This little story is dedicated to my niece Ana. The walrus figurine sat in the little China shop in the window. It wasn’t exactly beautiful, but it wasn’t ugly. Ana fell in love with it the moment she saw it. “Grandma I want the walrus.” It wasn’t a practical gift, not for a five year old. Yet Alyssa reminded herself, parents have to be practical, grandparents get to be heroes. They left the store with a very carefully wrapped porcelain walrus on white snow. It was placed on a shelf in Ana’s room, where she could see it, but just out of reach. “Grandma I want to hold it. It’s…

Little Rabbit was hopping on his way to school, when Raccoon stopped him. Raccoon demanded his lunch, but that was his two carrots! Still, Raccoon was bigger, and stronger than Litle Rabbit, so he gave him his lunch. That night, Momma Rabbit could tell something was wrong.  When she read Little Rabbit, and his seventeen brothers and sisters a bedtime story, Red Fire Engine, Little Rabbit didn’t make all the fire engine sounds like he usually did. She had suspected something at dinner too, when he ate like he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, because he hadn’t. She talked to him when she tucked him in, and he told her everything. …