when I wish upon a swan - 1993

A story I wrote at age 9

Once upon a time, in a quaint town in Maluka, a country far, far away from where we live, there was a small swan named Leandra. She lived with other swans in a pond surrounded by giant oak trees and she like to swim from lily pad to lily pad, splashing and singing all day long. She felt sorry for the other swans because they only knew how to squawk and honk. So most of the time she swam alone and wish she would meet someone as different as she was whom she could grow to love.

Although the other swans wanted to swim with Leandra she would not let them because, swimming alone, she was able to sing in human words without being teased or laughed at. Her favorite song went something like this:

The way the river goes

My heart shall always go.

Floating near the trees

And singing in the breeze.

These were the most beautiful words a teenage boy had ever heard. The boy, Michael, was sitting on a log near the pond watching and listening. Michael was a nature lover. While most of his friends spent their evenings going to the movies, he liked to sit in the nearby forest, look at the stars and listen to the birds and the breeze.

But the beautiful sounds coming from the pond today excited him even more. He ran toward the sounds, sure that he would find someone special who he could relate to. But all he found was a big batch of swans that flew away as soon as they saw him, squawking and honking to each other as they went.

Unlike the other swans, Leandra dove under the water. Curious about the stranger, even though she was now alone in the pond, she wished to herself that she could turn into a human girl. Immediately, she floated to the surface and realized that her wish had come true.

When Michael saw her he knew that she must have been the one singing, but a moment ago there had only been swans in the pond. “How could it be, how can it be,” he wondered. He was very curious and anxious to talk to her, but when she saw him coming, she feared that he might harm her. So she wished that she was a cheetah and her wish was granted. She then ran out of the water and into the woods as fast as she could.

Michael said again, “How could it be, how can it be,” and he began to chase the cheetah who had been a girl who had been a swan. He chased her to a giant oak tree in a vast forest. In this forest, where he usually spent his evenings, there was a little clearing with three big rocks. He usually used the rocks to jump into the nearby trees to chase fireflies, and the tree that Leandra was climbing was not too far from the second rock. So Michael jumped from the rock onto the tree and began climbing after her. Leandra, who wanted to learn more about him before allowing him to catch up with her, quickly wished that she was a squirrel-monkey, and as soon as her wish was granted she began to scamper across the tops of the trees.

Although Michael was able to climb the first tree, he could not follow her to the second, third or fourth trees. He simply could not keep up with the squirrel monkey who had been a cheetah who had been a girl who had been a swan. Keeping his eye on the treetops, Michael ran through the forest trying to follow Leandra. At the top of the highest tree, she looked down and saw him climbing up after her. After climbing and slipping, and slipping and climbing, he finally got to the top of the tree. But Leandra was not there. Although she was growing more and more curious about this boy who knew his way around the forest and each of its trees, she still feared that he was not very different from most other boys, so she wished that she was a bald eagle, and the moment her wish was granted she took to the sky.

Michael stared at the eagle flying toward the setting sun and whispered “how could it be, how could it be?” He then gently climbed back down the tree without taking his eyes off of the bald eagle who had been a squirrel-monkey who had been a cheetah who had been a girl who had been a swan. When Leandra realized that Michael had watched her the entire time and had not once seemed frightened or upset, she flew back to the pond, and made her final wish. As Michael ran to meet her, she turned back into a swan, but for a split second, she once again became all the animals that she had been. The bald eagle turned into a squirrel monkey who turned into a cheetah who turned into a girl who turned into a swan.

Michael looked at her lovingly and jumped into the pond to join her. Finding the power within himself, he wished that he too could be a swan. At that very moment, he swam to the surface and realized that his wish had come true. He then wrapped his neck around hers and she serenaded him with her beautiful voice and they swam off together through the moonlit pond.