His Dream

H・M

His dream was to buy his own house and to live abroad. He thought of ways of living abroad every night. But he couldn’t think of a bright idea.

One day he spoke about his dream to his wife. She said, “Oh, that’s great. I want to live abroad, too.” The next week, his wife found a poster which said, ‘SPEECH CONTEST’ The winner will be able to have a house in America!

They talked to each other, and then they decided to apply to the contest. The next month, they left home in their car. They arrived at the airport and went to the departure lounge.

The next day, they arrived in America. He was very worried about his speech. He said, “My turn will come soon.” Ten minutes later, his speech was finished.

His wife said, “I appreciate your hard work. Let’s go to the hotel and rest.” They expected an announcement about the winner two days later.

The next day, they went to the house which would be presented to the winner. They wanted to look at it. The house was white, and the neighborhood had a lot of greenery. They liked the house.

The next day, they went to a small hall to hear about the winner. He said to his wife, “Don’t expect too much.

His number was twelve. Then the announcer said in a loud voice, “The winner is number twelve!”

He couldn’t believe his ears. "Am I the winner?" His wife couldn’t believe her ears either. He said, “We can live in America!”

Five years have passed since he got a new house. Now, they have one child. They are happier than before. What is his next dream? Now, his dream is to travel around the world with his family.

Late for Christmas

ぴかちゅ

A boy who had only one leg lived in a small house. His name was Jun. He lost his left leg in a traffic accident.

Today was Christmas Eve, so he hung a sock on the chest in his room before he went to sleep. He went to sleep full of hope.
While he was sleeping, Santa came to his room. “What a pretty boy he is! I must give a present to him.” Santa smiled and left a box with a present inside. Then he wrote a letter to him and put it in the sock.

The next day, Jun opened the box. “What? A present for me?” Then he felt sad because he saw it was a bicycle. “I can’t use it! Because I don’t have two legs… I don’t like Santa!” he shouted and threw away the letter in a toilet. The letter said “Merry Christmas!” It was written by Santa.

At that time, Santa was watching and thinking about Jun. “Why is he crying?…Oh…He doesn’t have two legs! I didn’t notice that…That’s why he’s crying! I’m very sorry.”
Santa was in low spirits.

Then the night grew late. Santa come to Jun's house again. Jun was sleeping in his bed. “I’ll give you one more present,” Santa said.

The next morning, Jun got up and saw his leg. “Whaaaa…What!? I got a left leg!!” he yelled. His left leg was in the sock! It was given to him by Santa!

“Hey, Muuuuuuum!! Look at me!” He could run. His mother was delighted with Jun.

He rode the bicycle all day many times. He always had a smile on his face when he rode it. Then he said, “Thank you, Santa. I love this bicycle and my legs!!”

A Closet

Winning River

There was a boy whose name was Tom. He was a normal boy and didn’t believe in magic. So when his father, Ken, told him that their house was a magic house, he didn’t believe it.

One day, when he was studying in his room, it happened. He heard the door open slowly, so he stopped studying and looked at the open door. Usually, there was an old closet. But that day, there was a magic door!

“Come in, my boy.” Someone’s strange voice spoke to him. “Don’t be afraid. There’s no danger. You must come, or….” He was too afraid and scared to go to the door. So he closed his eyes, hoping it was just a dream.

But it wasn’t a dream. The strange voice spoke to him again. “Come, and find me. I’m not a dangerous person. If you find me, you can be a special boy. Don’t you think it is wonderful?”

He was still afraid, but also he wanted to know what would happen if he found the person. So he went through the door. But he couldn’t find anything, so he returned and slept.

In his dream, he was in his room and noticed the door was open again! This time, he could hear a girl’s voice. The voice said, “Go straight, and turn left, stop for a while…”

Then, he saw a girl whose face was in pain. He knew that she wasn’t a ghost, because she had two legs. She pointed at him and said, “At last, you found me. You aren’t a normal boy at all. You have strong power, the power of magic….”

When he woke up, he found himself in his father’s room. “I can’t understand what my dream meant.” he said to himself. “But I will find out someday.”

After a few days, he found the answer. He really had power! He could light a fire and  make the wind blow. His power was very useful, and he helped many people with it.

After that day when he got his power, he didn’t see the magical door. But sometimes, he heard the girl’s voice. Her voice wasn’t like a ghost's, but like an angel's. He often looked at the closet to see if the door was there.
...If you have a closet, you should look at it many times. You may be able to get power!

Change

Wonder Land

When I was a young man, I made the biggest mistake of my life. Forty years ago I got married with Sala. We met at the camp which was held by our college.

After we got married, we moved to North America. At first she was beautiful, did housework well, and looked very happy. But this was wrong.

Because she was born in a big city in America, she couldn’t get used to country life. It was difficult for her. After two years, Mary was born. She was my daughter.

But suddenly Sala changed. One day, when I was on business, Mary couldn’t stop crying. But Sala was too tired to take care of her and when she noticed Mary crying, she scolded Mary and went mad.

When I got our house, Mary cried and said “Mom wants to kill me, Mom wants to kill me!”

When I heard that, I couldn’t stop myself from taking a knife and killing her. So I was sent to prison and sentenced to life imprisonment.

But this winter, I was taken ill. Then I was sent to a hospital. And I always regretted marrying her and I wanted to change my life.
Suddenly it happened. My eyes were blinded by glare.

And I could hear “I” talking with my friend about the camp. It was the day before I met her. I knew what I would do. When I began to walk to talk with “me”, I hit a cupboard. So, “I” stopped talking to my friend. “Who is there?” “I” said. “I don’t know if you will believe me but I come from future, and I want to talk with you. In other words, I am you and I know your future.”

“I” was very surprised at this, but I told him my story. I don’t know if he will go to the camp or not, but I know my life changed because I am disappearing now.