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The Square Old Man by Malcolm S. Haig
There was once an old man who lived in a square house. He had lived in the square house for many years but he had never felt really happy. His car was square; all his furniture was square, and even his pet cat was square. He often dreamed what it would be like to live in a diamond-shaped house or a rectangular-shaped house, or even a round house. He knew he wasn't happy living in a square house with square furniture and a square cat, but he wasn't quite sure what he could to change all this. One day, as he sat in his square armchair and gazed out the window, a tear rolled down his cheek. He whispered to himself, "I know I am not a square person and I really don't belong in a square house. I must find out what shape I would really like to be, and I am going to find out." So, up the got old man and packed his favorite things into a square suitcase, picked up his square cat and off they drove in his little red car. They traveled to countries with buildings that were tall and rectangular, and visited cities with little square houses that sat side-by-side; some even sat on top of each other. They went to places where people wore pointed hats and lived in houses with pointed roofs and they stayed in towns where people lived in houses that floated on water. After many months of searching, the old man and his cat were very tired and the old man had nearly given up hope of ever finding a shape that would make him happy. There was only one place that the old man could think of, that they had not yet visited, so off they went to a country that was so cold it snowed nearly every day. The people that lived there were called Eskimos, and they lived in dome-shaped houses made from blocks of ice. They wore round, furry hats and had happy, smiling, round faces. The Eskimo men caught fish from round holes in the thick ice, and sometimes the old man went with them: he really loved to go fishing. When the Eskimo women cooked the fish they kept the left-over pieces for the old man's cat. Every afternoon the children played in the snow. They played snow fights with soft, round balls of snow and some days the old man would help the children gather snow to make snow men. This made the old man so happy, he enjoyed watching the children play and hearing them laugh with such excitement made his heart feel warm. As the old man lay in his bed that night, he thought about how happy he had been feeling. He loved the Eskimo people, he loved his dome-shaped house, his cat was happy and well-fed and he was never lonely or bored. The old man whispered to himself 'I love this country, I love my dome-shaped house, I love to make round snowballs and to fish in round holes. I am now sure that I was never meant to be a square person, I was meant to be a round person!" Just then the old man's cat jumped up on his bed and curled up in a soft, round ball. Tears of joy rolled down the old man's face. His cat was no longer square and they were now both round and cuddly, and very happy! The End
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