Kiara’s Wish
by Valerie L. Egar
Kiara
lived in a large village at the edge of a jungle. Most people thought she was
pretty, but when they complimented her dark eyes and long black hair, Kiara
shook her head and laughed. She preferred them to notice she could add large
sums in her head and wrote clever stories that amused her friends.
One
evening, Kiara walked along the river deep in thought. A small fish lay in the
mud on the riverbank. “Lovely girl, help me,” the fish called. Kiara gently
lifted it to place it back into the river. It was sapphire blue, speckled with
gold and glowed in the fading sun.
“Sweet
girl, make a wish and in the morning’s light whatever you wish, will be.”
Most
people wish for handsome marriage partners, huge houses, diamonds big as pigeon’s
eggs or treasure boxes filled with gold, but Kiara was not like other people. From
the time she was a little girl, she had a secret desire.
“Are
you sure?” said the fish.
“Yes,”
said Kiara. “With stripes, please.”
“So
be it,” said the fish and Kiara put it in the river.
The
next day, Kiara woke to a long brown and beige striped tail curled around her
body. She practiced holding it high and whipping it back and forth. With a little
practice, she managed to grasp a cup and lift it to her lips. Having a tail was
marvelous!
She walked
downstairs to breakfast, waving her tail back and forth slowly. Her father glanced
up from his newspaper. “I hope you don’t think I’m going to start buying bracelets
for your tail,” he said, “because I won’t.”
Her
mother gasped. “You’re going to trip over that tail and fall on your face.” Then she added, “The next time you meet a
magical creatures that grants wishes, think about your father and me. A bigger house would have been very nice.”
Kiara
sighed. She walked to school, and a few boys giggled when they saw her tail. Kiara
hooked it over a tree branch and swung herself high into the treetops. “Dare
you to catch me,” she yelled from the highest branch and pelted them with a few hard seed pods. They quickly left her alone, secretly admiring
her ability.
The
school principal was not as kind. “I do not know whether you are a girl or a
tiger,” he said. “Or, maybe a monkey. School is no place for whatever you are.”
It made no
difference to him that Kiara could write math problems on the board in front of
the class with her tail while facing the class to explain. He didn’t care that
she helped the teacher by tickling students drifting off to sleep. He was not
impressed that she amused the youngest children by allowing them to chase her
tail when they played outside. The principal feared people who were different
and Kiara looked different. Worst of all, she wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of
her difference, but was proud of it.
“No
tails in school,” he said. “That’s the rule.” He told her to leave.
That
evening, Kiara felt sad and walked along the river. She saw the beautiful
sapphire fish on the riverbank. “Help me,” the fish said.
Kiara
picked the fish up.
“I'll grant one wish,” the
fish said. “Perhaps you don’t want your tail?”
Kiara’s
eyes widened. “I love my tail!” She
thought of what her mother had said— ask for a bigger house. No, that wouldn’t
do. That was her mother’s desire, not Kiara’s.
“I
want a school where everyone who wants to learn is welcome,” Kiara said.
“So be it,” said
the fish. In the morning, the mean principal was gone and Kiara and others he’d
sent away were welcomed back by a smiling woman in a beautiful sapphire dress.
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Copyright 2017 by Valerie L. Egar, May not be copied, reproduced or distributed without permission from the author.
Published September 24, 2017, Journal Tribune Sunday, (Biddeford, ME).
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