children's fiction – Donna Goddard

June 8, 2025November 25, 2025

Foxie: The Contact Child—Going Solo

Chapter 9: Going Solo

Like the spacebus, I teleported in my new birthday spaceship to 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. Then, I made the ship invisible and flew down to my designated location—Hamilton House, in the country town of Tanglewood.

A creek called Scrubby Creek runs beside the deserted building. I landed my spaceship at the edge of the creek, in the dark, and pushed it into a clump of bushes where no one would see the golden glow.

The front door of Hamilton House was boarded up, so I teleported straight through the wall and tried to make myself at home.

We are not told much about what to do or what will happen when given our first solo mission. It is left up to us and synchronicity.

Many Earth people think synchronicity is luck, but we trust it as the automatic way life organises itself.

Even though I knew things would work out, something unexpected happened.

I had to deal with something completely new — Earth emotions.

May 29, 2025November 25, 2025

Foxie: The Contact Child—Field Trips

Chapter 7: Field Trips

When I moved to Gentle Forest, I still met up with some of my school friends from the Birthing Village for regular field trips. I’ve been to Earth several times. We travelled in a spacebus, which was a blast. The spacebus teleported to 100 kilometres above Earth’s surface. Then the pilot made the ship invisible, and we flew down to our secret landing spot.

Cha Chu Pani has several hidden training places on Earth. They are usually old, unused buildings, so no one sees us. We camp there for a few days and venture out on excursions to see how Earth people live—what you eat, what you talk about, and how you dress. We especially love hanging around schools and playgrounds to watch Earth children. We’ve learned many new games just by watching you.

When we mingle at the park, I don’t have to disguise myself, but everyone else does. The ones who can shape-shift try to make themselves look human. Sometimes they don’t do a great job, which makes us laugh. Then they have to hide under a big coat, hat, and glasses.

Sometimes, we try your food. Back home, we mostly eat fruit and vegetables. One of my friends loves your ice cream, but she can’t eat much because we’re not used to digesting Earth food. I love mangoes—maybe because they’re bright orange and match my foxie colouring. No offence, but some of your food is disgusting.

When one of us needs to ask a human a question, they always send me. Then I have to try my hardest to speak English and look casual, like I completely belong on Earth.

We always stay in the same place on our field trips: an abandoned building with boarded-up windows, called Hamilton House, in the small rural town of Tanglewood. A long time ago, Hamilton House was the town’s hospital. Sometimes we play with the old hospital equipment, but our favourite thing is learning about human children.

May 2, 2025November 25, 2025

Foxie: The Contact Child—Hybrid

Chapter 5: Hybrid

Cha Chu Panians are not very tall. Their skin has a soft bluish glow, and their large black eyes reflect all the colours around them. Most of my classmates from the Birthing Village look like this.

I don’t.

I’m a hybrid.

My mother and father are hybrids, too. A hybrid is a mixture of different kinds of DNA. It isn’t random, like rolling a dice. It’s carefully chosen so the child becomes exactly who they need to be. Although… sometimes a real dice is rolled because we trust synchronicity. Synchronicity is when something seems random, but it’s not. Really, it’s perfectly organised.

In me, there is a lot of human DNA, some fox DNA, and the rest is Cha Chu Panian DNA. That’s why I look different from everyone else—my colouring, my eyes, the way I move, and even how I smell. I mean, how I smell things… and also how other people smell me.

My foxie tail and ears can disappear and reappear when I want them to, which comes in handy. On Cha Chu Pani, I often leave them out, but when I visit other worlds, I usually tuck them away.

Hybrid children like me are not very common, but we are highly valued. Our mixture of DNA helps us understand different worlds better than regular Cha Chu Panians.

We have a special role in contact with other planets.

March 17, 2025November 25, 2025

Foxie: the Contact Child—Birthing Village

Chapter 2: Birthing Village

Every ten years, the birthing village of Cha Chu Pani comes to life. People who want to be mothers and fathers travel to the village. Each person is paired with someone they love and get along well with. On Cha Chu Pani, everyone loves everyone, but sometimes two people have a special reason to spend more time together. I was my parents’ special reason.

Parents can be any age or gender, and they can even be different—but compatible—species. It depends on what sort of DNA the future child needs for the mission they will eventually have. Sometimes, instead of two parents, a small group of people joins together to create and care for one Cha Chu Panian baby. The only rule that never changes is this: every person involved must be 100% committed to the project, which is the child.

When the soon-to-be parents are ready, they sit quietly for several hours. An energy bubble forms around each person. Slowly, the bubbles drift toward one another until they overlap. In the shared space between them, a spirit arrives from somewhere else and begins to grow.

That is the beginning of a Cha Chu Panian baby.

It’s not exactly the very, very beginning—because, as I said, every spirit already lives somewhere else first—but it is the beginning of life on Cha Chu Pani.