ONCE UPON A TIME, in a little town named Lacopa in the Pacific North West, there was a little girl with bright green eyes and thin, dark red hair. When she was five years old, her mother showed her a photograph of her when she was almost five. In the picture, the girl's mother had the same green eyes and dark red hair.
The little girl had an uncle named Edgar, who was rich and lived in Seattle. Uncle Edgar had a son who was the same age as her. His name was Rick and Rick had very fair skin and thin, straight, white hair. Edgar had a beautiful wife named Diane who had deep, dark blue eyes and thick, straight, red hair.
Every summer her mother took her to stay with Edgar, Diane, and Rick. It was hot in Lacopa and even hotter in Seattle. Edgar lived on a floating house that looked like a large boat. There was a pool on the large deck of the floating house and Uncle Edgar let her play in it when she was in the water. The water was salty, like the Pacific Ocean.
When she was seven years old, she lost her hair, just like Uncle Rick. She had to go to a special school to learn. At first, the students laughed at her and called her names. But after a while, the other students found out she could do things they couldn't do. She could read, write, draw, and remember sea life by name. The students started to respect her and eventually, she became popular and everyone loved having her in their class.
One day she and her mother went to Seattle to visit Uncle Edgar, Diane and Rick's house.
As the mother and the little girl were driving, her mother said, "I have a surprise for you. You can go to Uncle Edgar's house."
The mother parked the car, got out, and went to the trunk, where she took out an envelope that said "Diane."
"What is this?" asked the little girl.
"A surprise," said the mother. She handed the little girl the envelope.
The little girl said, "Thank you, mother." The mother smiled at her and said, "You are very welcome."
The little girl drove the car to Uncle Edgar's house. When she got out of the car and knocked on the door, Uncle Edgar opened the door. The little girl said, "hello," and handed Uncle Edgar the envelope.
Uncle Edgar said, "Thanks," and closed the door.
When the little girl and her mother got back in the car, the mother asked, "What's in the envelope?"
The little girl answered, "A surprise."
"What kind of surprise?" asked her mother.
The little girl said, "A surprise." She did not open the envelope.
After Uncle Edgar gave her mother the envelope, he took her and her mother to the back porch, where she gave him the envelope. She said, "Thank you."
He said, "You're welcome."
When they started back home, her mother said, "What was in that envelope?"
"A surprise," replied the little girl.
"Did you open it?"
"No," said the little girl.
The mother said, "Maybe you should write it down. Read the letter, then write what you read. When you get home, we can look at the envelope together. Okay?"
She said, "Okay."
The little girl got home and sat down at their kitchen table. She opened the envelope and pulled the letter out. She read the letter, then wrote in her diary what she read. When she finished, she turned to her mother and said, "I wrote a list of stuff in the letter."
"What did you read?"
The little girl began to read the letter aloud. When she finished, she asked, "What is that?" She pointed to something on the refrigerator, where there was a collection of pictures.
"A book," said her mother.
"What kind of thing?"
"A book," replied her mother. "Go write that down, then take off your new shoes, put on your swimsuit, and go in the pool."
The little girl finished reading the list with no trouble. She put on her new swimsuit and went to the pool.
She dove into the water and swam underwater. When she came back up to the surface, the sun was almost gone. She put on her shoes, went to the garage and grabbed the bright red fitness girdle. She put that on, then walked to the yard and looked at the pictures in the book. Inside was a painting of Diane, Rick, and Edgar Jr. She looked at the pictures and they looked a lot like her. She was wondering if they were her relatives, or just a past life like she wondered. Then, in the back of the book, there was another picture of a man, similar to Rick in skin tone, but was with gray hair, who was standing in a pale, red, rocky area where there was a lot of fog. The man's face was not visible. When the little girl saw the picture, she thought, "They look like my friends."
Suddenly, she felt like someone was standing on the top of her head, then she felt pain. The pain was so strong she fell to the ground and started to scream.
The little girl's mother came running to the kitchen, where the little girl was lying. She said, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
The little girl looked up, tears in her eyes and said, "The man in the book looks like Rick."
She then jumped up quickly and ran to the back door and asked, "Is that Rick?"
Her mother replied, "Yes, that's your dad. He's on the deck."
She opened the back door, then looked out and saw her dad. He was smiling, waving and bowing.