Writing Sample: Laimė yra lapė

Laimė yra lapė (The Fox on the Swing)

Paul told the Fox stories about his own life. Often he asked her for advice.

“My grandfather was a wise old fox,” the fox would say. “He told me that everything depends on your point of view. Things can change, depending on whether you look at them from up above or down below, from the left or from the right. So ask me again when you’ve looked at the problem from all sides”.

One day, when the Fox was in a very good mood, she said, “The best thing to is just keep on swinging”.

Then she explained that the happiest things in the world are orange.

“Happiness is a fox on the swing and a big orange!” She yelled as the swing carried her high in the sky. “Happiness is a carrot cake, goldfish, marmalade, and trees in autumn!”

Then she let Paul take a turn on the swing. As he flew through the air, Paul called out: “Happiness is my mother’s pots and my dad’s helicopter! Happiness is an orange basketball and Maggie’s ginger cat! But most of all, happiness is a Fox!”

“Will I always find you here?” Paul asked.

“Of course not”, the Fox replied. “When I need to be somewhere else, that’s where I’ll go”.

“But what about me?” Paul asked sadly.

The Fox thought about that for a moment.

“For a while, I think you’ll walk this way and still expect to find me here. Then you’ll stop coming this way, so you don’t have to see this place and this swing any more. But sooner o later, someone will come along to take my place”.

After this conversation, things were never the same again. Paul felt uneasy as he walked the long way home. If the Fox wasn’t there, he worried that he’d never see her again. If she was there, he felt happier than he’d ever felt before”.

One day, Paul’s father came home from work much happier than usual. He kissed Paul’s mother and lifted Paul high up into the air. He told them that soon they would be moving to an even bigger city, where they would live in an even taller tree in an even bigger park. And he would fly an even bigger helicopter.

“Everything will be so much better than before!” Paul’s father said.

  “But what if we’re happy enough already?” Paul asked. He really didn’t want to live anywhere else.

“There’s no such thing as being happy enough” his father said. “Things can always get better”.

Evelina Daciūtė: Laimė yra lapė (The Fox on the Swing)