A Home for Gnome

Most people enjoy the idea of having a gnome for company. Garden gnomes help pull out weeds and shoo away hungry bunnies while House gnomes make toast and shoo away dust bunnies. Some gnomes even travel the globe with a camera. But Canary doesn't have any of these gnomes. In fact, she wishes her gnome wasn't there. He's not there all the time, but he sets up camp in her heart. He pitches a tent in every chamber and a campfire right on top, where he cooks his meals. For breakfast, he eats sadness. For lunch, he eats anger, and by dinner time, he feasts on loneliness. Canary can tell when he's cooking because the smoke rises up and burns her throat and makes her eyes water, in attempts to put the fire out. The leftovers get thrown into her stomach, still hot. Canary tries not to feed Gnome, but sometimes other people feed him first, and they don't even realize. But Canary knows that Gnome can leave just as quickly as he comes, and in fact, Gnome's real purpose is to show her what she's really feeling, especially when she's too stubborn to face it. So Canary will listen to her gnome, and others' gnomes, too, if they try to speak to her.

First stop

The first place Canary's gift ran to was another farm not far from her own, only this farm was for other animals whose gifts also ran just as fast. But on this farm, all of the animals learned how to chase their gifts better than before. The other animals were so different from Canary and yet the same, because they all danced and sang just like Canary. The first animal Canary met was Owl. Owl was smart and funny and sang the same songs Canary did. They were instant friends. Soon, Canary and Owl met Mouse and Squirrel. Mouse danced and squeaked and Squirrel laughed and read books and wrote on everything. Canary was so glad to have friends like this because chasing her gift was scary. Sometimes, she felt like she lost it altogether. But her friends always told her that sometimes, you needed to stay one spot and let your gift come back on its own, just before it takes off again. But you'll be ready. In the meantime, Canary, Owl, Squirrel and Mouse passed the time by laughing, crying, screaming, and throwing cupcakes at the wall, all in the name of chasing their gifts. And this was only the beginning...

Once upon a time, there was a canary who had a gift. But her gift had legs and liked to be chased. So she chased her gift all around the world, and never knew how to catch it. Little did she know, her gift had lessons to teach the canary first.

Canary grew up on a farm where she could sing all day long while Mama Canary baked cookies and Papa Canary kissed her on her forehead. Her gift was there, too, only it didn't have legs yet, so Canary could hold it while she sang. When Canary sang, other animals would stop outside Canary's window just to hear her sing. They all gave Canary flowers and glittery ribbons to hang in her room. Mama and Papa were so proud. Everyday they told Canary she had the prettiest voice and that if she flapped her wings hard enough, she would be able to fly out the window to wherever she wanted. But the other animals didn't understand why Mama Canary would want Canary to fly away. After all, she was only a canary and all the other animals stayed close to home. Even so, Mama and Papa knew that Canary's gift was going to start running, and that only Canary could chase it.

One day, when Canary was stretching out her wings in the morning sun, she noticed her gift was gone. Frightened, she told Mama and Papa, who simply smiled and asked if she'd stretched her wings yet. She replied yes, and they hugged and kissed her. It was time for Canary to chase it.

"I saw it running toward the sun, my dear," said Mama Canary.

"Let nothing stop you, my love," said Papa Canary.

And just like that, Canary flew away from the farm to chase her gift.