The place whence the story began
Chengdu,China
The day, March 15,2005
The yellow face hiding amidst the sea of grey
Yet,
No cloud could stop it from beaming upon three lucky people
One of which felt no excitement
who actually felt fear 
amidst the other’s joy.

A small young child
with four and a half years of emotions
poked her way through a swarm
of little Chinese children gazing out a large window
Seeing only the white drywall
she took advantage of a vacant  stool
standing upon the stool she saw
only another dreary day
wet
cold
windy
and unwelcoming
But,
somewhere
somehow
she knew that her life was going to change
Someone told her that she was being adopted
they told her that she was to have a family
they told her that she was to have a home
they told her she was to have a dog
to have toys
and much more
Yet,
with all these mysterious things
to a little child of almost five
they meant nothing.
Adopted?
Schweitzer 2
The definitions were endless.
But she knew that her life was changing.
Rapidly.

After a long time of waiting
the rusty gate of the orphanage slowly creaked open
revealing a yellow taxi cab.
Suddenly fear took over the young child’s heart.
Rushing into the room that she shared
she hid under the bed.
Hoping,
dreaming that this was yet another bad dream.
Almost expecting to wake up to her roommate
snoring.
Almost expecting  to wake up to the loud night crickets
performing their symphony to all who are willing to listen.
Yet,
this was not a dream this was a living nightmare.

There were voices.
The high pitch of Ma Ma,
the low bass voice of Ba Ba
the shrill of the other orphans
Yet,
there were new voices.
Ones of which were not Mandarin.
They were weird tones,
weird sounds  which she could not understand.

These voices were the voices of her new Ma Ma
and  the voice of her new Ba Ba.
They were here to adopt,
to give her a new family,
a new home,
and a dog.
Yet,
the biggest gift they were here to give was to give her a second life
a life which she would have missed out on.
A life that would have been only a far away dream.