Kids Can Fly: Three walls and a Pencil

said there are some girls like me in the world, but she said they have germs on them, and I would get very sick if I touched them. I am glad I am so clean. I will live for years and years in my box, but all the girls and men and women outside my room will die. My mother told me that. She said I am very lucky to be separated and apart from all the people outside in the world, because they are all dying because of germs.

One day, my Mother said, I will be allowed to go outside and live in the world, but it is not safe yet. There are too many people with germs on them at the moment. I will have to wait.

I saw a mouse today. It came through a hole in the corner of the room. I watched it through the tiny, thin crack between the doors of my box. I watched the mouse run along the bottom of the wall. It stopped and sniffed every now and then. I called to it, but it ran away. It did not look very well.

Third wall.

My pencil is getting worn down now. I have only one wall left of my box to write something on. It is a difficult job thinking of what to say.

When I have a birthday, my mother tells me how old I am. She says I am ten years old now, but I am not sure. I don't know how long a year is. I have been making a mark with my pencil along the edge of my bed each time I have breakfast. So far, I have put 2004 marks on the bed. I have had more than ten birthdays. I can almost work it out. But how long is a year?

My mother says that one day, when there are no more germs outside, she will take me for a walk in the world. She says she will show me the rest of the house too, and let me live somewhere else. I think I would rather stay in my box. I don't want to go outside and maybe die of something.

I found another bit of a pencil under my bed today. My mother did not know it was there. I have used most of it up already, writing stories on the paper my mother brings to me. It is special paper, white and washed clean of all germs.

When I have finished writing on my pieces of paper, my mother takes them away again. She says she is keeping all my work, and that one day she will give it all back to me.

It is very quiet today. Usually I can hear sounds. They are weather sounds or machine sounds. I know the sounds that come from machines. They go up and down on roads outside my house. They usually sound far away and they are all slightly different from each other, but today