CHILDREN'S QUASI, Pt 1

 The story of Quasi has already been written, but here is a simplified photographic form. Instead of parts 1-4, well,  part 4 was omitted completely, and others were shortened, so instead of 24 chapters, there are only 13 here. You can read the first third the first day, the second third the second day, and finish up the story the third day.

CHILDREN’S QUASI

by June Oshiro Saito

 

What is that? A turtle with two humps?

1  QUASI’S NAME

  A man and his wife June took a walk through the park one moonlit night. At the bridge, the man spotted a strange shape in the water.

  “What’s that?” he said, pointing.

  His wife looked. It looked like a swimming turtle…but was it two turtles? She couldn’t be sure.

  They found out it was one turtle with a shoe-shaped shell. Since it seemed to have two humps on its back, she said,

  “It’ll be my Camel of the Sea” (like ‘Chicken of the Sea’).

 The husband frowned.  “But it’s not a Tuna or even a fish. It’s just a turtle. Can’t you say it’s the turtle with a different-looking shell?

“But that’s so blah!” June said. “I know! I’ve been reading a story about a person who had a curved backbone, named Quasimodo. The shell is like the turtle’s backbone so I’ll call this turtle ‘Quasimodo of the Iwatsuki Park Pond.’”

  But she folded her arms. “No; too long.”

  “How about Quasi for short?”

  “Quasi! Yes, I like Quasi!”

2  PARK FRIENDS

  One day, the crow came to Quasi.

 “You said there was a human who named you Quasi. Well, she is becoming friends with lots of the animals in the park, and she is giving all of them names.

  “Really? And what kind of friend is she making now?” Quasi asked.

  A white carp she calls Serra Fin, saying

“Seraphim” is a type of angel, and the carp 

“A white carp she named Serra Fin,”

looks like a swimming white angel to her.

  “Did she name you?” Quasi asked the crow. 

“But she doesn’t really need me to be a friend, “Coffee said.

  “She called to me and said let’s be friends, named me Coffee. But she doesn’t really need me; she’s friends with the carp who’s much prettier and smarter than me.”

  “She’ll need you,” Quasi said. “someday.”

3 QUASI THE HERO

  “Why does everyone look so glum?” A big white bird came flying in. “No one should be sad when the Hero of the Park, QUASI is near!”

  “H-hero? Q-Quasi?” the crow stuttered.

A big white bird called Quasi a hero!

  “It was an ACCIDENT!” Quasi blushed.

  The big bird stretched himself up and said in a deep voice, “It’s like this. Our friend Quasi here once saved the life of a chick from a fierce beast, and now our entire flock will do anything she wishes.”

  “No! No!” Quasi tried to explain. “See, a baby bird fell out of its nest, and a cat found it, was going to harm it, when…I was on the hill above it digging for bugs and pulling berries from the bush and lost my balance, came tumbling down the slope and crashed into the face of the cat. I didn’t know what happened, just that something stopped my fall, so I turned to smile at and hug my lifesaver. I guess I looked like a monster with torn meat and blood oozing from my teeth, so it screamed and ran away. The birds think I defended the chick, and call me a hero.”

  “She’s being modest,” the heron smiled.

4  A LITTLE GLOW

  What really happened that day, we may never know. But the big birds give Quasi free taxi service if she ever asks for a ride.

  She was thinking the other day, not of these big birds, but of a little one. Her human friend June told her the Kawasemi won awards in photo contests for its color and was seen at the park.

  “Because the bird is so small,” June told Quasi one day, “it used to hide under bridges and was called a River: Kawa, Cicada: Semi.”

  “A bird called an insect, like calling a turtle a snail?” Quasi asked, frowning.

  “Yup. Until he found out he shined bright blue in the light—he stayed in shades before--now he flies around so fast you barely see him!”

  “I’m talking too much, aren’t I? Sorry Quasi. I get carried away.” June said.

  “No problem,” Quasi answered. “I like to hear stories about those you don’t notice at first, like a little bird, and how they end up shining and making others happy.”

  “Like a never-give-up turtle that is now a good friend?” June asked, but when she looked down at the pond, Quasi was gone.