Cette nouvelle ne sera publiée qu'en anglais. Je m'en excuse auprès de mes amis francophones, mais il s'agit d'un exercice dans le cadre du cours sur internet "2013, Year of the Giraffe".
This novel will be published only in English since it's an exercise for the "2013 Year of the Giraffe" class, on the net.
***
As her Raffeez celebration was approaching, her
neck was still too short. Not that the teen Giroflée or any of her friends were
bothering. In fact nobody except her parents was worried. The little Giroflée
had a really great sense of what could be changed and what could not. She was a
funny, curious and intelligent little girl and she was beautiful. And like all
her friends, she was frantically preparing for her Raffeez party.
Raffeez
is an important event for all the little giraffes. It’s a coming of age but it
also happens when the teen reaches the age of 13. In the four or five days
following that day, the giraffe gets his/her “powiraff”, or the power to fly or
to teleport. At that moment the little wings of the giraffe begins to show and
some teguments are growing on their back. If they get the power of teleporting,
a blue dot appears on their forehead. It takes some years before the Powiraff
gets to its full resolution, but it’s still the most exciting moment in the
teen giraffe’s short life.
Giroflée
was not only intelligent and joyful, she was very happy. She was loved by both her parents. She had
some cool cousins, Anaïs and Fanny the twins born on the same year as her and a
very best friend, Mirabelle the artist. She was also cherished by both her
grandmothers, Raffie and Dottie.
Above
all, she had learned all the secrets of the Raffeez since grandma Raffie was
the great priestess of the community. No
“Song of the Raffeez”, no incantation was unknown to her and Giroflée had often
heard from her grandmother say that she would follow her path.
Giroflée’s
maternal grandmother was more down to earth. Since the tragic death of both her
grandfathers and her auntie in an accident many years ago, Grandma Dottie had
to take care of her twin cousins Anaïs and Fanny who had the tendency to be
some spoiled brats. Dottie was always running here and there, doing the dishes
and the dusting, planting and plowing her garden, preparing good healthy meals
and jams. She even had the time to be the vice-president of the Karaoke Club
and the president founder of the “Cats’n Dogs Refugees”, a place where all the
lonely pets were welcome, cared for and fed.
Pets
were present in all families and cherished by their owners, but sometimes, some
animals were coming from “The Outside World”.
As the giraffes had continued their evolution to pacific bipeds, cats
and dogs who were now vegetarians, had stayed the same and were always the
favourite pets around the house. Except they were now talking…
