She sat on a stump in the Aspen Grove kicking the fallen leaves with her converse tennis shoe. Her fingers traced the ruts in the bark below her, the only tactile connection in her loneliness. How could she be this homesick when she had dreamed of getting away from annoying brothers and nagging parents? Her hair brushed her wet cheek as she glanced up at the glowing yellow leaves rattling above her in the wind.

And then she saw it. First a smudge that passed as a cloud, but now coming closer and accompanied by a fluttering sound like a flag flapping. She stood, poised to run away but her curiosity outlasted her fear.

The gray whirling dervish spun before her eyes and crumpled just feet from where she stood in the Aspen glade.

“Grandma?” she exclaimed as the kind eyes peered out from behind yards of fabric.

“I thought you could use a familiar face, my precious granddaughter.”