A mysterious letter gives Sally the courage and confidence to stand up to her bullies Silent wails poured from the door upstairs. Sally’s mother slowly trudged up the creaking stairs, knowing that the interaction was inevitable. She slowly opened the door to a room drenched in darkness. As Sally heard her approaching steps, she tried to keep her sniffles down as much as she could. She didn’t want to be found. Oh no, she’s gonna come here. Why? Why, universe? Why are you so against me? What did I do to make you so mad?! As Sally softly sank into the safety of the closet, the door to her room slowly opened. Her mother inched closer and closer, and Sally’s breath shortened. Her mother’s soft, sweet voice drifted through the cracks of her closet. Opening the door, she discovered that Sally was not there. Befuddled, Sally’s mother anxiously searched every inch of Sally’s room, wondering what had happened to Sally. Finally, she slowly went down to resume cooking, thinking about Sally. Did I really just hear Sally’s sniffles? Or was I dreaming? Should I get more sleep? Letting go a breath she forgot she was holding, Sally opened the door. Thank God she didn’t check the closet. As she tiptoed back through her cave of clothes, the sweet aroma of cake tickled Sally’s nose. Her mom was baking a chocolate carrot cake downstairs, Sally’s favorite. Although Sally wanted to stay burrowed in her fortress, her stomach rumbled in disagreement. Groaning, she got up and slowly opened the door. Creeping down the stairs, she kept her head lowered. Trudging for what seemed like a few hours, she finally reached the kitchen, where a humongous meal met her face to face. Rows and rows of spicy, delicious, gleaming, glorious food welcomed her. All at once she was overwhelmed and almost forgot all of her troubles. Almost. As soon as she saw all this food, she was instantly reminded of the bullying she’d faced at her school today. And then she saw the gigantic cake. All she could think was, Sugar, fat, bullying, danger. My weight. And as she ran upstairs in a burst of tears, her mother was stunned. What did I do? All I tried to do was to make her happy . . . Heartbroken, Sally’s mother slowly stopped in the middle of taking the cake out of the oven. Battling to hold back her tears, she set the cake on the table and sat in silence. Sally started to run, unable to keep the tears from falling. She landed on her mother’s lap, half in sad tears, half in grief and sorrow. Crying gently, Sally knew deep in her heart that her mom was just trying to be nice. She could imagine her downstairs, sitting at the table in silence. Just thinking about her made Sally want to throw up. Feeling a little sick, she slowly got off her bed and inched toward the door. But the hard part was the stairs. It was like a blind fall. Sally didn’t know if she was going to be caught and embraced or if she’d just fall into eternity and beyond. So, as she edged closer and closer to the bottom step, sweat started forming around her brow. Brushing away her last remaining tears, she approached the bottom. A sudden gasp came from her mother. Sally started to run, unable to keep the tears from falling. She landed on her mother’s lap, half in sad tears, half in grief and sorrow. “Don’t worry, baby. Don’t worry. It’s all going to be okay, it’s going to be okay,” her mother recited over and over as she slowly patted her daughter’s hair. They moved to the couch. Slowly settling into this routine of patting her head and reciting words, Sally’s mother dozed off to sleep, alongside Sally. And so they slept, a mother’s hand on her daughter’s hair, perfectly aligned with each other. The next morning, they both woke up a little late. “Oh, no!” they said in unison. “We’re late!” “Wait! You knowwww, we could have a girls’ day off?” Sally said with an eyebrow raised. Her mother laughed and said, “Sorry, dear, but we have to get you to school.” Reminded of her previous day, Sally put her head down. Her mother saw her hesitation and was devastated, thinking of the pain Sally must be feeling. “Hey! How about we go out and get some breakfast for you, huh? You didn’t eat dinner yesterday, right?” Surprised, the corners of Sally’s mouth reached her ears. *          *          * Ding! As the duo entered the pancake store, they were met head on with a blast of cool air conditioning. Eating, the two sat in awkward silence. After a little while, Sally had some deep thoughts. Now, fully thinking about everything, she realized that she had acted a little immaturely. She had to go to school, no matter how uncomfortable it would be. Then Sally experienced a flashing memory. Sally was slowly walking down the stairs to the bus to return home. Suddenly, she flew off the stairs and crashed to the ground. Slowly getting up, she realized that a bully had pushed her. “Stout Sally, Stout Sally, Stout Sally!” As she put her head down and walked away, she felt something hit her back. Turning around, she saw that on her shoulder was a big slab of cake. It was Turner’s birthday, and I guess it was more important to throw the cake at her than to eat it. Snickers came from all around her. Suddenly, it was war. The cake was flying here and there, and almost none of it hit her. But it wasn’t that she was physically hurt. She was emotionally hurt. To know that no one likes you and that people think you’re fat and you can’t do anything but stand there—it’s a feeling no one should ever experience. Yet

A dragon struggles to keep warm one freezing night Fire is hot. Ice and snow are cold. There is a difference. One is stronger. If you ask other dragons, they would say that fire is stronger. They would say fire melts ice and snow. Not me, though. My fire is weak. Weak as a dead leaf. And no. Don’t even bother. I know it. Trust me. There is something—just something— wrong with me. Mother says there is nothing wrong, that I’m just different. But I see that glint of worry in her eyes. The glint that means she is lying to make me feel better. Here is a snippet of my life that I would like to show you: I huddle in a cave, trying to get away from the snowstorm. It is −50 degrees Fahrenheit, and there are icicles hanging from my chin, neck, wings, belly, and tail. Several of my scales are frozen. Two of my horns have chipped off, but I have eighteen more. I am very aware that I might fall asleep and never wake up. There are some humans in the cave, but I ignore them. Humans are small, clever, stupid, impatient whiners. They are also yummy. I think about eating them, but even through my hunger, I decide that in this frozen state I would be too slow to catch them. I snort a small flame. Eye of the Toucan The humans turn to look at me. They chitter-chatter something in their own language, and there is some yelling from the smallest one. They all nod, and one by one, they bring me their food. Each one smiles at me. I am surprised. Humans are greedy. Why would they give up their food for a creature who eats their kind? The humans light a fire and sit around it with me. I seem to be their new friend. I warm up. The ice on me melts, and I think, This is the real kind of fire—not like the one that couldn’t save my life. Suddenly I stop shivering, and I doze off to a dreamless sleep. These kind people made me reconsider my opinion about humans. Especially eating them—now that’s a no-no. After all, their kind saved the life of me, the freezing, useless-fired, human-eating dragon, whether I liked it or not.