The Grandmother with Itchy Feet

Once upon a time, there was a grandmother who had very itchy feet. She had a lovely home in Wisconsin with good friends and a garden. She had children she loved and the most wonderful grandchildren in the world. But sometimes, her feet got itchy and the only way she could stop them from itching was to travel.
Now this grandmother knew that when she traveled, she wouldn’t see her children and grandchildren for a long, long time. She knew she would be lonely for those little grandchildren so she tried and tried to stay home. But her feet wouldn’t stop itching unless she got on an airplane and went to someplace far, far away. So one day when the leaves were turning gold and the nights were growing cool, she got on an airplane and went to live in Peru which was indeed a long, long way away.
When she got to Peru, she lived in a big Peruvian family with lots of children. Now these children weren’t the same as her grandchildren, but they welcomed her into their home and gave lots of hugs. The children in Peru almost always live in a big family with aunts, uncles and cousins all around. They live in houses close to each other with the doors open all day so they can run in and out visiting.
In the grandmother’s house lived a little girl named Zulay with her brother Germain. Zulay was a beautiful, sweet 8 year old girl with very thick black hair. She loved the beach so every day, Zulay asked the grandmother with itchy feet to go to the beach to play in the sand and water. And in the houses nearby lived Vanya, Brandon and Sophia, little cousins who like to play. The children in Peru don’t have more than one or two toys so they make up games to play with each other with sticks and rocks. They run, chase and play ball for hours every evening. And always they plan soccer or volleyball.
At Christmas time, the grandmother with itchy feet really felt lonely for her grandchildren but she couldn’t come home because she had traveled so very far away. She wanted to snuggle and read stories so instead she wrote stories about her adventure. She wrote about the warm water of the ocean where she went swimming with her friends. She wrote about watching the fishing boats slowly move along the shore every day. She told her grandchildren about watching the fishermen bring in the fish. One day she saw them bring in a very shiny fish called a mirror fish. Grandmother looked very close and yes, she could see her face reflected on the side of the fish.
Grandmother wrote about the birds that fly all around the fishing boats. They are called scissor birds because they have tails that open and close like a pair of scissors. The scissor birds are watch for fish close to the top of the waves and near the boats. They know how to catch fish quickly and gobble them down as they fly. Sometimes they steal fish from other birds like the big brown pelicans who fill their big bills with fish.
The grandmother with itchy feet knew that one day her feet would stop itching and she would come home. Then she would be able to play with her grandchildren again. And if her feet became itchy after that, she would think of places the grandchildren could go with her so they could have adventures together!






1