“Today’s the day!” They said.

“What will we see?” They said.

“I’m so excited, I feel alive!” They said.

All the children gathered around the door of the room. Today was “the day”, of course!

“Today we get to travel all around the world! We get to see tigers, lions, penguins, bears, otters, seals and so much more!” Mr. V said, “You all must be so excited!”

The doors of the room opened, and the children piled in.

“Soon, all of you will be on your way to a different country. Can we form a line, please?”

“Yes, Mr. V!” the children sqeaked with excitement.

And the children saw wonderful things! They traveled through zoos, aquariums, markets, cities, museums, and oh so much more!

Lucy’s favorite thing was the mountains.

Jake’s favorite was the sea otters.

Cole’s favorite was the art mueseum.

Mine was the aquarium.

I saw sharks and stingrays and fish and jellies and seahorses and turtles.

But best of all was the giant goldfish, with its beautiful shining body and fins. It was amazing. But it was a lie.

Of course we all saw lies, “The Day” was an illusion. The illusion that everything was okay. The illusion that we were so happy and that the animals weren’t all dead and that the world would be fine. But a dying, polluted Earth isn’t okay. And if it is, than it must all just be illusions.