Amazing gift

THE AMAZING GIFT
"Dad. What happens to things when they are born and what happens when
they die?" asked Rosie suddenly, which made her dad nearly choke on the
tea he was drinking.
"Er...well. Erm." said her dad and then he gulped, "Well, it's a bit
difficult to explain in words."
"Oooh! Can you show me what happens then please! Please dad!
Please!"
"I can't show you now of course, but one day maybe..."
"When?" asked Rosie.
"When you are six," promised her dad with a smile.
"YIPEE! My birthday's next week!" said Rosie as she jumped up and down
and clapped with glee!
"Next week!" spluttered her dad, "Oh yes! Wow! You're nearly six
already aren't you! Your mum would be so proud of you," said Rosie's
dad and he wiped his eye.

Late that night, Rosie's dad sat deep in thought among the many
inventions in his workshop.
"How can I show little Rosie what happens to things when they are
born, and what happens when they die?" he thought.
Suddenly he leapt out of his chair and shouted "Eureka!" as a
fantastic idea flowered in his mind. Excitedly he began to draw on a
large piece of paper.
Many hours later, Rosie's dad had completed two designs. He had
designed a machine that could travel through time and space, and a
machine that could change the size of things! "Yippe!" he shouted, and
he set to work on building the machines.

On the morning of Rosie's birthday, she ran down to her dad's workshop
and knocked on the door. Rosie's dad opened the door with a bright
smile and sang cheerily, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Rosie, happy birthday to you!"
"I'm thsix now!" said Rosie as best she could without her front
teeth!
"Oooh. Have some more teeth fallen out?" asked her dad as he peered
into Rosie's mouth.
Rosie nodded.
"Well never mind. Some new stronger ones will grow back soon," said
her dad soothingly. "Now close your eyes. I have a surprise for you!"
And then he carefully guided Rosie into his large workshop.
"You can open your eyes now! Here's your birthday present! I hope you
like it," said Rosie's dad as he pointed proudly to a large glass ball
with two seats inside.
Rosie stared wide eyed at the strange ball in front of her and said, "
WOW! Thanks! It looks fantastic! But what is it?" she asked
shyly.
"Aha! I will show you. Please take a seat inside, we are going on a
little journey," said Rosie's dad and he opened a curved door on the
side of the large glass ball.
"Where are we going?" asked Rosie as they sat down together inside the
shiny new machine and closed the door.
"On the most amazing journey ever!" said Rosie's dad as he helped
Rosie put on her seat-belt. "O.K! Off we go!" said Rosie's dad and he
pushed a red button on the control panel in front of them. The machine
started to shake as fantastic colours and lights began to sparkle and
swirl around it.
"Uh oh! What's happening?" exclaimed Rosie.
"Don't be frightened," said her dad. "The shaking will stop as soon as
the time craft has shrunk to the tiniest size!"
"Like when you shrunk my bobble hat in the washing-machine to fit my
hamster's head?"
"Ha! Oh yes, I suppose it is a bit like that!" laughed Rosie's dad.
"Aww. He looked so sweet in that little hat. Until he ate it!"
The time craft suddenly stopped shaking as the sparkling colours and
lights disappeared.
"We are now smaller than the tiniest drop of water!" exclaimed Rosie's
dad with a bright smile. He then pushed a yellow button. The very small
time craft began to rise into the air! "Now we can go anywhere and to
anytime you would like!" said Rosie's dad proudly.
Rosie sat wide eyed and open mouthed with astonishment for a while,
and then she looked out of the time craft, at what appeared to be a
gigantic open window. She looked through the giant window at the vast
river outside, which sparkled in the sunlight.
"Can we go out by the river?" asked Rosie excitedly.
"We can," replied her dad, and he began to steer the tiny time craft
using a small blue lever. Gracefully they glided through the open
workshop window. The time craft flew silently and glistened in the
bright sunlight, like a speck of dust or a tiny plant seed. Rosie gazed
in wonder at the giant landscape. The blades of grass seemed as large
as trees, and the bees were as big as aeroplanes!
"It's amazing! Everything looks so big!" exclaimed Rosie,
nervously.
"It's incredible, isn't it? But don't worry, we are so small it is
virtually impossible for us to come to any harm!" said her dad
reassuringly. "Now, shall we go forward or backward in time?" he
asked.
"Oooh! Can we go forward in time? Oh yes! Into the future! YIPPEE!"
shouted Rosie as she bounced up and down with excitement.
"That's a good idea," said Rosie's dad and he landed the tiny time
craft on the vast river bank and pushed a green lever slowly
forward.
Day and night began to blink past, faster and faster as they started
to go forward through time! They watched in wonder as a tree by the
river suddenly blossomed hundreds of bright white flowers. The flowers
quickly wilted and fell to the ground, as bright red cherries grew in
their place. The cherries soon disappeared in a flurry as many birds
ate them as soon as they were ripe.
Suddenly the time craft soared upwards!
"Don't be afraid Rosie. It's only a plant which is growing very fast
beneath us. Oh yes! It's a wild strawberry plant! See! Now we are on a
seed, on the surface of a big, juicy, strawberry! Mmmm! Yummy!"
"Mmmm. Oh, quick! Stop here please!"
Rosie's dad had already stopped the time craft travelling through
time, as he knew that Rosie loved strawberries.
Cautiously, they stepped out of the time craft and slid down the large
smooth seed, onto the surface of the giant red strawberry. Rosie dug
her fingers into the soft fruit and pulled up a handful of
mouth-watering, sweet, strawberry.
"Mmmm delicious!" sighed Rosie as she ate the beautiful fruit.
"Uh-oh! Here comes a bird!" cried Rosie's dad. "Quick Rosie, back to
the time craft!"
Rosie looked up in horror at the giant black bird that was swooping
down at them and ran with her dad towards the time craft. Hurriedly
they clambered up the white seed, jumped into the time craft, and shut
it's transparent doors behind them. At that same moment everything went
black!
Rosie's dad lit a light inside the time craft and looked with interest
at the strange surroundings. "Ahhh! We're are inside the bird! We've
been eaten along with the strawberry! But don't worry. We are so small
we will simply become part of the bird's body!"
"We won't die, will we?" asked Rosie.
"No, we'll be fine! We'll simply follow the path of nature."
Rosie screwed up her face and crossed her eyes in confusion.
"This is the way nature gives birth to more strawberries. They are
made to be eaten, as are all fruits. The fruit seeds pass through the
body of the eater, and are poohed out to grow as new fruit plants, in a
new place!"
Rosie laughed in wonder and no longer felt afraid.
"Now lets go forward in time and see what happens!" said Rosie's dad,
and he pushed the green lever forward, and within seconds they had
travelled forward in time a few months! Suddenly, they saw a bright
shaft of light. Rosie's dad slowed the time craft's speed through
time.
"Ahhh, now I see," exclaimed Rosie's dad. "We have become part of the
bird's baby chick! We must be in it's eye. The baby chick is trying to
hatch from it's egg. There, see! It's pecked through the shell. Look
there's the chick's mother, the black bird that ate us along with the
strawberry."
"Aww," sighed Rosie as she watched the mother bird spread her warm
wing over the chick. "So this is what happens to things when they are
born!"
"This is what has happened to this little chick," said her dad. "Each
experience of birth is as different as each experience of life. There
are shared experiences in life, but every creature has it's own
experience of birth, life and death."
"Oh, I see," said Rosie. "I wonder what this little chick's life will
be like?"
"Let's find out, shall we?"

They travelled forward in time a few years within minutes, and watched
in delight as the bird grew and flew across vast oceans, mountains and
forests. Then the grown up bird gave birth to many chicks of it's own,
and became very busy as it struggled to feed them all. Suddenly, they
saw the headlights of a car before everything went black again!
"Oh dear," said Rosie's dad. "The bird has been flattened accidentally
by the car."
"Ohh!" said Rosie sadly and little sparkling tears fell from her
eyes.
"Please don't cry," said her dad as he put his arm round her. "This is
not the end, as you will see! Watch, as we go forward in time..." He
pushed the green lever forward, causing time to pass by faster. "See!
Now we are rising out of the bird's body into the air!"
"Dad. What's happening?" asked Rosie as she wiped her eyes and stared
in disbelief, as they rose up through the sky!
Rosie's dad helped wipe the tears from her eyes and continued to
explain, "All living things are made up mainly of water. When living
things die, they mostly dry up as the water in their bodies evaporates
and rises into the sky, just as we are now. Up, up we go to form the
clouds!"
Rosie began to smile again as they floated high above the Earth and
swirled in a new born cloud. Tingles of delight shivered down their
backs as they gazed at the endless stars above the clouds.
"Brrr," said Rosie and her teeth began to chatter noisily, as the
cloud became colder and colder. "Wow!" exclaimed Rosie suddenly, as she
watched huge and beautifully formed snowflakes begin to fall from the
cold cloud. Silently, they too floated down through the sky, as part of
a giant glistening snowflake.
"Now that is amazing!" exclaimed Rosie's dad. "Look at all the
millions of snowflakes, and each and every one is different!"
Soon, they landed gently on the snow covered earth. And as they
travelled forward in time, the white snow rapidly melted, and they
seeped into the soil as water.
"Ahh, it's warming up a bit now," sighed Rosie.
"Wha-hay!" shouted her dad, as the time craft began to spin
uncontrollably and soar upwards!
A beautiful green light flickered around them, as the time craft was
sucked up through the roots and stem of a growing plant!
"Oooh!" sighed Rosie with delight as suddenly they were surrounded by
warm yellow light. "Mmmm. What's that beautiful smell?"
"I think we are in the nectar of one of the plant's flowers," said her
dad. "But hold on tight, as a butterfly has just landed on the flower,
and I think it's going to......"
"Arrggghhh!" they cried as they were sucked up the long straw like
mouth of the butterfly, as it fed on the sweet nectar of the yellow
flower.
The time craft quickly became part of a tiny hair on the butterfly's
body. Rosie and her dad watched in wonder, as the butterfly fluttered
around, mated with another butterfly and then laid some tiny eggs on
the leaf of a plant. As the butterfly brushed against a leaf, the time
craft became stuck to it and Rosie and her dad watched in wonder as
time sped by. Caterpillars soon hatched out of the butterfly's eggs and
rapidly ate the leaves on which they were born. The caterpillars seemed
to blow up like balloons as they grew bigger and bigger, until Rosie
thought they might pop! Fluffy white blankets suddenly wrapped around
the caterpillars, who stopped wriggling and just hung motionless from
some fresh leaves.
"What are they doing now?" whispered Rosie.
"They are about to be born again!" said Rosie's dad.
Just then, giant butterflies began to pop out of the caterpillars
cocoon of blankets!
"See! The caterpillars have naturally grown out of their old bodies
and grown into butterflies! Now they can fly! Nature is Truly Amazing!"
sighed Rosie's dad.
"But are the caterpillars dead?" asked Rosie, looking back at the open
cocoons.
Rosie's dad stopped the time machine and sat silently in deep thought
for a while. "Mmm. Phew! That's a hard question to answer!" said her
dad scratching his head. "What do you think?"
Rosie thought for a while, and then she laughed in wonder, as hundreds
of beautifully coloured butterflies began to flutter their new wings!
The butterflies many beating wings made a gentle breeze, which blew the
time craft from the leaf up into the air!
"WOW!" cooed Rosie and her dad as they rose up with the butterflies,
as they flew up, into the freedom of the sky!
Rosie's dad steered the time craft through the forest of fluttering
butterflies and landed on the colourful wing of a large
butterfly.
"What a lovely way to live!" said Rosie as the large butterfly flew
from one sweet smelling flower to another, and danced high through the
sky with the other butterflies.
Suddenly, the butterfly stopped moving!
"AARRGGHH!" screamed Rosie and her dad as they fell with the
butterfly, down through the sky and landed on the surface of a fast
flowing river!
"Here we go again!" said Rosie's dad as he spotted a big-eyed frog
swimming towards them, with it's large mouth wide open!
"Gulp!" gulped Rosie and the frog, as everything went black
again!
Rosie's dad quickly sped the time craft faster through time and they
watched as the time craft became part of the frog's green skin. The
frog hopped, swam and gulped lots of things and then gave birth to
hundreds of transparent eggs in a safe little pond! Inside each egg
wriggled a little fish-like tadpole. Soon all the little black tadpoles
were popping out of the eggs and swimming around the pond. Rosie
watched in amazement as the tadpoles grew legs, and arms, and then grew
into big green frogs!
Suddenly, Rosie and her dad were rising into the sky again, as the
frog had died beside the pond, and it's skin was drying out!
"WHEEEE!" shouted Rosie as they rose up into the white clouds. Rosie
looked out at the swirling white clouds and no longer felt sad about
things dying. She thought about her mum and realised that nothing
really died, as everything is recycled and born again as part of
something else. "YIPEEEE!" screamed Rosie as they fell from the clouds
inside a giant raindrop.
"YAHOOOO!" they shouted and laughed as they fell at great speed,
through a huge rainbow which arched across the sky.
The raindrop splashed onto a ripe red apple. Rosie and her dad laughed
with delight as they spun round and round inside the raindrop, on the
apple's skin.
"Thanks Dad! Thanks for the best birthday ever!" said Rosie and she
gave her dad a big hug.
"I love you too much," said her dad and he squeezed Rosie
tightly.
"I love you too dad, but...puff...I can hardly breathe!"
"Ooops sorry!" said her dad.
"What's that growling noise?" asked Rosie.
"It's my stomach. I'm hungry. I've got a special birthday cake waiting
for us at home. Are you hungry?" said her dad.
"Mmmm. Birthday cake! Yummy! Oh yes! Let's go home now!"
Rosie's dad smiled as he pushed a white button which returned them to
the workshop, and to the time that they had left. With a sigh, he
pushed a purple button and they resumed back to their normal size.
"Now, where would you like to eat?"
"Oooh! A picnic by the river please!" said Rosie happily.

Together, they walked down to the sparkling river and carried a big
basket of food and drink between them.
Rosie hummed cheerfully as they walked and then she stopped and asked
her dad, "What would you like for your birthday?"
"I'll have to think about that," said Rosie's dad with a smile.