he wrote me, but still. Continued communication goes two ways, people.)  The first thing any of you, my friends, should think of after you move is: I SHOULD SEND ANNA MY NEW SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS.  I mean it, people.  I keep having to track you down after reading about you moving to a new place on Facebook or something!

To sum up: I have a lot of friends, and the numbers will keep growing. Also, I will try my best to keep in contact with you all! I will never FORGET somebody, but I might forget to write you a letter back. Sorry! Also, I love all of my friends dearly. I took a quiz on Facebook (because there are so many right now) that says I have a deep and passionate heart (and it only took 9 questions!). Okay, but I actually think that’s true. I love a lot. And because God loves through me, too, of course my heart is big enough for everyone! And even though I’ve never actually met many of you who are reading this post, I love you just for reading it!

As my title says, “I love, I friend, I keep in contact!”  WHO’S WITH ME!? 🙂

Anna

A Fairytale

So, I wrote this a few months ago, but I had a friend recently edit it for me.  When I was writing it, I was thinking at how dumb chick flicks are cuz they never happen.  I myself was struggling with writing such a love story as my pen keeps wanting to write at times.  But then I was made aware of all the love stories in the Bible, so finally I set out to write what turned into this fairytale.  I wanted to cover some things that we don’t hear about in secular fairy tales.  Here’s what came to be! Hope you like.  =)^2 Anna

 

In a land far away, there lived a king and his queen who ruled the people with grace and justice.  The people loved and respected their king and queen, who were interested in their people as much as their family.  The two rulers lacked one thing: a child.  They longed for a child desperately, and waited until their patience almost died, but they would not give up hope.  And finally, through the queen was getting later in her years, it was announced to the kingdom that they would be having a baby.  An heir to the throne!  The whole kingdom rejoiced!  But when it was time for the baby to be born, a stillborn took the place of the happy baby they had been expecting.  Dare they wait for another?  What was this hope they had been waiting for?  And so patiently, they waited, until finally, the queen once again announced the coming of a child.  The kingdom was happy, though it held its breath.  And finally, a baby girl was born, healthy and happy.  And they named her Princess Naava, for she was beautiful.  A few days following her birth, the king and queen threw a party in rejoicing for their little girl, and the whole kingdom was invited!  Everyone, that is, except for Wasaki, the king’s arch enemy.  Always picking a fight, the king avoided Wasaki as much as possible, not that Wasaki would be avoided so easily.  It was still surprising, however, when he showed up anyway.

“What are you doing here?” boomed the king.  The guards positioned themselves to attack.

“I was just going to welcome your new little baby!  I notice my invitation was lost in the mail.” Wasaki smiled, even as a darkness shadowed the sky and his eyes at the same time.  The king knew of Wasaki’s jealousy and shuddered at his very presence in the room.  “I even brought a gift.”

“No!” cried his queen, reaching forward as she fell out of her seat.  The king drew her back.  His wife sometimes knew better than he the danger that lurked nearby.

“What are you going to do to her?” he asked in a threatening voice.  He kept his eyes focused on Wasaki, but felt his guards inch forward, readying their weapons.

Wasaki just smiled and started laughing cynically.  The king felt his anger rising.  “I said a gift, didn’t I?  He continued, ignoring the king’s muttering.  “My gift,” he proclaimed, “shall be your people’s first exposure to my world!”

The queen dashed to her feet, pulling away from her husband’s grasp.  She ran toward the cradle where her baby lay, panic strewn on her face.

Wasaki raised his hand up, and, just as the queen saw baby Naava’s precious face, both the baby and Wasaki vanished.

 

The king lost no time in banishing Wasaki’s presence in his land ever.  Wasaki probably had known it was coming, for he had established his world long ago.  But his rules and his laws left no being any room for fulfillment; the king had tried to go down there, but it was no use.  He could not get his daughter back.  Soon, word spread throughout the kingdom.  The king was willing to let anyone offer input if they thought it would help.  Few came, for they were all as stumped as the king himself.  All had heard about his failed attempts previously.  One day, a young man, who was merely a shepherd, called on the king as he was in the throne room.  The man expressed interest to the king in helping.

“Perhaps this will work,” said the young man as he presented his plan.

“You do know the cost of this plan?” the king asked the boy, hesitant.

“If it will save her, I will do it.”

“Why are you willing to do such a thing?” the king inquired.

“I have been hearing for years of this terrible thing that Wasaki has done.  He must be stopped.  And…I have not been able to stop thinking about the princess.”

The king nodded, comprehending what the young man was saying.  “Well, my attempts thus far have failed.  This you have no doubt heard.  But come with me, my boy, and we will make this the best rescue mission in all of history.”

 

Josiah had been a shepherd all his life.  It was pretty much all he knew.  He used to go out and “help” his dad and older brothers, when he would actually be doing more harm than good.  But he had learned the importance of keeping every one of his sheep safe.  Even if only one wandered off, he would go and look for that very one.  Josiah had been young when the princess had been taken, but it was talk for some time.  He had learned of her, and seen pictures of her as a babe.  He didn’t even know her.  But he found he was willing to give his life for her.  After consulting with his father, he knew what he must do.  So he had brought his plan before the king.  Since then, he had learned much and together, he and the king had indeed formed the rescue mission.  And he, a shepherd, would save Princess Naava.

 

Wasaki’s land was one parallel opposite of that which was his home.  Where goodness and grace reigned at home stood despair and dispute.  The list of differences went on, and Josiah found himself wondering what he got himself into.  The people were speaking, but no sense came from their mouths.  “Teach them,” had been his king’s instruction.  And so he did.  He began to speak of the way he grew up knowing and understanding things—the way of his homeland.  He found a group of friends who were happy to learn what he had to say.  Not everybody liked his teachings, but some were intrigued.  And one of those who was intrigued, Josiah eventually identified as Naava, although she didn’t know herself by that name.  So Josiah kept teaching, aware that when his mission was complete, Naava would find a new identity that was hers all along and be reunited with her father, who loved her more than any love he could see here.

The time came when Josiah knew he must finish the final task of the mission.  The act that would save not only Naava, but all who inhabited this land, from Wasaki and his evil ways.  His friends disapproved of it, but it had already been decided.  Once more, he checked in with his king, to ensure that this was the only way, for if another option had been found, he would prefer to take that instead.

 

The betrayal of one of his friends led to an arrest.  The arrest produced a death sentence, but it was a death sentence for Naava and the others, that they might be free.  And as J.C. hung on the cross, he cried, “It is finished!”  And then he died.  He was taken away and buried in a borrowed tomb.  Naava was among the women who went back after a day or two to go and clean the body.  She was also among one of the first to discover that he was no longer there!  He had risen!

 

Josiah took Naava by the hand and brought her home.  The kingdom was happy to have their princess back.  They rejoiced with a party that is still going on today.  Wasaki still has power over his land, but it won’t be long until the king will be back for an epic battle.  People taken by Wasaki are being returned home all the time; ordinary people who do extraordinary things.  They help missing sons and daughters find their true identity.  And eventually they all find what Josiah and Naava found…their happily ever after.

“Real Person” and Her Mishaps

Once upon a time there was a fictional character who was really cool.  Even though this character was only in the book series she starred in, all who read the stories fell in love and wanted to be her best friend (she was so cool!).

Then one day, one of the readers was like, “I think I’m gonna go into this story and hang out with this really cool character!”  And so, somehow, she did.  RP somehow got into the story and became a part of the action.  But RP?  She could leave the book whenever she wanted to join the real world again.

The author of the book had no idea where this new character, RP, was coming from.  The setting of the story was not even an actual place.  It was a fantasy-fiction series, for heaven’s sake!  Most of the characters had a super-power of some sort.  Apparently, this was RP’s—coming into the story and baffling everyone!

The readers delighted in the new character, but soon became jealous of RP and how similar she was to the most of them.  At school in the real world, RP had quickly become the most popular, for she knew what she would be doing before she did it.  She also kind of bragged about it.  In the story, too, RP’s popularity grew, for none of the other characters knew what would happen.

But pretty soon, RP became the bad guy.  Disrupting relationships?  Destroying the utopia that had been the setting of the book?  It is said that things get worse before they get better.  Even at school in the real world, RP had begun to make enemies.

After being confused at how her stories had come to involve RP, the author realized RP’s true identity.  So, the author grounded her daughter for her interference and hacking into her mother’s work computer.  And though the fictional characters had RP banned forever, the author started a new series just for RP and let her write whatever she wanted.  Creative writing shouldn’t be limited to just the published few, but all who enjoy it!

A Creative Writer Who Smiles A Lot, Anna =)^2 (Smiles Squared)

Dialogue-Only Challenge, II

So, this is my second take up of the challenge I first heard about in this blog by Limebird writer Neeks.  Yes, this was written in another of my random free-writes. I was thinking about my snowman collection my in room at home then I was thinking about the pig-barn on the farm I grew up on and then I was thinking about mudding in April in the field around our house on the 4-wheeler after it had been really wet winter but that’s not gonna be possible this year because we don’t have any snow.  And then I was just thinking about home.  This is what came of my random thinkings.  I’m not sure if it’s as easy to follow as my previous, but I thought I’d give it a try.

“Well.”

“Yup.”

“I guess that’s the end of that.”

“You bet.”

“Doesn’t look like too much damage on the truck.”

“What about that bumper?”

“Oh.”

“Yup.”

“Do you think I need that bumper?”

“Yup.”

“Maybe I can get it to stay.”

“Maybe.”

“Okay.  You hold this end here.  When I made it as long as the bumper is, stick it down.  We’ll just try some layers of this.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“It’ll work.  It’s golden!  But maybe if we wrap it around…”

“It looks like it’s staying.”

“But do you think it’ll stay when I drive it?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, we’ll do a couple more wrap-arounds.”

“And the deer?”

“Let’s pull it to the side of the road so nothing else hits it.  Too bad the rendering truck doesn’t find all the deer ‘til spring.”

 

“What, did you paint the bumper silver?  You did a terrible job.”

“And you could have done better?”

“Do you even have to ask?  A woman has got the touch.”

“Well, I’m sorry, dear.  Next time, before a deer jumps out onto the highway, I’ll make sure we’re closer to home.”

“What, did you use the whole roll?  How much tape did you put on here?”

“Enough.  It didn’t even move when I drove home.”

“Well, good for you.  But you’re gonna have to replace that headlight.  Get a new bulb in it, too.  Might as well get a new bumper.”

“And ruin my handiwork?”

“You’re…fine.  But cover the headlight, then.  Or tape that back together, too.”

“I really like duct tape.”

Dialogue-Only Challenge

The following short story was a product of a challenge I read about on this blog to write such a story using only dialogue.  This is my first attempt of the challenge, written during one of my free-writes that happen to be about as random as a rooster in the pig barn.  However, I  challenge you to try it, too!

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Why?”

“You’ve been acting a little weird lately.”

“Weird?  Is that what you call it?”

“Angry, then.  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, I know it’s something.  Is it something that I did?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry for what I did.”

“I didn’t say it was something you did.”

“Well, then, tell me who made you mad and I’ll add them to my hit list.”

“Ha.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?  I’m serious.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Okay, well, maybe not a hit list.  A hate list?”

“You’re not supposed to hate.  It says so in the Bible.  Hating a person is as bad as killing them.”

“Well then.  Hit list, hate list…same difference then, right?  I’ll add them to the list.”

“You’re such a dork.”

“Yeah, but you love me anyway and you know it.”

“Well, after you put the McDonalds’s on your list, you should go to confession.”

The Story of the Flabble (Remix)

So, I didn’t think the first flabble story was super-greatly written.  So I did one that made me feel better about myself.  I hope you like it!  -Anna =)^2

.

Once, living upon an island of which you’ve never heard,

There was a flabble named Lusah with vibrant black hair and wings of a bird.

With feet webbed and hairy, she could glow as well as fly.

But that’s not all—she could at will also change her size.

The village of flabbles was referred to as an eiair.

Life was pleasant, with no dangers to fear.

Lusah lived in an iloe, as flabbles do.

She had a pet yellek who could fly, too.

When she would go outside to give her yellek exercise,

She would ride upon his back so she’d change her self size.

She would go into work and make connections between ibemes.

Every flabble had one, except for the older who hadn’t caught on to new things.

She would eat ralkrs and yelleks when hers wasn’t looking.

One of her strengths, as it turned out, was not cooking.

All of the flabbles did the same thing every day.

No one would get bored—life was just that way!

But one day, as Lusah took her yellek out to fly,

She paused for a moment and wondered “why?”

Why were all the flabbles content with life the same?

Didn’t anybody wonder what would happen if it were to change?

So Lusah DIDN’T connect all the ibemes at work,

And she DIDN’T eat her ralkrs but instead held a smirk.

Soon, others started asking her what was wrong.

When she’d fly or ride on her yellek, she’d be out extra long!

So she aroused the questions in their minds, too.

“Why are we flabbles content with what we do?”

It didn’t take long before the other flabbles sharted changing.

All of their doings, they started re-arranging!

Soon, all the flabbles were having a lot more fun,

And the entire eiair was wondering why this was the first time something had been done!

 

The moral of this story is to keep life interesting.

Don’t lose yourself in boringness but strive for smiley glimmering!

The Story of The Flabble

I recently came up with a new game: do the crossword in the paper as far as you can, and then, when stuck, fill in the blank to make new words!  I have only done this once, but I thought I should justify some of these nonsense words.  Thus, this story was born.  See if you can identify the made up words and their new meanings (there are 20 made up words).

Once upon a time there was a flabble.  The flabble was beautiful, with lime green wings with which she could fly, and vibrant black hair that glowed.  She had hairy webbed feet, and wore a roner, for her hairless arms grew cold at times.  Her superpowers were referred to as velo, for she glowed, could fly, and could make herself bigger or smaller at will.  She could also swim fairly well, but she swam as a swan does—she didn’t always like getting her wings wet.  This particular flabble was named Lusah.  She lived in an iloe made of slibved and olas, which made her iloe a beautiful white that made her black hair pop.  Her iloe was located on an exotic island that we’ve never heard of.  There were many iloo, which housed many flabbles with similar superpowers.  On the island, the village of flabbles, called an eiair, farmed ralkrs, their main food and ingredient in most all the foods they eat.  It is said a flabble can live off of ralkrs alone, but it  is somewhat boring without any other foods with it.  On a typical day, Lusah would wake up early to get ready for work.  She ate some ralkrs that had been lided and mixed with yelleks, which was a type of meat that is often eaten with ralkrs.  Then she would get dressed, pulling on her work roner and ilstes, which are like jeans, but made out of a different material called olour.  Lusah would go the kalma, where she worked every day as a tero.  The job was similar to a telephone operator, but flabbles didn’t have phones.  Each flabble had a ibeme, and Lusah was responsible to make sure they were connected to the right people at the right time and make sure everything was running smoothly.  One day, Lusah was simply tired of her monotonous job as a tero.  So, she went outside.  She made herself really small as she took off into flight.  The air carried her better when she flew as a smaller being.  She hummed the song “Srinc,” which was about being mistaken for something else.  She hoped that if she was spotted, she would be.  Then Lusah decided that she should hide like a fly on the wall and scare her friend Iser, who was working.  Iser was a lobra, or, a person who works in the food department at the kalma.  Iser had the power to detect, which made her really good as a lobra, for she could detect if ralkrs or yelleks were going to go bad soon.  Lusah flew into the kalma, and suddenly grew big and hopped on the floor.  She laughed as Iser jumped.  Then they decided that they both should take a break and went out to play in the sun for a few hours before returning to work.  So they did.  The end.