When she saw the little girl peek through the fairy roses,Annastasia had no idea the child would change her life . She'd been humming to herself, as she often did when she gardened s enjoying the scent and feel of the earth . The warm September sun was golden , and the gentle whoosh of the sea on the rocks below her sloping yard was a lovely background to the buzzingnof the bees and the piping of the birdsong. Her long gray cat was stretched out beside her , his tail twitching in time with some feline Dream.

A butterfly landed soundlessly on her hand ,and she stroked the edge of it's pale blue wings with a fingertip. As it fluttered of , she heard the rustling. Glancing over z she saw a small face peeping through the hedge of the fairy roses .

Ana's smile came quickly, naturally. The face was charming with it's little pointed chin and it's pert nose , it's big blue eyes mirroring the color of the the sky . A pixie cap of glossy brown hair completed the picture.

The girl smiled back ,those summer sky eyes full of curiosity and mischief.

"Hello," Ana said , as if she always found little girls in her rosebushes.

"Hi." The girl's voice was bright and a little breathless." Can you catch butterflies? I never got to pet one like that before."

"I suppose. Buts it seems rude to ry unless one invites you." She brushed the hair from her brow with her forearm and sat back on her heels . Ana had noticed a moving van unloading the day before, and she concluded she was meeting one of her new neighbors. " Have you moved into the house next door ?"

"Uh-huh. We're going to live here now. I Iike it cause I get to look right out my bedroom window and see the water , I saw a seal , too. In Indiana you only see them in the zoo . Can I come over ?"