Anja was a very active 4 year old girl who lived in central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. She lived with her mom, dad, and three sisters. They all reside on a beautiful little hobby farm just outside the city limits. On the farm there were chickens, ducks and a dog named Milly. They also had a huge vegetable garden and a small orchard which produced organic type vegetables and fruit.

Anja’s dad built various activity stations around the acreage for all the family to use and enjoy. There was a network of challenging trails, a ninja adventure monkey bar apparatus, balance beam, zip line, bike skill tracks with various jumps and a multitude of swings, slides and climbing walls. The whole family stayed in great shape utilizing all these different venues.

All the family had chores and obligations to fulfill before they could pursue their hobbies, sporting activities or other favourite things to do. Anja loved to help out in the garden and assist planting as well as assist eating the mighty fine vegetables. She was very strong for her age and could wheel in a load of top soil with no problem.

When she is not helping her mom in the garden you can find her helping her dad around the wood shed, either bringing in a load of wood or stacking it in a pile so her dad can split it.

And if Anja isn’t doing hard physical work she may be found feeding the chickens and ducks.

And when finally all the chores and work duties are finished she can enjoy her favourite thing to do, which is riding her bike. She has become an excellent bike rider thanks to the lessons and training given to her by her older sisters and mom and dad. Her dad even built bike jumps and balance boards to sharpen her biking skills.

It was a beautiful spring day and all the chores were finally done. Anja got on her bike and roared down to the end of their 5 acre property to where her dad built and designed a 1 km challenging bike trail complete with jumps, sharp curves, water hazards, low hanging branches and narrow wooden bridges. Once she completed a couple of circuits of the trail without crashing she then headed for a nearby paved road. Their property was at the end of a wide paved cul de sac with very little traffic on it.

As she looked onto the road, all was clear and she burned rubber as she sped down to the end and back. She then did some figure “8’s”, wide and narrow power turns and then

practiced riding real slow to improve her balance techniques. She mentioned a few times that the long straight, flat, wide road reminded her of an airport runway. After about an hour of

biking fun, hunger got the best of her and she retreated back to her house to see what was cooking for dinner. After supper she decided to go for another few laps on the bike trail and then head out again on the road to practice some power riding. Her dad decided to come out and watch the action on the road. Anja came to a full stop in front of him and said, “Watch this”. She then leaned forward, stooped down a bit and accelerated quickly at a high rate of speed way down to the end of the road and back. She did this a few times before coasting back to her dad.

“Hey, you were almost airborne you were going so fast, please be careful.” said her dad. “No problem, I had full control, but I think my front wheel did almost start lifting off the pavement” said Anja.

“Well the sun is starting to go down so we better go in for the night.” said her dad. Anja was puffing a bit as she slowly walked back pushing her bike to the house with her dad. When they got back in the house Anja’s mom said that Cousin Hannah just phoned and wanted to talk to her.

Anja’s mom told Anja it is getting late, but have a quick bath and brush your teeth and you could call Hannah back when you are in bed as long as you don’t talk too long. Anja said,”Thanks, mom” as she piled into the hot bubbly bathtub. Being the youngest of the 4 girls it was customary that Anja be the first in the tub and first to get into bed. After getting washed and brushing her teeth she gave her mom and dad a goodnight hug and said goodnight to her sisters, Milly the dog and Hammy the hamster then scurried upstairs to her room with a phone in hand.

Once snuggled in bed she phoned Hannah. Hannah answered the phone and said, “Hi Anja, nice to hear from you, been awhile, the reason I called you is my school is having achildren’s used toy auction to raise money for our sports program, and I was wondering if you had any old toys that you weren’t using anymore and would like to donate to our cause?” Anja said,” Yes, I think I do and my other sisters might as well, but I would have to check with my mom and dad first.” “Great, let me know then in the next couple of days please” said Hannah. “So, what have you been up to lately “asked Hannah. Anja said,“Working in the garden getting it ready, hauling firewood, swimming and looking after the chickens and ducks, but mainly riding my bike, the road next to our place reminds me of an airport runway and when I bike down it at full throttle I feel like my bike wants to take off and fly!” Hannah then said, “you know I had a magical flying bed a few years back and me and Kayley used to go for flights in that from time to time, I think I even took Kamma for a ride in it when she came up to Campbell River with a horse looking for a place in the universe called “Pasture Planet”, you should ask her about that.” “Wow! A flying bed, your just joking aren’t you?” asked Anja. Then Hannah said,”Well, I don’t know for sure if it was a dream or really happened, but once me and Kayley took a flight to Candy Land way up in the sky and when we got back home and went to sleep, our mom woke us up and asked how come my bed sheets were all wet and Kayley had pockets full of candy and her slippers were covered in chocolate icing?” “I really to this day don’t know for sure if it was a dream or really happened.” said Hannah. “Maybe you might have a dream about flying on your bike one night?” continued Hannah. “I still remember how I flew my bed, by lifting my feet to go up and lowering my feet to go down, leaning left or right to steer it and clenching my fist real tight to make it go fast and loosening my fist to slow down, maybe you should try that on your bike sometime, you can grip the handle bars tight for speed and loosen to slow down, then lean back to go up and lean forward to go down, lean left or right to turn, might work?” said Hannah.“But if you are going to try it, do it when no one is around as if you did get your bike to fly you may have a lot of explaining to do to neighbours, your mom and dad, etc.” warned Hannah. “I remember I usually did my experimental flying in my bed late at night or early in the morning but always made sure I was back home before breakfast” said Hannah. “One last thing Anja, really the only way you know for sure it was real and not a dream is if you manage to bring back something, like Kayley having candy in her pockets and chocolate icing on her slippers from Candy Land, or if you think you were dreaming but find something that was real and it could only have happened or found if it wasn’t a dream.” advised Hannah. “Ok Hannah thanks for your advice and I will let you know if I maybe can get my bike to fly, plus I will get back to you about any old toys we have, guess I better shut her down now as it is getting late, Good night and have a good one,” said Anja. “Good night Anja, you too,” said Hannah.

It was now 10:30pm and the rest of the family were heading to bed but Anja couldn’t sleep as she was thinking what Hannah had said about her Flying Bed and the possibility that I might be able to make my bike fly too? She tossed and turned and tried to get to sleep but still she was wide awake thinking of the wild flying adventures that Hannah must have had and the possibility of maybe her own adventures.

It was now 2:00am in the morning and Anja kept drifting in and out of sleep. All was quiet in the house except for the occasional snoring from other rooms. She glanced out of the window and noticed a full moon and the sky was full of bright twinkling stars making it almost like daylight outside, then she closed her eyes again.

Then Anja heard someone say, “This is the Airport Control Tower, AJR you are cleared for take off on runway 27, wind is light at 3 knots from the Northwest, have a safe flight.” Anja answered back, “Copy that, thank you, AJR, rolling”. Then Anja gripped the handle bars on her bike real hard, leaned back and her bike lifted off the runway and into the sky.

Anja screamed with excitement, “I AM FLYING, MY BIKE CAN FLY!” Anja carefully flew around her neighbourhood then up towards the mountains and lakes. This is unbelievable she thought to herself, Wow what a view from up here! After about an hour of flying she noticed the sun was slowly coming up and thought she better get back home before someone discovers she is not there.

Anja then headed home and flew directly over the roof of her house.

She then called the Airport Control Tower and said, “Control Tower this is AJR, request landing instructions please, I am about 1 km east of the airport at about 1000 feet.” Then the Control Tower said,” You are cleared for final approach for runway 27, just watch out for the tall trees near the beginning of the runway.” Anja answered back, “Thank you, AJR copy.” Anja then put her bike into a slow glide towards the runway watching out for any tall fir trees.

She was still really excited about being able to fly on her bike she took one last look behind her and up in the sky before touch down. Suddenly she saw the top of a big fir tree directly in front of her, she gripped the handle bar tight and attempted to fly over the tree, but a piece of the very top branch hit her front wheel and got lodged in her wheel. There was no damage and she was able to make a safe landing. She then called the Control Tower and said, “AJR, down and clear.” The Control Tower responded, “Copy, have a good day.”

Suddenly she opened her eyes and her dad was standing over her while she was still in bed. He said, “Well sleepy head are you going to bless us with your company today, it is 10:30am we saved a little breakfast for you, so come on, you must have been tired.” Anja said,” Yes, I guess I must have been tired, I’ll be down for breakfast soon.” Her dad left and she was alone in her room. WOW, what a dream I had, or was it a dream? I have to phone Hannah now before I go for breakfast. The phone was still in her room from last night so she called Hannah. Again Hannah answered and she said, “Hannah, Hannah, I think my bike can fly, I flew all over last night for about an hour.” Then Hannah said,” Are you sure you didn’t just dream that you flew your bike?” Then Anja said, “Yes, maybe I did, but it sure seemed real!” Then Hannah said, “Well is there anything you brought back with you from your dream that might make it Not a dream?” Then Anja said,” No I don’t think so, I just flew around and never stopped anywhere or picked anything up, so I guess it was a dream.” Then Anja said,“WAIT, I accidentally came into contact with a small fir branch when I was coming in for a landing and a piece I think stuck in my front wheel.” “Well, there is your proof Anja, if you go down and check your bike and you find a piece of a fir branch on your front wheel, then you were NOT dreaming, and you flying your bike was real!” “I will go down now and check, bye Hannah” said Anja.

Anja quickly got dressed and ran down to the garage where she kept her bike. She opened the door slowly and bent down and looked at her front wheel of her bike. She saw a small fir branch stuck on her front wheel. Anja screeched, “Yes it really happened, it was not a dream, I have a Magical Bike that can fly!”