A great man once married his dream woman. With their love, they had a bright and cheerful little girl. The great man loved her very much.

When she was very little, he would do anything for her and the little girl felt protected around; he would tell her, "I love you, little girl." The little girl lived happily.

When the little girl was growing up, the great man would hug her and tell her, "I love you, little girl."

The little girl would be unhappy and say,"I'm not a little girl anymore. " Then the man would laugh and say,"But to me, you'll always be my little girl."

The little girl who was not little anymore left her home and went into the world. As she learned more about herself, she learned more about the man. She saw that he was truly great and strong, for she recognized his strengths. One of his strengths was his ability to express his love to his family. No matter where she went in the world, the man would call her and say,"I love you, little girl. "

The day came when the little girl who was not little anymore received a phone call. The great man was damaged.

He had a stroke (中风). He couldn't talk more and they weren't sure if he could understand the words spoken to him. He could no longer smile, laugh, walk,hug, dance or tell the little girl that he loved her. He could no longer comfort her.

She went to the side of the great man. She found he looked small and he was not the strong man at all. He looked at her and tried to speak, but he could not.

The little girl did the only thing she could do.She climbed up on the bed next to the great man. Tears ran from their eyes and she drew her arms around the useless shoulders of her father.

Paragraph 1: With her head on his chest, she thought of many things.

Paragraph2: And then she heard the beat of his heart.

I had a problem. Talent Night was coming up, but I had no talents.

Kate can make anything using origami (折纸). Tommy creates breath-taking beats on overturned plastic buckets. Olivia trains her petty dog to do tricks. And those are just my friends. My grade also boasts four dancers, a gymnast, two bakers, a yoga expert, six singers, and five artists, among others.

Every day my teacher asked if I’d decided what to do. And every day I reminded her that I had no talents.

“Nonsense, Benjamin,” she said. “You’ll think of something.”

“I’ll just have to be sick the day of the show,” I announced to my friends one afternoon. “If you get a cold, be sure to cough on me.”

“You must have a talent,” said Kate. “Let’s make a list. What are you good at?”

“Eating,” I answered. “Watching TV.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Benjamin, be serious.”

“Tormenting (捉弄) my little brother.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kate looked at our friends. “Come on, guys. What are Benjamin’s talents?”

“He’s good with dogs,” said Olivia. “My dog adores him.”

“Oh, great,” I said. “I can sit on the stage while he licks my face. Benjamin Belinski, Human Dog Toy.”

“Benjamin’s funny and humorous,” said Tommy. He turned to me. “You could do a comedy routine.”

“Yeah. Every joke could be about how I have no talents,” I said.

“Benjamin,” said Kate, “maybe you don’t know how to juggle (变戏法), but your birthday parties are the best.”

“Yeah,” agreed Olivia, “and you always get us together to do stuff. Like having game nights or riding bikes after school—or when we held that yard sale. The week you had the flu we didn’t do anything fun.”

“You’re like the glue that holds us together,” added Tommy.

“Oh, great,” I said. “Benjamin Belinski, Human Glue Gun.”

But their comments got me thinking. Lying in bed that night, I came up with a plan so exciting that it took me two hours to fall asleep.

In the morning, I couldn’t wait to tell my teacher.

On the night of the big event, I felt so nervous that I had to force myself to eat dinner.

I’m smaller than everyone else my age. When I walk in the halls at school, I have to squeeze in between the bigger kids to get by. At the playground, sometimes even little kids try to boss me around. Mia, my best friend, is so tall that when she walks, I have to jog to keep up with her.

I used to try to make myself taller whenever I could. My posture was perfect, straight as an arrow. I hung from the tree in our backyard to stretch out my arms and legs. I even ate all my vegetables. Every day I measured myself, but I was the same height every time. Frustrating!

“Don’t worry,” Mom always said. “Being small has its advantages.” “Really? I could never notice any.”

One day, Mrs. Alvarez announced to the class that we’d be putting on a spring play. I practiced all the lines. But at the audition (试演), when I walked up to the stage, Mrs. Alvarez cried, “You’ll be perfect as the elf (小精灵)! You’re just the right size for the costume.” I even never got a chance to deliver the practiced lines. Back home I grumbled (咕哝) to mum that I was made an elf. But she bet I would be the best elf. To please her, I went to rehearsals (排练), though I only had two lines.

Mia got the lead role-a girl wandering through a magical fairy forest in search of her lost dog. In the last scene, she finds a box under a giant mushroom, and when she opens it, her dog jumps out. Mrs. Alvarez’s dog, Prince, played the dog role. She brought him to all the rehearsals, and when he wasn’t onstage, we got to play with him, but he seemed to like me best.

The night of the show, my first line came early, “Let’s ask the Fairy Queen!” Since my only other line was toward the end, I waited offstage, playing with Prince.

Finally, the grand end came, and Prince was brought onstage inside the box.

“How can we get Prince out from beneath the stage?” Mrs. Alvarez asked.