Chapter 21

1. In a jungle, there lived a little mouse, Squeaky. He was so tiny that he was always afraid of the other big animals. That night, he found a cloth lying near his house. He thought for a while and soon he realized that it was a pillow cover humans use. "I can have some fun with this," laughed the mouse. Squeaky drew two eyes and lips with that pen. It was made in such a way that it was appearing to be a ghost. As night was approaching, all the big animals started to go back to their houses. As rabbit passed by, he saw a shadow ofthe ghost. He ran away at once. Soon, the deer came across the same path and cried in fear. The mouse was really enjoying this. Even the king of the jungle was now afraid of bim. One day, there was a huge thunderstorm. The animals had no choice but to cross that scary path. All the trees had fallen and because of that the rest of the paths were blocked. Soon, rabbit crossed that path and he saw the ghost. The rabbit jumped out of fear. But, to his surprise, the white cloth flew away and inside it, there was Squeaky. Soon, all the animals gathered there and drove the mouse away. He could never return to the jungle.

2. Once upon a time, there was a rabbit. It was roaming here and there. Suddenly, it found a big, round and colorful balL. The rabbit picked it up and looked at it carefully. It was a very hard tool "Whose egg is this the rabbit wondered. The rabbit called his dear friend tortoise. "Is this atiger'segg"he asked. The tortoise said, "No! The tiger eggis not so big. This is not the tortoise egg." The rabbit called his friend monkey and asked, "Is this a camel's egg The monkey said, "No, it is not camel's egg as the egg of the camel is not colorful!" By now, the rabbit was confused as to whose egg could it be. Hedecided to call another friend ofhis, the Stork. "Is this an elephant's eggr" the rabbit asked him. The stork placed the ball near him and poked it with its beak. The ball burst with a "phissss' sound and the air started coming out of it. The stork finally concluded that it was a wind's egg. "Yes! It's a wind's egg." agreed the rabbit, the tortoise and the monkey. They all laughed out with joy and jumped happily.

3. A woman awakes in the middle of the night find her husband not in bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of hot cocoa in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes away a tear from his eye. "What's the matter, dear?" she whispers as she steps into the room.. "Why are you down here at this time of night!?" The husband looks up from his drink, "It's the 20th Anniversary of the day we met." She can't believe he has remembered and starts to tear up. The husband continues, "Do you remember 20 years ago when we started dating? I was 18 and you were only 15," he said solemnly. Once again, the wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring and sensitive. "Yes, I do" she replies. The husband pauses... The words were not coming easily. "Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?" "Yes, I remember" said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him. The husband continued. "Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, Either you marry my daughter or I will make sure you spend the next 20 years in prison?" "I remember that, too" she replied softly.. He sighed as he wiped another tear away from his cheek and said, "I would have gotten out today."

4. I was once on a US military ship, having breakfast in the wardroom (officers lounge) when the Operations Officer (OPS) walks in. This guy was the definition of NOT a morning person; he's still hall asleep, bleary eyed... basically a zombie with a bagel, He sits down across from me to eat his bagel and is just barely conscious. My back is to the outboard side of the ship, and the morning sun is blazing in one of the portholes putting a big bright-ass circle of light right on his barely conscious face. He's squinting and chewing and basically just remembering how to be alive for today. It's painful to watch. But then zombie-OPS stops chewing, slowty picks up the phone, and dials the bridge, In his well-known I'm-stil-totaly-asleep voice, he says "heeeey. It's OPS. Could you. shift our barpat. yeah, one six five. Thanks." And puts the phone down., And then he just sits there. Squinting. Waiting. And then, ever so slowły, I reakize that that big blazing spot of sun has begun to side off the zombie's face and onto the wal behind him. Aftor a moment it clears his face and he blinks slowly a few times and the brilliant beauty of what I've just witnessed begins to overwhelm me. By ordering the bridge to adjust the ship' he's changed our course just enough to reposition the sun off of his tace. He's iterally just redirected thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of people so that he could get the sun out of his eyes while he eats his bagel, I am in away. s back-and-forth patrol by about 15 degrees, He slowty picks up his bagel and for a moment l'm terrified at the thought that his own genius may escape him, that he may never appreciate the epic brillance of his laziness (since he's not going to wake up for another hour). But between his next bites he pauses, looks at me, and gives me the faintest, sly grin, before returning to gnaw slowly on his zombie bagel.