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In the shadow of a low stone wall on the edge of a forest, two sisters lay sprawled in the grass. The younger one turned to look at her sister.

“Lindsey, is this really the last time?” she whispered.

Lindsey nodded miserably and continued to look at the sky. She remembered only too well the day her parents announced they were moving. The weeks after that had been a flurry of packing and goodbyes. Now she and Sara had come to their favorite place in the world to say goodbye.

They had been coming here ever since Sara was a baby to watch the clouds. They had always wanted to see one shaped like a bird, but they never had.

And now we never will, Lindsey thought.

The Seabird lyinng on the grass
They had always wanted to see one shaped like a bird, but they never had

“Lindsey, what would happen if we ran away?” Sara asked. “We could hide in the forest until Mom and Dad leave and then we could stay here forever.”

“We’d starve to death,” Lindsey answered. “Anyway…”

But her words were cut off by the voice of her father.

“Sara! Lindsey! Where are you? It’s time to go!”

“Coming, Dad,” Lindsey groaned. “Come on, Sara.”

Lindsey pulled Sara to her feet and together they climbed over the wall and got into the waiting car.

As they drove away, Sara began to cry.

“Oh, be quiet,” snapped Lindsey, but she felt like crying too.

Three hours later they reached the new house. Lindsey went out on the back porch and watched the sun setting over the ocean. Just as the fiery orb sank below the horizon, Lindsey heard someone else come out onto the porch. A moment later, Sara was standing beside her.

“Look,” Sara whispered.

Lindsey looked where her sister pointed and saw, just above the place where the sun had gone down, a cloud shaped like a bird, its wings spread wide in the afterglow of the sunset.

Lindsey put an arm around Sara. “No wonder we never saw one before,” she whispered. “We were looking in the wrong place.”

The Seabird Sandra Detweiler
Sandra Detweiler, 12
Eugene, Oregon

The Seabird Ruby Bledsoe
Ruby Bledsoe, 12
Austin, Texas