Page - 12 - in Tina and Amir & Ella - English

5 10 15 20 25 30 12 Episode 4: A bird in a cage (told by Amir) Today was a boring day. I was sitting around not really know- ing what to do – it was just a lousy day. My mother was in the kitchen singing sad songs about nostalgia and love. “I want to go and play outside.” I said to my mother. My mother just went on singing and shook her head to say no. “Why am I not allowed to go outside? I won’t go far.” I told her and gave her an angry look. “It’s not possible.” she said. “It is too dangerous to be out- side just by yourself.” Since my mother had talked to our principal about the bul- lying she was afraid to let me go outside just by myself. It was terrible. I felt like a bird in a cage. But I wanted to be free – free to go outside and play. I went to my room. I looked for the box, where I hid my treasuries. There were very special things that my grandmother had given to me. I took out my little wooden elephant and he seemed to listen. “It is not dangerous at all.” I whispered to him. Suddenly I heard voices in front of my window. I was startled. Was my mother right? Did someone observe our house? “Hi, Amir!” it was a boy’s voice. I looked out of the window and saw Nadim and Tina. He wore a brown jacket and a cap. Tina laughed and said something that I could not understand. So I opened the window. “You know it is terrible – gymnastics. It is really hard.” Na- dim said. Now I could see that he walked with crutches. He hobbled up and down in front of my window.