Once Upon an Antigmule

Once upon a time, not very long ago, there lived a beautiful young girl named Roseanna Ellaby.......Roseanna loved animals – all types of animals. Every night when she went to sleep, Roseanna would dream about them for hours and hours......Sometimes Roseanna even dreamed of animals she had never seen – animals that had to be imaginary.....Roseanna knew that no one else could ever have seen them. But, she wished very hard that these dreams could come true. Then one Sunday afternoon, when there was no school, Roseanna went to the park to fly her favorite kite.....Roseanna was watching the clouds so closely that she did not notice how high her kite began to fly. She did not even notice when the wind lifted her kite so high that it had pulled her off the ground with it. Pretty soon both she and her kite were flying through the air. Roseanna suddenly realized that she was in a strange and enchanted land with many, many new animals. Animals of all sizes and shapes that she had never seen before – except in her dreams. It seemed truly wonderful....Roseanna was almost knocked over by a mother kangacat that passed by her very quickly. Kangacats have kangaroo-like bodies, cat-like heads, and strong hoppy legs which let them jump very fast. This one was just hopping home in a hurry to give its baby lunch. Roseanna caught a glimpse of the hungry baby in the kangacat’s pouch....Soon she suddenly heard a ringing sound. She turned towards the noise. Standing there on a large rock was what seemed to be a bear. But, it was really hard to see – Roseanna could look right through it. The bear looked like it was made of glass. Roseanna could only see it because its claws were black, its nose and eyes were black, and it was wearing a necklace with a bell on it. Whenever it moved, the bell would ring. This was an invisibear....Not too far away was a very big pond....As Roseanna got closer to the pond, she saw four centiducks standing on its shore. How wonderful they looked with their bright red beaks, yellow feathers, and 100 webbed feet. Roseanna thought that with all those feet they could probably swim or run really really fast. But they would look awfully funny if they tried to dance – especially the hokey pokey. And it would take all day to put shoes on if they had to........................................... It was getting late, and Rosanna began to wonder how she would get home. She was worried and she was getting hungry. She missed her family and she wanted to go home for dinner. In order to go home, Roseanna needed to find the spot where she left her kite, and she needed a great big wind to lift it back up to the clouds. But she did not know which way to go, and there was no wind.....While Roseanna was wondering what to do, along came a very friendly, elderly, giraffaphant. It looked like an elephant wlth a long neck like a giraffe. The kind old giraffaphant told Roseanna not to worry.........Roseanna kissed the giraffaphant and said “thank you for taking me to my kite”. The giraffaphant kissed her back and said: “You are very welcome. It was very nice to meet you and to be able to help you get home to your family....So, Roseanna grabbed hold of the string of her kite and held on tight as the giraffaphant began to blow through its long, long trunk. It blew and blew and blew. Up, up and away Roseanna went............ No one but Roseanna had ever visited the enchanted land. Not her Mother nor her Father nor her sister, Madellaina Bella, nor any of her friends. No one at all. And, Roseanna did not have any pictures of them. Nor had any of the wonderful new animals come home with her. Her adventure would have to remain a special secret. She had no way to show anyone these new animals were real.