A bedtime story...

“Mountains VS Ocean ”

By:

Americo Alvarenga

There was once a day. It could’ve happened a long time ago. It could’ve been yesterday. It could even be far into the future, but for argument’s sake, let’s just say it was today. There was nothing particularly different about this day than any other day. The Sun rose like it was supposed to. The Flowers bloomed like they’re used to. And Lilly woke up like she always does.

Lilly was a little girl who wasn’t as ordinary as her days were. Sure, Lilly rubbed her eyes to take the sleepiness away in the morning, like you and I do. And yes, Lilly puts on her sandals, one at a time, just like you and I would. But when Lilly steps outside and says, “Good morning”! The Trees, the Flowers, the Sun, the Clouds, all of nature, would answer back.

Lilly loved to talk to all the things around her, they would tell her jokes, they would sing her songs, and they would tell her stories about how things were going on in other parts of the world. As the day carried on, Lilly came to talk to Wind. Everyone gets ecstatic when the Wind comes by, because the wind knows more about what is happening around the world than anyone else. Sure you could talk to the Ocean, and ask it what is going on, but do you know how long it takes to carry a message by wave?

Lilly was very excited about what Wind had to say, it turns out that Shooting Stars were visiting the other side of the world. They were showing up because it was nighttime there, and would arrive to Lilly’s side of the world when it became nighttime for her. Lilly couldn’t contain herself about seeing Shooting Stars, they hardly ever come to visit, and when they do she is usually too tired to stay up to talk to them. She thanks Wind, who was busy making Trees sing, and Lilly starts to hatch a plan.

She walks over to where she can see Sun, and asks Sun for a favor.

“Sun?” She says, “I need you to go down early today.” Sun was surprised, for it was way to early for him to go away. “Sun,” she continued, “I must see the Shooting Stars tonight, and if you go to sleep now, I can be awake longer to see them. Sun felt a little sad, because it seemed that Lilly forgot that he was a Star too, only he wasn’t as flashy as Shooting Stars. Sun agreed, but only if Lilly let him stay up longer and shine brighter tomorrow to make up for it. She said yes.

Sun started to go down, and it started to grow dark. Lilly started to get happy but she soon realized she couldn’t see any stars. Clouds were still out.

“Clouds!” Lilly exclaimed. “I need you to go away.” Clouds felt quite sad being talked to in this way. Clouds feelings were easily hurt, but Lilly didn’t notice. Cloud quietly slipped away, and the night sky opened up.

Sparkling stars could be seen clearly now, and Lilly couldn’t wait till Shooting Stars came. But things still weren’t perfect for Lilly. Lilly was easily distracted by the Trees moving to and fro in the night; she asked Trees to leave. Lilly then asked Mountains to move back so she could see more into the horizon. Mountains did. Soon nothing was left around Lilly but her, her house, and the night sky.

And then with a zip, the first shooting star showed up. Lilly yelled, “Hello!” as more and more of them began to appear and light up the night sky. But Shooting Stars quickly became confused.

“Lilly?” Shooting Stars asked, “Where is everyone? Where are Trees? Where are Mountains? And where is our brother Sun?” Lilly explained that she asked everyone to go away so that she could see Shooting Stars tonight. Shootings Stars was very sad by this.

“Oh, Lilly.” Shootings Stars said, “We travel very far and very long, and we rarely come to visit. But when we do, we’re happy to come see you, Lilly, but not only you. You see, nowhere else in this great big Universe can we see Trees. We’ve seen Mountains sure, but not as pretty as they are here. And Clouds here are so fluffy and white, we love swimming through them when we visit here. And to tell you the truth, without all these things that make your world so special, I really don’t think we can stay.”

Lilly listened quietly to Shooting Stars words, and one by one, they all went away. Soon, the night was clear again, and as far as the eye could see, there was nothing around for her to talk to. Flowers were close, but they fell asleep as soon as Sun went away. Lilly was wide-awake, and did not know what to do. So she sat near Flowers, hoping that when Sun came back, she would have someone to talk to. Many hours went by, and Lilly finally fell asleep.

When the Sun came back, he came back strong. Sun had so much energy that he shone very bright and hot. Lilly asked if he could turn it down a bit, but the Sun reminded her about her promise yesterday. She agreed it was only fair, and went inside. Soon she heard crying from outside, and Flowers were calling for her. They asked Lilly for water, but she had none. She looked for Clouds who usually bring the water, but they were nowhere to be seen. Even Mountains who could form a stream or a creek was still gone. She even realized that Trees was still absent, as Trees usually kept her cool when Sun was having fun.

“Oh Flowers,” Lilly says, “I made such a mess of things. I was so selfish to see Shootings Stars last night that I asked my friends who always take care of me to go away. If I could just tell them that I’m sorry, if I could just tell them that I’ll never let them go away again, if I could just let them know that this time I’ll take care of them…” Lilly went quiet. She was too hot to continue, and sat next to Flowers to try to shade them from Sun.

All of a sudden, she saw Flowers’ petals move, and she felt a soft, cool breeze on her face. She looked up, and saw that Winds had been listening high above her, and following Winds down was Clouds. Lilly jumped up for joy as she called out Clouds. Clouds rumbled and brought down rain for Lilly and Flowers. Lilly was happy that Flowers was getting something to drink, and thanked Clouds so much. She was about to go inside her home, so as not to get wet when she realized that she was being shaded. When she looked up, she saw that Trees was covering her with its leaves. Winds explained to her that she heard everything she said and quickly told everyone what she had said.

Lilly thanked Winds for listening to her, and promised to never take her friends for granted ever again. Lilly sat contently under Trees and waved at Mountains as they came rolling back from the horizon. Mountains, of course, being slower than Ocean’s waves.

THE END