The 19 stories in this book travel in space and time through love, hope, despair, fantasy, allegory and searing reality. A mother's gift of light to her ailing child. A child's odyssey through strange, forbidding lands to bring the gift of laughter to her mother. A young woman's hope in Brussels. A Toronto Indian's despair. A walk through old London. A child's dreams in Poland. An oyster's love & sacrifice for the moon. Charming, thought provoking tales, some appealing to the young, and all to the mature reader. The title story has been referred to as "a fable for our times." and Mary Merikle, editor of The New Quarterly, comments "... impossibly optimistic but lyrical and lovely."