The document contains four short stories: 1) Zach has several pets including a bird, dog, pig, and rabbit and wants more animals like a lamb, kitten, and duck. 2) A girl named Tracey is nervous about starting at a new school but makes some friends by the end of the day. 3) An artist named Navi visits Mexico and is excited to see her fiancé Roberto's hometown, but she is stung by a scorpion while sketching a church. 4) Three family members who had a strained relationship all have the recurring dream of biting into an apple and their teeth falling out, realizing they have more in common than they thought.

1. "Zach's Animals"
My name is Zach.
I have a bird. She flies.
I have a dog. He is white.
I have a pig. He is very dirty.
I have a rabbit. She has a lot of hair.
Sometimes, I feel like I live in a zoo.
The name of my bird is Sky.
The name of my dog is Snow.
The name of my rabbit is Fur Ball.
I do not have a name for my pig yet.
I want to have a lamb.
I want to have a kitten.
I want to have a duck.
Mom says, “Not yet.”
I can’t live without my animals.

2. "Just One Touch"
I am sitting in a chair next to Momma’s bed. I am watching her get
ready for a party.
She opens the beautiful jewelry box on her nightstand.
It is the size of a shoebox. It is wooden. It has colorful stones on top.
They are red, green, yellow and blue. To me, the box looks magical.
It looks like it has special powers.
“Now, you know you must never touch this box, right?” Momma
says. I feel like she knows exactly what I am thinking.
I just want to touch it. I just want to open it.
I just want to try on all the jewelry inside and dance around
the room!
“Yes, Momma,” I say. “I know.”
What do I know?
I know Momma has always told me not to touch the box. She has
said it since I was a little girl.
“You are not old enough to wear my jewelry,” Momma says.
I am 11-years-old now! What is the big deal ?
I know that when Momma puts on the rings and bracelets from the
box, she looks different. She seems to glow.
There is one necklace with a yellow stone like a tiger’s eye. When
Momma puts this on, she seems tofloat instead of walk. Her feet do
not seem to touch the ground. She moves lightly and gracefully. She
moves without effort.

3. Momma kisses me goodnight. She leaves for the party. I run to the
window to wave to her, but she is already gone.
Tonight I am very curious.
Just one touch
I sit on the edge of Momma’s bed. I place my hand on the
nightstand. I pause. I think.
My hand moves up and rests on the jewelry box. The box quickly
flips open by itself! Jewels fly into the air. They dance around my
head. I feel strange. I fall down to the floor.
I wake up in a place I have never seen before.
"The New School"
Tracey is starting a new school today.
She is very sad. She is very scared.
“I don’t want to go to school today,” Tracey tells her dad.
“I understand, sweetheart,” Dad says. “Starting a new school can be
very scary.”
Tracey has moved to a new town. She has moved to a new house.
She is starting a new school today. She has done all of this in a
week!
“I feel sick,” Tracey says. “My stomach hurts. I can’t eat breakfast.”

4. “I think that is because you are nervous,” Dad says. He brushes
Tracey’s hair down. He gives her a little hug. “Try drinking just a little
juice. Then I will walk you to school.”
Tracey and her dad walk to school.
Tracey thinks about many things.
Will I make friends?
Will I like my teacher?
What if I don’t know the answer to a question?
Will kids laugh at me?
What if no one likes me?
“We’re here,” says Dad.
Tracey looks up at the big building. Her other school was small.
Tracey wishes she could run away.
She knows she cannot.
She takes a deep breath.
She walks up the steps to school.
She walks into her third grade classroom.
“That must be Tracey,” she hears a boy say.
“Hello, Tracey!”
“Welcome, Tracey!”
“Let me show you around.”
Everyone seems kind. Tracey feels a little better.
She is still not happy. She is still a little scared. She cannot eat her

5. lunch.
Dad picks Tracey up after school.
“How was your day?” he asks.
“Okay,” she says.
“It will get better,” Dad says. “Big changes are hard.”
“I know,” says Tracey. She reaches for her dad’s hand to hold as
they walk home.
"Scorpion"
Soon after Navi got engaged to Roberto, she went to meet his family
in Mexico.
She had heard many a story of Roberto’s birth city of Guanajuato,
and they had all captivated her. At one time, this colonial city was
the source of two-thirds of the world’s silver.
“Our family goes to a beautiful church in Guanajuato,” Roberto had
told her while they courted in the United States. “It is said that silver
dust was mixed into the cement building blocks and that is why the
church sparkles.”
Navi had been enthralled. Roberto always told such wonderful
stories. She could not wait to see the city and meet all of Roberto’s
family. Navi was an artist and knew that the trip would inspire her to
create.
While Roberto had imparted Navi with all the wonders of his
beautiful city, it had not occurred to him to mention any dangers.

6. They were young. They were in love. They lived only in the moment.
Navi was speechless when she saw the Oratorio de San Felipe. “It
really does sparkle!” she exclaimed.
Navi kissed Roberto on the cheek. “I’ll meet you outside,” she said,
leaving the church.
She pulled her sketchpad and pencils from her bag and went to sit
against one of the glorious palm trees outside the church. She
began sketching the colossal cupola which extended three stories
above the nave.
Suddenly, a sharp pain took hold of her left shoulder. It felt like an
electrical shock. The pain began topervade the rest of her body.
She had been stung by a pernicious scorpion!
The last thing Navi remembered was Roberto kneeling by her side.
She woke up a week later with him holding her hand and telling her
a story. “In Mexico, scorpions are ubiquitous. There are more
scorpion deaths here than in any other place in the world. And they
love palm trees,” he said, rubbing her hand with tears of relief in his
eyes. “I should have mentioned that before.”
"Dreams"
The relationship between my mother, sister and me had been cold
and inimical for as long as I could remember.
To me, my mother was irrational, often hurling hurtful invectives for
the slightest infraction. My sister, five years my senior, seemed not
to have a brain in her head. Tammy dithered about everything,
incapable of making any firm decision. No matter how often my

7. mother deprecated her -- “dumb, ugly, fat”—Tammy made futile
attempts to fawn her way back into mother’s good graces.
My father would pontificate, “You three are more alike then you
know.”
In April of 2000, my mother kicked us both out of the house. (Dad
had been exiled many years before.)
My sister and I went our separate ways. It was then that I began
having recurring dreams.
In one, I am running to catch up with a woman. Each time I get near,
I trip and fall. Another woman comes with great alacrity and offers
her hand, but when I reach to grab it, she disappears.
In another, a female professor hands me a test. Although I have
spent hours studying for it, I know none of the answers. The
professor derides me for my poor performance.
These dreams were not hard to understand. In fact they
were pellucid , and absent any knowledge of dream interpretation, I
was still able to devise their significance. I knew that they both
reflected thepugnacious relationship I shared with my mother and
sister.
However, there was one dream I could never quite construe. I bite
into an apple. All of my teeth fall out. I had this dream far more than
any of the others.
Years later, in an effort to heal our fractious relationship, Mom,
Tammy and I would elect to go to counseling together. After several
sessions, I tell my dream about teeth tumbling out of my head.
“My God,” said my mother. “I’ve had the exact same dream many
times.”
“Me too,” said Tammy solemnly.

8. Breakthrough? No idea. But I was reminded of the words of my now-
dead father. Perhaps the three of us are more alike than we know.