phoenix

I turn my head. 'What would you be?'
'I asked you first.'
Well, a bird is out of the question; I'm too scared of heights. I dont think I have the right attitude to be a cat. And I am too much of a loner to function in a pack, like a wolf or a dog. I think of saying something like tarsier just to show off, but then he'll ask what the hell that is and I can't remember if it is a rodent or a lizard. 'A goose', I decide.
Campbell bursts out laughing. 'As in Mother? Or Silly?'
It is because they mate for life, but I would rather fall overboard than tell him this. 'What about you?'
But he doesn't answer me directly. 'When I asked Anna the same question, she told me that she'd be a phoenix.'
The image of mythical creature rising from the ashes glitters in my mind. 'They don't really exist.'
Campbell strokes the dog's head. 'She said that depends on whether or not there's someone who can see them.' Then she looks up at me. 'How do you see her, Julia?'

(taken from My Sister's Keeper-Jodi Picoult)