Click to read PUSHOK (FIRST PART)

One cold winter day, Pushok went missing. Concerned, Miriam looked all over for him. “Pushok, Pushok”, she called. At last she heard a faint meowing coming from the tree next to her. She looked up and at the same time Pushok jumped into the safety of her hands. He had wounds all over his body. It turns out that as he was hunting he was ambushed by a dog that bit him. Pushok barely managed to save himself in the tree.

But staying home was not an option. Pushok had to hunt to bring in food. This time Miriam would always be by his side. She carried a heavy stick at all times and would not hesitate to use it.

Gradually life in the city was improving. The Russian Army had established a supply route to Leningrad that led through the frozen Ladoga Lake. The Germans bombed it relentlessly but they could not break the Road of Life which was the name Leningraders gave it.

As precarious as Miriam and Pushok’s situation was, they still found time to have fun. Their favorite pastime was playing checkers. Can you imagine playing checkers with a cat? No? There are a few things you need to know first. Cats are intrepid thinkers therefore you should keep up the pace. Make a move as soon as they make theirs, don’t hesitate. Cats might make two moves in a row. That’s ok because so can you. Moves in any direction are accepted. When you can’t change your opponent you change the game!

With the arrival of spring, Efim was able to come home to visit. Each time he brought food, enough food for Miriam and Pushok to stop hunting”.

“What was Efim’s job in the navy” asked Effie.
“He was a mine spotter”, said grandmother. “He would stay on the deck of a fast patrol boat called a cutter and scout for mines that the Germans were laying. Ships in the harbour were counting on Efim to find mines. A single mine could easily sink an entire ship!

One day the skipper told Efim that he could go home to see his mum and that this time he could stay overnight. As happy as Efim was to spend the evening with Miriam and Pushok, he was even happier the next day for it was special. On that very day the Russian victory over Nazi Germany was announced on the radio.

Instantly all Leningrad erupted in celebration. Every street, square and promenade was filled with survivors of the blockade. It took Efim a long time to get to the harbour. It seemed that everyone in the street was trying to hug him!

When Efim made it to the dock, the cutter had already sailed. Sadly it never returned. Sailors from another ship told the crying Efim how they saw his cutter being destroyed by a mine. Those who laid the mine may have surrendered but, as far as the mine was concerned, it did not change a thing.

Overcome by the sad news Efim signed up for a long expedition to Antarctica. All this time when he was away, Pushok kept Miriam company.Pushok lived long enough to see Efim get married and for Efim’s first daughter – your mother – to be born. As a toddler your mother often expressed her affection for Pushok by pulling hard on his tail. Not once did Pushok lash out, scratch or bite her.

Overall Efim’s time in the navy as a mine spotter, a sailor and a dock worker, amounted to more than sixty years. This was quite a milestone. One day the navy sent a reporter to interview him. The reporter published everything Efim told him about himself, about Miriam, and about Pushok.

Touched by Pushok’s bravery people started sharing stories about wartime pets. Stories that their parents or grandparents shared with them. It turns out that Pushok’s conduct, as exceptional as it was, wasn’t unique. During hard times some pets were acting in ways you would not expect from an animal.”

Grandmother then left, but Effie was still thinking about Pushok. She looked at Leo who looked straight at her. He appeared more mature to her now. Effie opened the checkers box and put pieces on the board. Intrigued, Leo sniffed them. “Let’s play Leo”, Effie said, and she made the first move.

THE END

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That afternoon, grandmother could not manage to pack her suitcase because Leo the house cat was getting in her way. Each time she tried to open it, Leo squeezed his head in and mixed up her stuff with his furry paws.

“Modern cats don’t know anything about manners” observed grandmother.

“Cats don’t have manners grandma”, Effie laughed.

“I once met a cat who did”, said grandmother. His name was Pushok.

“Tell me about Pushok, please!” Effie begged. Who wouldn’t be curious to hear about a cat who had manners?

“Very well” – began grandmother surrendering the suitcase to Leo. ”Pushok was a grey tabby with short fur and green eyes. There was nothing that made him look different from any Russian street cat. In fact the street was where your grandfather Efim first met Pushok who was dwelling in a cardboard box filled with fluffy feathers from a torn old pillow. Efim was about your age at the time and Pushok was only a little kitten. Efim brought the kitten home, fed it and gave it a bath. He named it Pushok which means fluff in Russian”, said the grandmother before pausing for a moment.

Meanwhile Effie was not the only one in the room who was paying attention. The lilac colored Leo fixed his green eyes on grandmother as if interested in the other cat’s story.

“Pushok grew into a strong young cat at the worst possible time and place for a pet to live in. The time was the start of the Second World War and the place was the besieged city of Leningrad.

Invading German and Finnish armies surrounded the city from the sea and the land cutting off all supply routes. Food in Leningrad dwindled to a bare minimum in the matter of a few weeks. What was still available was rationed by the city government. Hunger set in. It was a long, deep hunger. Sensing that they themselves might be eaten, many pets escaped but not Pushok. Efim´s mother, Miriam, was sharing her own food with him.

Children, on average, have better eyesight than grown-ups and Efim put his to good use. With a slingshot he hunted small birds, pigeons, crows and sparrows. He would bring what he had caught to Miriam who made a stew for Efim, Pushok and herself.

One day a Naval officer saw Efim shooting down a tiny sparrow hiding in the tree up above.
“I believe you have a talent we could use”, the officer told him.

Efim did not want to leave Miriam but she convinced him to go with the officer. Efim was better off in the navy she felt, because sailors unlike civilians received enough nutrition.

Not very long after Efim’s departure winter came. The Leningrad winter is not winter as we know it, just a little snow and a bit of ice with a Nor’easter now and again. Situated less than five hundred miles from the Arctic Circle, the city itself is a Nor’easter. Supercharged by the Gulf of Finland the winds from the Baltic Sea can give your ears frost bite if you don’t wear a fur hat with ear flaps. You must wear layered clothing and when there is no heat in-doors you will even sleep in one.

Miriam did not eat for days. The cat Pushok left at last. She was not bitter just amazed that Pushok had stuck by her for so long. She lay in bed, now very weak when suddenly she heard scratching on the window glass. She dismissed it at first but the scratching did not stop. Mustering the last bits of strength Miriam got up and opened the window. Guess who jumped in?”

“Pushok”, cried Effie.

“That is correct”, grandmother nodded. “It was Pushok and he did not come empty pawed. He was carrying a pigeon between his teeth.

From that moment on when Miriam ran out of food, Pushok went out hunting. Miriam was grateful and very very proud of Pushok, yet she did not realize how dangerous Pushok’s hunts really were.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Click to read: PUSHOK (SECOND PART) 

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The fairies are flying around when they see grandpa. He is a nice man who has always believed in giving love and affection to his family.

When he looks for calm amongst the flowers and fruit in his vegetable garden, he discovers that he is picking the fairies´unconditional love, the same values that he instilled in his family.

One of the fairies called Shanna represents generosity. She flaps happily towards grandpa but does not find the moment to offer him her presents.

The second fairy is called Sissi, she is solidarity. She is always ready to support, not just Grandpa, but also everybody who is around her.

Shelly, is the commitment fairy. She is always ready and does not leave things undone. Shelly is a fairy who always accompanies Grandpa and takes care of him.

Camila is the next, a naughty and lively fairy, who is happy climbing the trees to collect her own fruit, but she always shares them with everybody near grandpa.

Pippi is the cooperative fairy, a little fairy who makes every effort to leave everything perfectly in place before flying away.

And the youngest fairy is called Carol, a fairy full of love and tenderness who represents the value of friendship. She appreciates all the other fairies´company and grandpa´s. She always hugs them to show her affection.

When the colourful fairies arrived little by little into grandpa´s life, he grew so fond of them, and he realized that they were also attracted to him as he gave them values that each of them developed to a greater extent.

Nowadays, they wait for each other in the vegetable garden to live together and enjoy sowing, picking, walking, talking and learning more from grandpa´s experience.

That is the end of the story…

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Three lively fairies opened the closet and enjoyed the shoes, accessories and especially the dresses.

Samantha, a a young fashion lover, did not noticed those visits, and, while she was brushing her hair, the fairies were inside her closet having fun changing their clothes.

The oldest was organizing a fashion show, the youngest was ready, wearing shoes like if she was going to a wedding. The middle fairy was guarding to avoid being discovered. And the three of them started their party well dressed.

Suddenly, Samantha´s grandfather went into the room, and discovered the fairies folding the clothes. the fairies were so distracted that did not realized that he took some pictures of them, which showed later to Samantha. She laughed and thanked it to her grandpa.

Far from getting angry, Samantha invited the fairies to make a fashion show to her with her clothes. They dressed the girl, who enjoyed their company and finally became very good friend of the three fairies.

Nowadays, the fairies tell excited their friendship story with the girl, without caring about the age difference.

Samantha and her grandfather still keep a watch inside the closet when the grandfather visits her, and the fairies appear inside the wardrobe, what a coincidence…

And that is the end of the story…

Moral of the story: have good friendships.

Values of the Short tory: Sharing, Friendship…

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Toto was a nine year old boy, who really liked going to class because besides learning lots of things from different subjects, he could play with his friends.

His grandfather John was always taking him to school by the hand to protect him, because they had to cross a few streets where the cars used to go through very fast.

One day, going back home coming from school, they were about to cross one of the streets, when a car went through without respecting the zebra crossing and almost hit them.

Toto and his grandfather had a big fright, the car almost ran over them and the driver did not even stop to check if they were right.

The kid thought that he had to do something, because he had noticed that the cars did not use to respect the zebra crossing nor the speed limits.

Toto had a brilliant idea, he proposed to his teacher to make a road safety education week at school. He knew that the plan he had designed was going to work, and so, the inhabitants in town would be more safe walking around.

Each child had to choose a traffic sign and learn its meaning; then had to explain them at home so their parents helped them and learnt the lesson at the same time.

The last day of the week, the children got dressed up as a traffic sign, and walked  all around the village teaching the meaning of the traffic signs and how important is to respect them to make the streets more safe.

The village was really surprised and happy for Toto´s idea. The inhabitants of the village remembered that lesson every time they drove a car, and always respected the traffic signs, and the local government put the traffic signs that were missing.

THE END

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Once upon a time…

There were to siblings living with their granny. The oldest one, John, was very loud mouth and was always disturbing his little brother Josh; who was always crying because of that.

One day, their granny took them for a walk through the forest, and Josh stayed behind and got lost.

When their granny, and John realized that Josh was not behind them started to call him and to look for him everywhere, but they could not find Josh. So John look at the sky and said:

“God, please help us to find my little brother, make sure nothing happens to him, I promise I won´t disturb or shout at him again, but please, I want him to be fine”.

When God saw him so desperate of not finding his brother, listened to him, and granted his wish.

So, when they went back to the beginning of the way, saw that Josh had gone back with other people, and that it was there waiting for his brother and his granny to come back.

When they saw each other, hugged each other and went back home very happy, in where there were no more shouts, annoyances or sobbing….thus they lived happily ever after.

And that is the end of the story…

Moral of the story: Siblings have to live in peace, demonstrating the affection they have to each other.

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It was a sad day, or that is what I felt; it was raining non stop, the sky was dark and I was in my room trying to do my homework, but I was not able to concentrate.

I observed the landscape for a while, and then, I looked for some information about our planet on the books, but I could not find anything good enough to write down my biology book. So I decided to relax a bit and go to ask my Grandmother later, she would know what to say about this lesson.

I was surprised of her nice greeting when I arrived, she did not use to be so cordial, then, I asked her help for my homework and she said:

– “What I first have to say is that our planet is not like this due to the weather; the pass of the generations is what has made this disaster. When I was a young girl living with my parents, we used to take care of the environment together and save water; never wasted electricity, and always put the litter at the correct place”…

– “So…Did you not have recycling campaigns or garbage control?”.

The streets were always clean, each one cleaned their respective parts in front of their houses, and recycling was not needed, because everybody was conscious and it was clean. But now, the families don´t know how to look after our resources, wasting water, energy, and everything nature gives us”.

-“Granny…Do you think is still time of changing people´s way of life to help the planet?”

-“Damage is done, but we won´t be those suffering the consequences, the next generations will. Anyway, it´s very important to talk about this to children, to make them aware about taking care of our planet, and so they will help to make their life better. It´s something basic that can make a big difference in our planet”.

– “Thank you! I knew you were going to give me nice advices!”.

The next day, I read my essay in biology class; the teacher liked it so much, that congratulated me and published one of my reflections at the school newspaper.

THE END

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Once upon a time, there was a grandfather called Ronny who organized a day’s camping and invited his grandchildren Michael and Jess.

Jess was very excited and asked her brother, Michael:

– “Hey brother, where are we going?”

– “To an Island”

Jess and Michael excitedly packed everything for their camping trip, and so did Ronny.

Once they had everything ready they set off for the island.

When they reached the Island they began their day’s camping. At the end of the day they Michael and Ronny were ready to go back home but Jess had eaten too much.

After waiting for Jess it became too late to leave and so they had to spend the night at the island. But they had no place to sleep, so Michael and Jess made a little refuge with dry leaves and they slept very well.

When they woke up the next morning, they were ready to go back home but something unexpected happened. A pirate appeared in front of them, and said that he would not allow them to leave because those who had spent one night at his island had to stay there until somebody rescued them.

The pirate stood in front of them and said:

– “You must stay until somebody comes to rescue you!”

– “But…why?” – asked Ronny.

– “Because you have spent one night on my island. If you spend one night on my island, somebody has to rescue you.”

Then the pirate gave them work to do.

He ordered to Michael and Jess to tidy up all the leaves they had used for their refuge because a Pirate island has to be clean.

While Michael and Jess cleaned the refuge, Ronny removed all the bread crusts they had left there at lunch time.

While the pirate watched them working, a peasant came to him and asked:

– “Why do you make them work like this? They don´t deserve it”

The pirate replied furiously:

– “Because they have spent one night on my island and so they have to wait for someone to come. How can I let them stay here without making them work hard? They have to tidy up all the mess they have made on my island”.

The peasant said, softly:

– “Ok, but I’m here to rescue them.”

The pirate told Michael, Ronny and Jess that somebody had come to rescue them.

Michael, Ronny and Jess then left the island. They were all very thankful and told their story to the peasant.

– “But why did you rescue us?” – Asked Ronny.

– “First of all, I live in a town where my mother gave me a good education. All peasants are nice to people in trouble like you. It´s important to help each other, and I will need your help some day” – “Bye, bye! see you later! My mother is waiting for me at home.” – he shouted from afar.

-“Sure, thanks, thanks a lot!”.

THE END

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There was a little girl called Amelie who liked puppets, chocolate and dogs.

She was a happy and a playful girl who loved her family and was very close to her granny Mary.

But there was something that really annoyed her, her feet were always cold. She was never confortable enough, even when wearing three pair of socks she wasn´t warm enough.

Winter was the worst season for Amelie, sitting in front of the chimney was the only way she could warm up her feet.

Her granny Mary visited her one day and she had an important surprise for Amelie.

Amelie was playing with her dolls when saw her grandmother appear in her room-. She hugged her very excited, and then Mary gave her a present.

She had madeher a pair of red socks from a very special wool. Amelie jumped with joy when she tried them on and felt her feet so warm.

Amelie was then very happy and her feet were never cold again.

THE END

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Once upon a time there was an old rabbit called John living in a small cute house up in the mountains with his two granddaughters, Lily and Tina.

Everybody in town loved and respected John, was 100 years old and had been nice with the other animals during his entire life. Now was a wise and strong rabbit.

But his granddaughters were not like him, they weren´t respectful, actually were very rude, always in a bad mood complaining and criticizing the others.

- I don´t like this…

– Me neither…

– I don´t want those…

– Me neither…

– Look at the elephant´s big nose…

– I don´t like it…

– What about the donkey´s ears?…

– awful…

And could spend hours having conversations like that without caring about the others; was their grandfather who had to apologize to his neighbors in the name of his granddaughters.

John, who was tired of his little´s behavior went to sit at the river edge to hatch a plan. Finally, after two hours thinking, had an idea.

Bought two blue notebooks, two pencils and two strawberry shaped rubbers and called the girls, then gave them the notebooks and the pencils and said:

– Let´s play a new game, every time you offend someone write “Sorry” in your notebook. The one with less “Sorry” wins the game.

At the beginning Lily and Tina were enthusiastic about the game, but after some weeks got bored and went to tell their grandpa. When he saw the notebooks congratulated them because barely had”sorry” written at the end of the notebook.

So; was time to begin the second part of the game! John gave them the rubber and said:

– Now you´ve learnt the lesson, erase a “sorry” of your notebook per day, let´s see who wins !

The little rabbits began to erase every sentence, but as much as they tried, the notebooks weren´t clean enough and went to tell John.

Their wise grandpa said:

– That´s what happens when you offend someone, even saying sorry, the pain is done and won´t disappear easily.

Lily and Tina understood the message, changed their behavior and have respected everybody since then.

THE END

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