It was February when her mother had first told her about the move. The forest was covered in a blanket of snow, and many of the animals had still not woken from their winter's sleep. It was a quiet time, and Lilly busied her days with making snowmen and snow angels. It was the first winter she had learned to make an "igloo". Her older brother Simon, a very resourceful mouse, had taught her all the steps. First they made molds out of birch branches. They were five inches square and equally deep, and into them they would pack the snow to make their little cubes. Then they would build the walls by piling the cubes one upon another, until they had a little frame that went all around in the shape of a big "U". They left the one end open for a door, even though they could have just as easily stepped over the walls to get in. You see Simon had not figured out how to make a roof, and part of the fun was pretending that it was there.

And there they were, inside the igloo playing school, when Mother told them about the move. "I'll be teacher!" Lilly insisted. "No you will not," said Simon. "I am the oldest, the smartest, and the best." "But Simon.." Lilly begged. "Children, I have some news for you," mother interrupted. She had come outside to find them, her whiskers were bristling with excitement.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

maggie and milly and molly and may

maggie and millie and molly and may

went down to the beach to play(one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

millie befriended a stranded star

whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea