Snapshots:

(A dog)1) I would always remember the times with you...I stared at a picture on my desk. Her joyful smile never failed to make me grin, she had the prettiest golden coat. It was so bright that the name "Sunshine" was perfect. But this time, it was different. Tears filled my eyes, they followed my cheeks like an uncontrollable waterfall. Memories, sad memories flashed thorugh my head as I remembered how she said her final goodbye to me when a red and white car took her away from me... 'I'll never forget you,' I thought sadly.

Author : Me >Cindy Chow

(Ocean)2) There it is:her smell. My skin is instantly sticky with its chilled saltiness. I'm peering through the car window for a glimpse of her, but everybody knows that you always smell the ocean way before you see her. If I didn't love Mum and Sam as much as I do, I'd still come here - just for her. I've never known anything quite so powerful and angry and wild yet peaceful and lazy. The great diva and her extravagant mood swings stroke my spirit and my senses, every single one of them. Today she's playful and stricking; a flurry of blue-black energetic curls glinting with white crests that catch the pale winter sun everytime she exposes herself this way and that. She doesn't want us to miss a thing. I'm so consumed by her show of clapping and cavorting that I don't even notice the building growing larger in distance.

From: The Pursuit of Liberty Belle
Author: Amber Deckers

(Meditating room with Christmas decorations)3) I take a moment to absorb the warm interior glowing with soft lighting and creamy neutral colours. Mum and Loutus are Zen Minimalists, which means that they're only supposed to own what they really need.So there's brown hessian to warm the wooden floor, a low-slung table made up of railway sleepers to rest things on, and scattered floor cushions covered intricate embroidery and patchworks of shiny material to sit on. Mum and Lotus meditate in this room at least once a day. I don't suppose the garish glare of red and green tinsel and the view of the ever-present angel skewered by the tip of the fake Christmas helps their spiritual complemplation much.

From: The Pursuit of Liberty Belle
Author: Amber Deckers

(Describing Victorian stereograph) 4) ‘Look through the glass.’ Again, I do as I’m told. The postcards are suddenly and miraculously transformed into spectacular three-dimensional images of the seaside. There are bobbing boats, their sails filled-to-bursting with the breeze, seagulls diving beak-first into the high-tipped ocean, and beaches washed smooth and glistening by the churning waves. Looking through the lenses, I’m overwhelmed by the sudden and very strange sensation that I’ve entered the postcards. It’s like I’m actually there, floating amongst the seagulls and waves and boats with puffed-out sails.

From: The Pursuit of Liberty Belle Author: Amber Deckers

(Akeelah and Bee) 5) Bursting with fury, she stomped inside her room. ‘Slam’ Akeelah kicked the door and a loud slam could be heard. With gritted teeth, she dumped her bag on the ground and slouched on the chair in front of her desk. Akeelah stored on the ground. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger. She clenched her fists. ‘It’s not fair…’ Akeelah thought furiously. Then, she signed, she knew that her mother would never change her mind. She looked up at a picture of her father. He stared back at her, smiling joyfully. “You’d let me go….” Akeelah whispered longingly as memories of being with her father flashed back. Her hopes were shattered, there was not a bit of chance to attend the contest. Suddenly, Akeelah got an idea. She strengthen up, her face brightened. ‘What if….’ She thought. She twitched her mouth. She was full of doubts. ‘ Should I … well! That’s the only way!’ Akeelah grabbed a pen. Taking the parent consent form, Akeelah signed as her father. Then a smile grew and stretched across her face as he admired the forged signature.

Author: Cindy Chow

By: Cindy Chow Jia Lin