NOBLE BLOSSOM RETIREMENT HOME

I volunteer at The Noble Blossom Retirement Home after school. There's nothing I enjoy more than bringing a little sunshine into the lives of the residents. Some days are better than others. There are times when they struggle with their health or bouts of loneliness. I try my best but there's only so much I can do. There is one patient that I really wish I could help. He was dropped off at the residence one day with all of his belongings. He had nowhere to go and didn't seem to have any family. The Director of the retirement home decided to let him stay. He's been at the residence for over two years now but hasn't made any friends.

He never eats any of the nutritious meals that I bring him. In fact, nobody has ever seen him eat. He spends hours in his room all alone. The only thing that seems to interest him is his fascination with stargazing through his telescope. Every night he can be found staring at the night sky as if he's looking for something. When he first came to the retirement home, the word Xuke was on one of his suitcases and so we all decided to call him. "Old man Xuke." Something about him captivated me, but I wasn't sure what it was. So I made it my mission to get to know Xuke if that was even possible.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the staff started to sense that something strange was going on in Xuke's room. At times it appeared as though the room was being illuminated by bright lights. The lights were so luminous that I could see them from my house three blocks away. There were also unearthly noises coming from Xuke's room on occasion. Nobody could decipher what those noises were or if there were human or something else. I decided to try to talk to the mysterious Old Man Xuke during my next volunteering session.

After I picked up all of the lunch dishes and delivered them to the kitchen, I decided to pop in and visit Xuke. I tapped at the door and softly said 'Hello.' There was no response so I cautiously ventured inside. I found Xuke working on his beloved telescope.  He was concentrating so hard on that thing that he didn't notice me at all. I stood there for a couple of minutes before clearing my throat and introducing myself. "Hi, uh, Mr. Xuke?"My name is Millie MacTavish. I'm 10 years old and live on Starfall Lane. I go to Summerfield Elementary here in Halifax and........." But he wasn't listening. He hadn't heard a word I said. Dejected, I left and headed for home.

I didn't bother with Xuke for the next little while. My family went down to Florida for March Break so I didn't get to spend much time at the retirement home. When we got back to Halifax, things just didn't feel right. The sky was overcast with amber clouds. It was neither sunny nor cloudy. Our plane landed roughly on the runway as the air was thick as pea soup. When we disembarked I immediately had trouble breathing as did the other passengers. "What's going on?" a nervous gentleman cried out. "Please stay clam sir" one of the flight attendants responded. You could tell by the look on her face that she was as scared and confused as the rest of us.

THE NOVA SCOTIA NEWS HOUR

SPECIAL REPORT: WHAT'S WITH THE WEATHER, EH?

"Good evening Halifax, I'm Charley McGowan and welcome to this special report. What is behind this strange, amber haze that has filled the sky above Halifax and should we freak out? Here to offer a explanation of this phenomenon is Environmental Scientist, Dr. Layton MacMillan. "I've been studying this bizarre weather occurrence with my colleagues at Dalhousie University. We're unable to come up with any logical scientific conclusions about what is happening in the sky." "Sorry to interrupt you Dr. MacMillan but I'm being told that the skies have turned blue once again." "Can I stick around and do the weather at least?" "Um, no."

NOBLE BLOSSOM RETIREMENT HOME

Even though the weather alert had been lifted, all local schools were closed as a precaution. By Wednesday I was so bored that I decided to sneak out of the house and ride my bike to the retirement residence. I can't really describe it, but things felt different as I cycled through town. It was a nice, cool Spring morning. People were out and about, yet I felt like there had to be more to the mysterious amber sky story. When I got to Noble Blossom, it was completely silent inside. Usually I am greeted by a couple of residents and a staff member or two. But not today. Oh, hey! There's the staff dietitian Ms. MacDonald. I'll go ask her what's happening?

"Hi there Millie. How was your vacation?" "Good but I'm glad to be home." "I thought you'd be enjoying some time off from school." "I was starting to get a little restless so I decided to come pay the residents a visit. Uh, where is everybody?" "It's the most amazing thing Millie! While you were away on vacation, something happened. I don't exactly what happened but it's a miracle!" "A miracle?" "All of our residents are gone...home!" "What?" "Virtually overnight every resident was freed from all of their pain and disease. Mrs. McFarland even did a cartwheel down the hallway. She's 90 and was in a wheelchair!"