It was the night before Anna's birthday and she was excited and a bit agitated. She wanted so much -- a new dress, a book of Monet's pictures, a tiger stuffed animal, paper & scented markers, a West Virginia doll house, and the list went on. Anna wondered if she was greedy to want so much, especially since she was quite clear that her life was already extraordinarily bountiful.

What she decided was that it was fine to wish for these things as long as she was fine with whatever she got, including nothing but good wishes. She fell asleep while pondering all this.

Suddenly, Anna found herself in an enormous cave with a stream winding through it. The first thing Anna noticed about the stream was that there were many glowing yellow-green fish in it. The water was crystal clear and there were leaves floating downstream on the surface. Very peculiar.

As her eyes got used to the relative darkness of the cave, Anna began to be aware of a massive cornucopia filled with flowers and a number of stone statues of lions. She wondered, "Why is there any light at all in here? Where is it coming from?"

Suddenly, she saw Luv striding confidently across the cave floor and climbing onto one of the lion statues as if to ride it. And ride it he did.

First, Anna heard a loud roar and then she saw the lion, with Luv astride, bounding across the terrain, leaping the stream in a single bound and eventually coming to a halt just in front of her.

"Happy birthday!!", Luv greeted Anna. And the lion smiled, or so Anna thought. "Why thank you, Luv. By the way, why is the lion smiling and where are we?", queried Anna. "The lion always smiles because he's enlightened, and we are in my favorite cave", replied Luv. "Oh my, there are presents here for you -- one's you wanted but didn't ask for", added Luv. He was a very proud bear.

Just then Anna awoke feeling really really happy. Hard as she tried she couldn't recall the presents from the cave. Later, she had a wonderful birthday party, and, to her surprise, she got most of the presents she'd been thinking of.

THE END