Australian Beach Holiday

Orko and his toddler sister Furaha were on holiday in Sunshine Coast, Australia. In the hotel they booked, it was still early in the morning, and it was turning out to be a lovely sunny day. Orko and Furaha were still asleep in the soft, crisp white cotton bed in their hotel room, and all seemed peaceful as the wind blew gently, causing the curtains to wave like ghosts in the dead of night.

Furaha was the first to wake up. She ran over to the window and looked out. It was a lovely, sunny day - just right for going down to the beach! Furaha leapt back onto the bed and tried crawling all over Orko to wake him up, but he just turned over sleepily. So, Furaha knew what she must do: she tickled Orko awake, to which he sat up and and tiredly laughed, “Oh. So you’ve woken me up, eh?” He yawned and scratched his knickerless bottom. “Alright, I’m up, I’m up,” Orko said as he floated out of bed and went to brush his unseen teeth.

Once Orko had done his morning routine, he said to Furaha, “I know! Why don’t we go down to the beach today?” “YAY!” Furaha cheered. She loved playing on the beach. “But first we need to go to the supermarket in town.” Furaha’s face fell. She was so looking forward to going to the beach. “I’m going to just get a little surprise for our picnic.” Furaha instantly beamed. She loved surprises! “Well, no time to waste, come on, let’s get a move on.”

Furaha and Orko went to the Woolworths supermarket in the middle of town. It wasn’t too busy at this time of morning, as everything was amazingly quiet. As well as the ‘surprise’ meant for their picnic, Orko and Furaha got a few other items as well: milk, cheese, eggs, sausages, bacon, bread, carrots, apples and a nice box of chocolates for a good little girl like Furaha.

At the checkout, Furaha couldn’t help staring at the bear-shaped charity box on the counter. “No, Furaha, it’s not a toy, it’s a charity box,” reminded Orko. Instead of throwing a tantrum, Furaha took it all in, realising she can’t just steal things from the supermarket if there was any need to.

When they went out of the supermarket and back to the hotel, Orko praised Furaha for being a good little cub. “You are so good, little Furaha. Good enough to deserve a halo on the top of your head!” Orko clicked his fingers and, due to his magic, a golden halo appeared above Furaha’s head, which then melted like butter over a stove. Furaha giggled. How funny it was to watch Orko perform magic! “I hope it doesn’t melt all over the groceries,” Orko hoped to himself, then he spoke to Furaha. “Okay, so when we get back, we’ll unload the shopping, and then, we’ll head down onto the beach!” Furaha bounced up and down in excitement. She was so looking forward to going to the beach!

Once Furaha and Orko had got back to the hotel and unloaded all the groceries, they went down onto the beach to have some real fun. Furaha ran ahead of Orko, squealing with delight. “Slow down!” shouted Orko, “I can’t float that fast!” When Furaha finally reached the sand, she jumped up and down wildly. She had finally reached the beach! “You win again, Furaha,” puffed Orko as Furaha giggled, “Now, let me put some zinc suncream on you.”

Orko produced three sticks of zinc suncream from his sleeve: two for Furaha and one for him. First, he applied the blue and green zinc suncream to Furaha’s body. When he had finished, he looked like a real tribescub. Orko applied some purple zinc suncream to his arms (thank god he was wearing a small T-shirt) and his ears, but due to him having no legs, he decided to leave it out.

The two friends decided to build sandcastles together. Furaha had a bit of trouble making her sandcastle, but Orko was on hand to help. The two friends built a magnificent castle together, complete with shell and seaweed decorations. However, they were very careful to avoid the wobbly jellyfish trapped in the sand. So they jumped over them. For a toddler, Furaha was extra cautious. Orko even dug a moat around the castle so that the seawater can splash into it.

Next, they decided to paddle in the waves. Orko and Furaha played a game called ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ where Orko said “Ready…steady…” and when he yelled “GO!” the tide would at the right time come in and Furaha would jump over the waves. Orko clapped his hands and cheered for his little soldier, as she was very good at jumping in the waves. When he had the chance, Orko and Furaha would splash each other in the water, enjoying the frivolity of the ocean waves. When they returned to their beach blanket, Orko told Furaha about how far the sea is reaching back to the UK from Australia, and how many miles it takes for Australian people to reach the UK from that beach. Furaha was amazed. She hadn’t read all those toddler-friendly Australian fact books for nothing, specifically ones with Spot and the Mr Men. She found Australia a bright, sunny and hot place.

After a whole day of playing in the sea and on the sand, the two settled down to have lunch. It was a remarkable spread: cheese sandwiches, bottles of water, carrot sticks, apple slices and bananas, plus chocolates since Furaha was a good cub in the supermarket earlier. The two tucked in, and boy was it delicious. They had to be very careful that the crabs scuttling past didn’t pinch them. “That’s what crabs like to do,” explained Orko to Furaha, “Pinch stuff. And they’re very naughty at pinching.” That made Furaha giggle. Orko had a great sense of humor.

It was after the picnic, which they shared, that Orko presented his surprise to Furaha from out of the picnic basket: two ‘99 Flakes, which he found in the frozen food section of the supermarket earlier. Furaha was so excited, she gave a squeal of joy. The two tucked into their ice creams. As with any toddler, Furaha got an ice creamy mess all down her tummy and all over her face. What a good thing Orko had some wet wipes on hand. And what a good thing they happened to smell of tropical flowers and fruits.

After they were full up from their lunch, Orko settled down with Furaha to read her G’Day, Spot. Furaha loved this simple book, because in it, Spot met all the animals in the outback, and being mute, she could already say the names of each of the Outback animals as Orko pointed them out. A major highlight was when Orko pointed to the kangaroo on one of the pages, and Furaha pointed away from the book and said, “Kengaloo!” At first Orko didn’t realise it, but then he looked up, and there it was. A lovely, bouncy kangaroo digging in the sand. “You’re right, Furaha, it is a kangaroo!” said Orko. The two watched as the kangaroo went bouncy bouncy bouncy across the beach, and then out of sight as Furaha waved goodbye.

But Furaha needn’t have worried, for Orko used his magic to turn her hind paws into kangaroo feet so she can bounce. The two had a wonderful time bouncing across the beach, being extra careful to avoid

The sun was setting by the time Orko brought Furaha back to the hotel. He tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight, stroking her soft fur. Then Orko went to the balcony outside the hotel room and looked at the sun setting slowly in the orange sky. “What a day I’ve had,” he said calmly, “If only we had more days like this. Then, I would feel so happy.”

Orko went to brush his teeth and wash his shadowed face, then put on a clean pair of flowery white pyjamas and snuggled down right beside Furaha. Well, mate, that’s one Australian holiday story done for today. But I assure you, sport, there’ll be more coming soon. Just you wait and see!

A Boy Called Orko

The Night Of August 15, 2002

Eternia Care Home

Right now, you’re hearing the voice of adult Orko talking. That’s me. I’m Orko. And I want to recount to you my time in a foster home. Being thrown around in the care industry is a stupid idea according to me, you get thrown into one foster home, then back into care. Thrown into a foster home, then back into care. Thrown into a home, back into care. This is a never ending pattern where the kids endlessly bully you or shove your head down an excrement-filled toilet. Gross! This is a story about me, Orko, the lucky one.

This is the Eternia Care Home, where I lived with my bullying friends: Adam, Teela, Ram Boy, Buzz Off, Stratos, Buzz Off, Skeletor, Evil Lyn, Beast Boy (no, not a certain green skinned teenager), Stinkor and Trap Jaw. Some people call them my ‘friends’, but not me. They were all my bullies. They would throw me around, scream and shout into my ears and watch football on the telly with the volume turned up high. Their carer, Man-At-Arms, was fine with this, and let them do whatever they want.

I was only four at the time, so I was the one who was most bullied. One night, I just sat there on the sofa channel surfing while everyone fought behind me, and Man-At-Arms tried to wrestle with them. If this were animated, you guys may see flashing images, but no, I’m glad you’re not seeing them, thank god. As I was switching through channels, Adam grabbed the remote from me. “Gimme that!” he cried, “I wanna watch the football!”

That was it. I’ve had enough. A sense of emotional rage filled my body and mind as I shot off the sofa and ran to the front door. When approaching it, I quickly shot round to face my shocked friends and said: “YOU NEVER LOVE ME! YOU’RE NOT MY REAL FRIENDS ANYWAY!!” and floated out the door crying. Everyone sniggered cheekily, but all Man-At-Arms could say was:

“Thank god he’s gone.”

Optimus' Office

Now was the time I found a foster home of my own. I looked all around for my former social worker, but when I found her in her office, she was slumped on the office desk, with a puddle of alcohol coming out of her mouth. She had died of alcohol poisoning. It was the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen, and I sat down by the desk to cry. I thought I was going to stay at that noisy, loud and unforgiving Eternia Care Home with my ‘so-called friends’ all the time and never find a home. But then, a piece of newspaper floated down by me, and I picked it up. It read:

“Looking for a friendly, warm, kind social carer? Contact: OPTIMUS PRIME.

On 0800 555 7171.”

I knew exactly what I wanted to do - phone that social carer right away. So I picked up the phone and started to dial. Next thing I knew, I was chatting to Optimus, and he felt very friendly. A few minutes later, I was in his office, listening to office faxes and typewriters chittering and beeping as Optimus’ giant fingers danced on his keyboard. I just drooped like a wilting flower in the sunshine as I listened to the maraca-jacka music of Optimus’ keyboard.

“How old are you, son?”

“I’m four. It can be difficult to find a proper care home when you’re four. There are lots of terrors in your life you just can’t avoid: knives, guns, violence, bookshelves…anything can terrify you when you are my age.”

“Can you tell me a little bit about your previous foster home?”

“Everyone in my foster home used to bully me for my magic. I mean, the food was so disgusting it tasted like old boots, and I never had fun, but the other kids would exclude me.”

“Okay, not always?”

“All the time. No one has ever loved me except my parents.”

“Where is your father?”

Using my magic, I produced a photo of my parents when I was a baby onto the counter of his enormous Autobot-sized desk. “Here.” I said. “My parents were shot when I was one, so I was forced into the care system at said age. And nobody ever cared for me! None of my so called friends ever loved me! Please, Optimus, don’t put me in a care home, please! I want someone who can love me!” At once, I began to cry. Optimus looked into my yellow, tear-filled eyes and said the most unforgivable thing ever:

“Right. I’m going to take you to a really nice place with other children who are like you-”

“NO!” I interrupted loudly, “NOT ANOTHER CARE HOME! NOT ANOTHER CARE HOME! OPTIMUS!”

Optimus looked at me in concern, then looked at the photo on the billboard. It was of him and a beautiful yellow furred lioness cub who was two years older than me, Furaha. She was his daughter. “Alright, why don’t I take you to my house so I can take care of you? I’m sure my daughter Furaha won’t mind.” “I looked at the photo,” I explained to Optimus, “Why is your daughter a lioness cub?” “She’s adopted, Orko.” explained Optimus. “I took her under her wing after her parents were killed by hunters.” I sat there in silence, wondering for a moment. Then Optimus calmly said: "Oh Orko, I know how hard it must feel, being in a care home where nobody loves you. Listen: my daughter and I will give you all the love, cuddles and fuss you’ll need.”

Excited to tears, I leapt into Optimus’ giant arms and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. He chuckled at how ticklish my little cloak was. “You feel like the perfect son for me.” whispered Optimus into one of my long, pointy ears. “And you feel like the perfect father for me…dad.” I wept, a great tear falling down my shadowed face.

Leaving For The USA

Immediately, Optimus decided to quit his job, meaning he is now a stay at home dad to me and my new sister. Once he got out of the building, he transformed into robot mode and said, “Hop in, Orko.” I felt very shy at first, but then I hopped into the front seat, and my seatbelt was done up for me. “Thanks, Optimus. You’re so kind…” I smiled under my shadowed face.

The drive to Optimus’ house was silent and motionless. A few times we talked together, but into the night we drove. At 11 O’clock, I felt so tired, I just had to relax in Optimus. Optimus was so adored by my behavior, he sang this song:

“What if I told you,

I could love you,

If I waited…

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow,

Maybe too late.

Birds fly above you,

Love is around you,

I would like to be too,

Forever, forever, forever…

With you.

I would follow you

Anywhere you would want me to,

Tomorrow…

Forever…

Always.

And if you were to

Sail across the ocean blue,

I would like to sail with you,

I’d follow, I’d follow, I’d follow…

…you home.”

August 16, 2002

Orko Arrives Home

“Orko…Orko, wake up.”

Immediately, I woke up. The sun was shining brightly into my eyes, and I looked out the window at a whole neighborhood before my eyes. “Wow!” I cried, “This is definitely different from the neighborhood I’ve been in.” “Too many noisy kids, I presume. This is a quiet neighborhood where I live. Lots of friendly people there, I guarantee.” “How friendly are they?” I asked, curious. “Very friendly, you’ll see,” I chuckled. “Look, here we are at my house.”

I looked, and saw a huge, enormous house, with an enormous door for Optimus, and a very small lioness cub sized-door for what I presume might be Furaha. “Is this my new home?” I asked. “It sure is, little mischief.” I giggled at what Optimus had called me. Usually, back when I was at that care home, Adam and his mates used to call me horrible names and bully me for my magic, like I told you earlier. Not with Optimus, he was lovely and kind to me.

Once we stopped outside Optimus’ neat and tidy house, I hopped out as Optimus transformed to robot mode. We walked up to the front door, and Optimus said, “Here we are. Knock on the door, Orko, will you?” At once, I knocked on the big front door. It made three huge banging noises, and the sound of pattering footsteps came to the door.

Meet Furaha

“Hi there!” Furaha, just as I expected she would look in real life as she did in the photo I saw in Optimus’ office, opened the small front door, so we just chuckled and went towards it. “Hello, Furaha. Were you good for your babysitter last night?” “Yep, extremely good,” smiled Furaha. “Furaha,” said Optimus, “I want you to meet somebody very special. Come in and we’ll talk about it together.”

Optimus lead me and Furaha into the living room, where I saw how huge the furniture was. There were huge tables and chairs, sofas and even huge carpets. Even the roof was raised to fit Optimus’ height. “You two get comfy while I get some cocoa ready.” said Optimus, and so Furaha and I sat down on the huge sofa and tried to get to know each other. Furaha was pleased to make a new friend, and introduced herself to me. “I’m Orko. It’s so nice to see you, Furaha,” I said. “Well, I’ve been living with Optimus since I was a baby,” said Furaha, “And I’m not even joking. What was your life like before I popped in just now?” “Horrible,” said Orko, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Furaha saw how disappointed I was, and put her paw on my shoulder. “Whatever it is, you can talk about it.” said Furaha, “I can understand everything.” “Well, I used to live in Eternia Care Home. Everyone there was horrible to me, including the carers. They won’t even let me play!” Orko let out a huge sigh of grumpiness.

“Cocoa’s ready!” called a voice from the kitchen. Optimus brought in a small tray of two mugs of cocoa - one for me and one for Furaha. When I tasted it, I felt waves and rivers of chocolate splash about in my brain - instantly, the loud noises and thoughts of my previous home flew out of my head and were replaced by the calm and serenity of my new home where I would be staying forever. “Orko told me everything,” Furaha told Optimus, “Everyone in his previous care home was nasty to him. We’ll be kind to him, right?” “Yes. We’ll be his new family.” said Optimus warmly. He looked at Orko. “You won’t be feeling peer pressure now, Orko, you’re in a kind, caring environment. The environment they put you in before was…too unsettling for my taste. I’m so glad you’re here with me and my daughter.” At once, a warm and fuzzy feeling overcame me, like a thousand robotic teddy bears sharing a hug with me. At once noticing Furaha would be my new sister, I hugged her, to which she hugged me back. At once, I felt loved, for the first time in four years. I felt my heart beat slowly, and my body go all warm and soft from the effect of her hugs. Furaha and Optimus were now the only people I would turn to from now on.

Furaha & Orko Play Together

After we’d finished our cocoa, Optimus sent the both of us off to play while he did the housework. I couldn’t believe it. For the first time, I was actually playing. With someone else! My new sister. Furaha. She was an expert at playtime, and how happy I was when we played tag in her room. For the first time also, I was laughing. I didn’t laugh a bit when I was in care, but now I felt the freedom to laugh and play all I wanted.

Furaha and I had a great time. We ran around the clean bedroom trying to catch each other, laughing and squealing loudly. We were giggling and whooping in joy as we ran after each other. When it was my turn to be chased, Furaha finally caught hold of me, hugged me and flew onto her bed, with me in her arms. How we laughed! When our laughter faded, Furaha rolled over onto her tummy and I cuddled her. “I love you, big sister.” I yawned, to which Furaha said, “I love you too, little brother.”

Then Furaha rolled over onto her back and lifted me high into the air. I squealed and whooped in joy as Furaha lifted me high into the air. “Wheeeeeee!” I cried in joy, “Look at me! I’m flying!” “I thought you already floated.” said Furaha. “Who cares,” I said, and we continued laughing as Furaha lifted me higher and higher into the air.

As Furaha put me back onto the bed again, I suddenly felt tired. “Time for a nap,” I yawned, and I snuggled into Furaha’s bed. Furaha was more than happy to invite me into her bed, so she pulled the duvet over me and kissed me ‘happy nap time’.

Something Magical Is Happening: The Wish Book

I scruffled the fur on her head and cuddled her, kissing her all over. How she laughed.

Later, I checked the whole house to see what the wish had refurbished: the spare bedroom was covered in yellow wallpaper and the bed was neatly covered. It had a soft vanilla smell and flowers decorated the room. The bathroom’s walls were coloured pink, and the bath, sink and even toilet were even clean and pristine, smelling as fresh as a thousand daisies. The kitchen was free of mess as well, and all the food that had gone off were gone too. The fridge was filled with bountifuls of food.

But what struck my eye was the living room: it was lined with bright yellow wallpaper, clean furniture and not a single box or mess in sight. The whitewash pot, brush, broken mug and tea stains were gone too. Everything was so bright and clean. “Hooray, Furaha!” I shouted, “You really are a special little cub. But…I think we still have to find you some toys for you to play with. There’s plenty of space in the living room for you to play. I mustn’t abuse your power, as it’s really precious to me. I think we’ll go to the library and get a book on wishes. That’ll lift my spirits.

The Library

When I went to the normal town library, I searched high and low for a book about wishes, but sadly, there were none to be found. Luckily, I found a children’s book about a lonely nighttime star and borrowed it from the library for Furaha to read. We had a great time reading the book together, but inside me, a sense of depression filled my heart. I hadn’t found a single wish list book ever, and it felt like my mission wasn’t accomplished. I had failed.

Suddenly, I heard a magical noise, and left Furaha to read whilst I went up to my bedroom to investigate. When I looked on the bookshelf, I saw a red book surrounded by gold sparkles. Pulling it gently from the shelf so the books won’t all fall out, I saw the title read:

“Orko’s Wish List, by Orko.”

My goodness! My name. Mentioned in a book! Why, I must feel popular. I imagined all the things I could do with such a book.

I could put it up on sale and sell it for a thousand pounds.

I could put it on eBay and convince people who see it that this is a magical book.

I could promote it on TV talk shows.

But then, I found out that reading a book with your name in it doesn’t mean fame, it means sharing. When I opened the book and looked inside, I saw what I couldn’t believe. It was a list of all my deepest wishes, written without a pen with neat black ink. Ooooooooh, wow! All my wishes. And inside it was a note:

“Dear Orko,

This is your book. You can use it to wish on Furaha each night, and your deepest wishes would come true. Good luck and have fun.

Love,

The kindly shopkeeper.”

And at the bottom of the letter were stickers of smiley faces which sparkled in purple light. “Wow,” I gasped, and put the book back on the shelf. And just in time too, as I heard Furaha squeal from downstairs. I floated downstairs to see Furaha holding her tummy. “What’s the matter?” Furaha pointed to her tummy. She was hungry. “Oh you’re hungry, eh?” I said kindly, “Well, I’ve got a good idea. Why don’t we go out for fish and chips?” “YAY!” cheered Furaha.

Fish & Chips

So that’s exactly what we did. We went to the fish and chip takeaway shop and brought a packet of tasty fish and chips with lashings of bright red tomato ketchup, as gloopy and as gooey as a packet of green slime delivered to the door. We sat on a bench near the seaside and enjoyed our food. We amused ourselves by pretending to be walruses, using our chips as tusks. Furaha could do a really good walrus impersonation, which made me laugh.

Something Magical Is Happening...

Chapter 1: Orko Finds Furaha

Orko's Life

Oh hi there! Glad I saw you. My name is Orko, and I live quite a pretty shoddy life. By shoddy, I meant, just look at my house. It desperately needs some Spring cleaning, which means it hasn’t been cleaned in about 4 or 5 months. The paint is peeling, my room is stacked to the bone with cardboard boxes and stuff, and all the Spring cleaning was wearing my little arms and bones away.

Today, I started off by cleaning the windows and mirrors with a duster, until I could see my shadowed face in it. Then I set to work on brushing the floor, which was a shiny vinyl. But then, the head of my sweeping brush fell off. “Aw nuts,” I grumbled, and set to work on cleaning and dusting the rest of my house. It was tiring work for a little wizard like me, and when I got to work on whitewashing the walls, I had taken everything down but the house looked a mess. Also, the heater wasn’t working so my house was unbearably cold. As I whitewashed the walls, I started thinking to myself: what if my life wasn’t always so shoddy and hardworking?

No sooner had I finished whitewashing than I found my hand was caught in the bucket of white paint. Angered, I shook, twisted and lifted the bucket off my hand, until it flew all across the room, getting paint everywhere, even on the walls and curtains. “Dammit,” I said, looking at my paint covered hand. It took a lot of handwashing before I could wash all the paint off my hands.

Tea

With my back aching from all the hard work, I decided to settle down for a mug of hot cocoa. But it was too sweet, so I decided to add some more milk into it. Still into all the hard work, I saw a little smidge right where there was no whitewash on a part of the wall. As I painted it, I marvelled it in admiration. “That’s better,” I said. Then I got back to my cocoa. But as I sat down, instead of using the spoon, I used the thin paintbrush. Cocoa didn’t taste very good when you put whitewash into it. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I cried, and threw my mug against the wall, smashing it and sending tea flying all over the place.

I hid my shadowed face in my hands and cried. It was hard trying to renovate my house, even when you’re a wizard who doesn’t want to work hard and just wants to relax. So, I decided to visit the local bookstore. On the way into town, a businessman told me that the local library had been closed to make room for a mysterious new shop, and from what the shopkeeper told him, I think there was a big surprise waiting for him inside every time he visited. “Sounds like my kind of place,” I smiled under my shadowed face, so I waved goodbye to the man and set off the the…Enchanted Bookstore.

The Library

When I approached the enchanted bookstore, I looked up at the sign. It read: “Troddly Trinkets, Inc”. “Troddly Trinkets?” I said. “What was the owner on when he named this store?” Suddenly, I heard some screeching from the trees surrounding the library, and out poured a dozen of spider monkeys, all swinging from the trees and screeching at the tops of their little monkey voices. They were looking around seeing if I had any bananas or checking each other for fleas to eat. I was amazed! No library had kept spider monkeys as pets before!

I curiously entered the library and got a big surprise! The library was massive! It was ten storeys tall (no pun intended), and people had come from far and wide to read lots of magical books, some of which had pictures which came to life before their very eyes. There were lots of toys which came to life and played together, and everywhere you looked there were animals everywhere, zebras and rhinos, elephants and hippos, giraffes and tigers, and almost every other animal you could think of. It was amazing.

After seeing a book on magic spells, I went to the quiet corner in the middle of the library and started to read. It had all sorts of spells - tricks and trades and tringles, slips and slides and swindles. Anything you could ever want in this library was all here. Just then, I heard a little squeak, much like a kitten meowing. I looked around, then I looked at two mice - a grey one and a brown one - who were cooking on the third shelf of the quiet corner bookshelves. They shrugged and continued cooking their cheddar cheese pies. As I got back to reading, I heard the squeak again. I looked around at a mouse wearing a red cape who was looking at her human self in a magical mirror. When I gazed at her, she shrugged too, but then she saw a huge green warty ogre and ran away squeaking like a frightened child.

As I got back to reading, I heard the squeak again, and looked over to a little white mouse practicing ballet. “Do you know who’s squeaking?” I asked her. The mouse shrugged, but just as she was about to continue dancing, a small yellow lioness cub toddler leapt out and started to roar a tiny, fierce roar. The mouse squeaked and ran away, screaming for a friend she might’ve named ‘Alice’. I was amazed by what I saw, and floated over to the little cub. “Hello, little one.” I said, tickling her under her chin, and causing her to giggle. Then, I saw the note tied around her neck. It read:

“Please look after this lioness cub. Thank you.

P.S., her name is Furaha.”

“Furaha eh?” I wondered. “Well, it won’t hurt to buy her.” To my surprise, she followed me all the way to the counter, where a man in a red cloak was working on a spell over a cauldron. “Excuse me!” I called, “I want to buy this lioness cub.” Seeing me, the man put the lid on the cauldron and rubbed his boney hands. “Ah, so it is this lioness cub you are looking to buy? Let me tell you: all our animals are for sale, and they pay nothing at all, just like my books, but if you want the lioness cub, you can buy her right away. She has magical powers, and she can make all your wishes come true. Get down to eye level with her, and she’ll grant your greatest wishes.” “Thanks!” I cried, and I dashed off out of the bookstore. But as I turned to leave, I heard a magical noise. When I turned around, the shop had vanished before my very eyes. “Wow….it must be a magical store!” I gasped.

Taking Furaha Home

When I took Furaha home, she wasn’t too pleased by the amount of mess caused. The whitewash flung everywhere, the tea flung everywhere, the smashed mug, the amount of boxes piled up…everything was a right mess. I remembered what I had done before the whole business with the magic store…then I had an idea. I got down to eye level with the toddler cub, who concentrated fully and looked into my eyes. Then, I said:

“I wish my house was neat, tidy and cozy - just how I like it.”

But Furaha didn’t even respond. I didn’t tell her off or anything, but I was very disappointed. After a noisy dinner, where I immediately got into the whole friendship situation with Furaha, we went to bed at about 9:00PM. Feeling tired, I gazed into Furaha’s eyes when she got up onto the bed, and wished again.

“I wish my house was neat, tidy and cozy - just how I like it.”

With Furaha snuggled nearby, I instantly fell fast asleep. What I didn’t notice, was that a warm glow had enveloped the entire house, and something miraculous was about to happen when I woke up the next morning…

August 16, 2002

Orko's Wish Comes True

When I woke up the next morning, all the cardboard boxes were gone. But how? I looked all around. My bedroom was clean and tidy as it should’ve been - the walls were a bright blue, there was a potted plant in the corner and there were neatly compiled bookshelves full of all the books I forgot to put up. Nearby on my desk, it was also neat and tidy, with my computer fully arranged.

Then I looked towards Furaha. Her wish granting powers had worked! “HOORAY!” I shouted, jumping out of bed, “It worked! Your wish granting powers work! Hooray!” Furaha immediately woke up hearing this, and jumped up and down on my bed, squealing wildly. I hugged her and said, “Oh, Furaha, what am I gonna do with you? You’re so magical!”