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sagebrush
USA
292 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 13 2011 : 11:04:40 AM
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This book is dedicated to the students at KMS and was written and illustrated by my sister Sharon.
I wanted to share it with everyone and the sweetness of this story.
Although, I will not be able to show the illustrations.
Mahaffey is a tiny owl that lives in southwest Houston, a large city in Texas. He lives with his family in an old oak tree near a cemetary.
In many ways Mahaffey is like all the other owls. He likes to fly around at night and hunt. He enjoys sitting on the branch of his favorite tree and looking at the moon.
"Hoot, hoot", he says.
In other ways, however, Mahaffey is very different from the other owls. For one thing, Mahaffey would like to be friends with some of the other creatures...like birds, rabbits, or squirrels. But the other owls always say to Mahaffey: "NO, no don't do that. They are not like us. They eat different food, speak different languages, and have different lifestyles. It's better to just stick with your own kind."
Mahaffey listens to them, but he doesn't feel the same way. He wants to go out and make friends with all kinds of creatures.
Another constrast between Mahaffey and the other owls is that Mahaffey wants adventure.
Though he loves his family, his owl friends, and his beloved oak tree home in southwest Houston, Mahaffey dreams of exploring the world; he's just not sure where to start.
One evening a little boy that lives in the apartments beside the cemetray looks up at Mahaffey in his tree. The biy smiles at him and says "Hello Mr.Owl, I see you everyday, and I have brought you some seeds."
"My name is Amir", the little boy goes on, "and these seeds are from my country Pakistan."
That night, Mahaffey smiles to himself when he thinks of Amir. Mahaffey gazes up at the full moon, and suddenly he decides to fly away to Pakistan.
"amir was so kind and interesting", he says to himself, "and I'll bet there would be many other people like that in Pakistan."
He says goodbye to his family and his best friend Raven. Mahaffey knows he'll miss them alot, but he knows he'll come bacvk one day.
Mahaffey flies through the night. His jopurney takes several days as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, many European countries, Turkey, Iran, and then finally Pakistan.
When Mahaffey first arrives in Pakistan, he lands in a city called Lahore. It is a large and historical city. At first, fe feels a little bit nervous. He doesn't know a single person in this country.
He even stops for a minute and begins to wonder, "What am I doing here? Did I make the right decision to come here?"
But within a short time, Mahaffey's feelings of nervousness are replaced with excitement. Everything is so different from back home, and some things even seem a little strange. Yet all of this is what makes everything interesting. It's a very different world from southwest Houston.
Mahaffey finds a nice shady tree on a busy city street. He watches the people as they pass by.
One of the first things that Mahaffey notices is the language. He hears people speaking a language which is unknown to him. It's called Urdu. Surprisingly, he also hears alot of English. Mahaffey never realizewd that English would be spoken in such a faraway place.
Mahaffewy admires the clothing that many people are wearing. It's a traditional style of dressing called a shalwar kameeez. The clothing looks very comfortable and colorful.
Other people are wearing jeans and clothes people wear back home.
After some time, Mahaffey feels hungry and goes to get some food. It's very spicy and delicious. He eats chicken tikka, rice,dal(lentils) and bread. For dessert he has some chai(tea) served with gulab jaman(similar to small donuts soaked in syrup.)
Mahaffey counts his money, which in Pakistan is called rupees, and decides to go shopping. Though there are malls, many Pakistanis like to go to outdoor markets, which are called bazaars.
During his day, Mahaffey meets many people. A few are mean, but almost all are very, very, kind. He sees people laughing, yelling, crying, talking, shaking hands.
Mahaffey visits other places during his trip. He goes to a park and watches kids play cricket, a sport kind of like baseball. He also visits a mosque to learn about the religion, Islam.
In America, he sometimes heard bad things about Pakistan and Islam, so Mahaffey is glad he made this trip. He now knows that what he hears isn't always true.
Mahaffey's return home is a happy one. His family hugs him. Everyone says "I'll bet people there are really different, right?"
Mahaffey remembers Pakistan. He pauses and then says: "yes, there are many differences, but we all laugh, cry, fight, and love our families. Deep inside, people are all the same."
The End |
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Mahaffy Goes To Pakistan
