Strangest Man Alive

Renae had thought that men were strange. That was until she met Curtis. When she met him, Renae realised that Curtis was in fact, the meaning of the word strange itself. Curtis was strange because of the way he got girlfriends.

First, if Curtis liked the look of a girl, he would befriend her. Now, that seemed to be a suprisingly easy task for Curtis to reach. Second, once he and the girl were close enough, he'd kiss her, on the cheek. Here's the weird bit. If the girl liked it, they'd go out, take it further and become boyfriend and girlfriend. If she doesn't, they remain friends.

Renae was the latest in a long line of girls Curtis had scored by way of his strange method. She liked the kiss and so they went out. They had been together when a thought sparked in Renae's mind and together, they discovered that Curtis was actually gay. Although she got hurt in the process, Renae was pleased that no other girl did.

Birthday Longing

Luke and Bianca were more excited then they'd ever been. It was Friday Night, and the next day, Saturday, was their birthday. They were twins and they loved their birthday more than any other day of the year. More than valentines day, more than mothers or fathers day. Even more than easter and christmas. Ok. Maybe just as much as christmas.

That night, when their mother told them to go to bed. She also told them that the sooner they went to sleep, the sooner their birthday would come. The only problem was, Bianca and Luke were too xcited to sleep. All they could think about was the next days coming events. The cake. The food. The party. But most importantly, the presents. That, like most other kids, was what Luke and Bianca loved most about birthdays.

As the night dragged on, the whole house slowly fell asleep. Everyone but Luke and Bianca. They just tossed and turned. They thought they'd never fall asleep. They talked to each other, long into the night. But eventually, the two grew tired. Their eyes drooped and before they knew what had happened, they had both fallen asleep.

When they woke up, just as their mother had promised, their birthday had arrived.

Sealed with a Kiss

Fiona was a quiet young lady. Not many people knew her and she had a tight, close circle of friends. Four other girls. Cassidy, Willow, Margot and Sirena. But there was one thing Fiona loed more than anything else. Frangapanis. Her house was covered in them and she loved them.

When she finally moved out of home, she moved into a little cottage in the woods. It was a beautiful property with a long driveway lined either side with tall, green trees. At the beginning of the drive was a little white gate. The cottage was beautiful with yellow- pink bricks and a pale pink- white roof. To the left was a little front yard. A perfectly mowed green lawn and a white table with chairs as well as a beautiful pink frangapani tree centering the yard, right in front of the front, living room window. That was why Fiona became a florist. She owned a little flower shop in town, 'Frangapani Flowers'. Fiona's life may seem like a fairytale. It only lacked one thing, love.

That all changed when a very handsome man walked in to her flower shop. He immediately came to the counter. "Hi." Fiona greeted him. "Welcone to Frangapani Flowers. What can I do for you?" "Ah. Well, I wanted a boquet of flowers. For my girlfriend." The man replied. "I wasn't really sure what to get her and my mates said this is the best florist in town, so I thought I'd ask here." "Ah." Fiona sighed. "Thanks. It's wonderful to hear that people like my shop." "Now. Is there anything in particular your girlfriend likes?" "Gardenia." The man realised. "She loves gardenias." "Ah. I do like those." Fiona agreed, going toward the left of her store. "We've got some right over here." The man followed her close behind. "How about these?" Fiona asked, turning to face the man with a bunch of gardenias tied together with a beautiful pale pink ribbon. "Is there a special occasion?" Fiona asked. "I'm planning to propose." The man admitted. "Sorry." Fiona apologised. "I didn't catch your name before." "Ben." He answered. "Fiona."

"Well. If you're proposing." Fiona continued. "It should be something more romantic." She grabbed a bunch of untied gardenias and headed back toward the counter. Ben again, followed close behind her like a puppy following its owner. She wrapeed the gardenias tightly in a sheet of pale pink tissue paper then in a sheet of hot pink wrapping paper. Finally, she tied the whole thing together with a thin, pale pink ribbon and tied it into a neat bow. Then she grabbed a pair of scissors and made the ends of the ribbon all curly. Fiona handed the bouquet to Ben. "These are Beautiful. She'll love them. Thank you." Ben thanked. "Now, how much do I owe you?" Fiona got out her calculator, and quickly calculated the costs. "$19.90" Fiona said after a moment. "Here you are." Ben said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two notes. A 20 and a 10. He handed them to Fiona. She swas just about to get his change when he put up his hand. "Keep the change." He said and walked out. "Thanks." She called after him. "Good luck." But it was too late. By the time the words had made their way out of her mouth. The door had closed and he had disappeared from sight, away down the street.

The next week, a pretty looking woman walked into her Fiona's shop and walked right up to the counter. "Hi." She greeted Fiona. "Are you Fiona." "Last time I checked." Fiona joked. The woman let out a little giggle. Fiona looked her up and down. She wore a gorgeous turquoise blue summer dress and white shoes with small heels. Her hair was blonde and in a bob cut. "I'm Denise, Ben's fiance." She explained. "You accepted!" Fiona realised. "Yes I did. I just wanted to thank you for helping him with the flowers. They were gorgeous."

Months later, Fiona had long forgotten aboout Ben and Denise when a wedding invite came in the mail. 'Benjamin Turner and Denis Keller request the pleasure of the company of Fiona at their wedding on Saturday, March 19th at 2pm.'

Soon, the wedding day came, and Denise was walking up the aisle. But she stopped when Ben took her hands. A hush fell over the guests. "Ben, I'm sorry. But I can't marry you, I'd be making a huge mistake if I did. See, I don't love you, not really." Denise admitted. "Well that's good. In a way." Ben agreed. "See I do love you Denise." He said, kissing her cheek. "But there's someone else I love more." Ben walked slowly toward Fiona. Lucky she was on the end of the aisle. She got up as she saw him approach. "Ben, what are you..." Fiona didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. Ben kissed her long, hard and passionately on the lips. Fiona hadn't realised it before, but she knew better then ever now that she loved him too and so she kissed him back.

Two years later, Fiona and Ben went down the aisle. But this time, they went all the way and a few moments later, they were pronounced man and wife. They sealed the deal with a kiss. And then was Fiona's fairytale a gift. To make it even better, Fiona had her little frangapani flower shop to thank for it all.

Animal Therapy

The bell rang and I looked at my timetable. I had a drama class with year ten. It was their assesment day today. They had to do monolouges. I'm sure they were nervous, but I felt more nervous than I'd ever felt, and I wasn't even doing it!

Suprisingly, Grace volunteered to go first. Grace was a quiet girl with cerebral palsy, I suddenly realised. "Alright Grace." I said, patting her on the back as she passed. "Good luck." "Thanks." Grace whispered, continuing to head toward the stage at the front of the room.

There was silence for a moment. Grace took a breath and began:

"Many people think that physical therapy and medical treatments are the best ways to overcome a disability. But I believe in something else. See, I believe in the power of animals. Animal therapy. I've had three animals in my lifetime and all three have helped me in some way, shape or form.

The first was Champ. He was kind of like a guard dog. And a friend. He used to love it when I threw a ball for him and he loved being patted. But most importantly, he loved protecting his family. I can remember this one time, when I was really small, me and my Mum were outside when all of a sudden, a storm came. Thunnder crashed and lightning flashed. Champ sensed my anxiety and started racing around the yard, in search of what he thought was harming me.

The next dog I had was named Petal. She was quite old when we got her. Whenever I sat on the couch, a minute later I'd find her. She would have crawled into my lap. When I start stroking her, she starts licking in retuen. I could tell her anything. She was a great listener. That was the best thing about her.

The latest dog I had, my favourite, was Lucy. She was a mix of Petal and Champ with a little extra thrown in. Like Champ, she enjoyed protecting her family, and like Petal, she liked sitting in your lap. The extra bit was that she loved to play. She was like a bit of this and a bit of that with more added in. Well, all I can say is that in my opinion, animals are the best medicine for anyone with a disability." Grace finally finished.

What she didn't tell me or her classmates was that she made the whole monolouge up and that it was in fact, a true story.

Spring Has Sprung

Julia loved spring. She always had. It was her favourite time of year. She loved it because everything bloomed in spring. They skies were always clear blue with fluffy white clouds dotting it here and there. There were cool breezes and the air always smelt sweet, a combination of lots of different flowers. Consequently, Julia's last name was Bloom. She was Julia Bloom. And because Julia loved spring so much, she had a shop in town, 'Spring has Sprung'. The shop sold flowers as well as candles and different home decors.

Julia's daughters were all named after flowers. She had Iris, Lilly, Poppy, Daisy and Rose. Iris loved craft and so had a card business. Julia sold some of Iris's cards in her shop. Lilly was a kindy teacher at the local school, Poppy who had graduated from high school a year ago went to TAFE three times a week. Three other days she helped Julia in the shop and the one remaining was her relaxation day. Daisy loved animals and although still in year ten at high school, she was studying really hard to become a vet. Rose on the other hand was 9 and in year 3. She loved nature and the beach, and like her sister craft. But she liked art best rather than making things like cards.

Julia loved her life She found it perfect. Having her shop open for business every day but Sunday was great and living where she did felt like a picturesque paradise. To Julia, in her shop it always felt like spring. beautiful flowers everywhere you turned, sweet aromatic smells and the wonderful essence of spring that Julia couldn't resist.

Life Changing

As a child, Naomi had always been quiet and shy. You could say she was the perfect child. She had friends just like her, her grades were all excellent. But that all changed when Naomi went to high school. The summer before she was due to go, Naomi's mother discovered that her father was having an affair with another woman. They divorced, and that was when Naomi began acting out. She began to rebel against everything her mother asked of her.

At school, she began rejecting all the friends she'd made in primary school. Then, she began befriending all the rebels. They formed a big gang and did all sorts of crazy things. For starters, they never ever did any work in class, they never did their homework, they always got detention and never went. That was Naomi's favourite word nowadays, 'never'. That and 'no'.

Naomi's world dramatically changed again when she was on the verge of expellsion. They called her mother up to the school and they had a huge argument. Naomi's mother was desperate. First she tried screaming, then pleading then pleading on her knees. Then she turned on the waterworks. Usually it worked, but not this time. Nothing did until Naomi finally realised the severity of it and she started balling her out and begging on her knees. The principal agreed Naomi could stay on one condition. That Naomi's work would be checked for every subject once every week. If she fell behind at all, she would get a detention, three detntions and it would score her a suspension, three of those and they'd consider expellsion again.

It was then that Naomi really had to grasp her inner nerd. The nerd that had been dominant throughout all of her primary school years. When they arrived home, Naomi's mother made her take a vow. Now Naomi's life would change. And it would change for the better. Naomi had come down to the end of the road and was now going down a different. A life changing path that would change her life for the better, forever.