Day 26: Bright lights hide the faint little stars.

Tonight a letter came from a child who lives high up in a tall building in a big town. "Pim, when I look out of my window at night, I can see the moon and only three stars. My cousin lives on a farm, and she says she sees hundreds. Did the other stars go away from my town? From a child on the ninth floor who wants more stars." Pim folded the letter carefully, because he knew just where to look for the answer.

June's Kite Drawing

June's drawing of the kite was still pinned to the wall beside Grandma Ada's lamp. June touched the tiny circled star at its tail. "You saw two of the kite stars from the roof," she said to Nell. "Why couldn't you see the other two?" Nell looked at the window. "They were just above the orange glow over the hills," she said. "The glow was too bright."

Grandma Ada was mending a sock by the fire. "There is a town past those hills," she said. "At night it is full of lamps." The Night Wind blew in under the door and made the lamp flame shiver. "Come with me," it said. "I will show you what the town lamps do to the sky, and then I will show you something better." Pim zipped to the sill, and Nell floated after him.

The Orange Glow of the Town

The Night Wind carried Pim and Nell over the hills to the edge of the town. Bright lamps stood on tall poles along every street. Shop windows blazed, and a big sign over a store flashed green and white. Pim zoomed along under the lamps, laughing and spinning. "It is so bright here!" he called. Nell floated up to the top of a lamp pole and looked up at the sky.

The sky over the town was not black at all. It was a dull, gray orange, and it seemed very low and very close. Nell looked and looked. She could see the moon, and one bright star, and then one more. That was all. "Too bright, too bright," she whispered. "Where is my kite?" Pim flew up beside her and squinted. He could not find even one of the four stars. "Too bright, too bright," he said, and his light gave a worried flicker.

Otto and the Broom

Down on the street, Otto was sweeping the pavement with a wide broom. He stopped sweeping and looked up at the two little lights on the pole. "Looking for stars?" he called. "You won't find many here. The stars are all still up there, every one of them. But our lamps are so bright that they hide the faint ones. Their light is lost in all the light from down here."

Nell floated down to Otto's broom handle. "So the faint stars did not go away?" she asked. Otto shook his head. "Not one of them," he said. "When I was a boy, I lived far out in the country. On a dark night, I saw more stars than I could ever count. Go out where the lamps stop, little star. Go out where it is dark. Then you will see." Pim spun around the broom handle and thanked him.

The Dark Field Beyond the Lamps

The Night Wind lifted them up again and carried them away from the town. The streetlamps grew fewer and fewer. Then there were no more lamps at all, only a wide, dark field with a wooden fence and an old brown horse asleep on its feet. The Night Wind set them down on the fence. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," Pim sang softly. Then he looked up, and he stopped singing.

The sky over the dark field was full of stars. There were bright ones and faint ones, and tiny ones too faint to count. And just above the far trees, there it was. Nell saw it first. "One, two, three, four," she said, and her voice was very quiet. "And a gap." The kite hung there in the dark, and at its tail was an empty little space.

Nell rose up off the fence and stared at the gap for a long time. "That is my place," she said. "It is still there, waiting for me." Pim flew close beside her. The old horse woke up, blew softly and went back to sleep. "Can we go now?" Nell asked the Night Wind. The Night Wind was quiet for a moment. "The kite is too low tonight, and the night is nearly over," it said. "On the first clear night when the kite is high, I will lift you there. I promise."

Nell nodded slowly. "On the first clear night," she said. They flew home over the dark field and over the bright town, where the sky was orange again. "Too bright, too bright," said Pim, and he laughed this time. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight." Far ahead, one small yellow light shone in the window of the little house. Grandma Ada's lamp was not too bright. It was just bright enough to say that someone was waiting.

The Night Wind set them down on the sill beside June's kite drawing. June was asleep, and so was Grandma Ada, with the sock still on her lap. Pim looked at the lamp and at the drawing and at Nell. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," he whispered. Nell settled into her teacup bed and looked at the tiny circled star on the paper until her light grew dim.

Faint Stars for Your Window

Watch for the faint little stars tonight, and see how many more there are when the lamps in your room are turned off. Watch for an orange glow low in the sky, because that is where a town is shining its many lamps. And watch for one small lamp left on in a window, which does not hide the stars, but tells you someone is waiting. The faint stars are all still there. On the first clear night, they will be waiting for you too. The lamp is on, and it is time to sleep.

Day 27: The clouds cover the sky above the hills.

"Is it the first clear night yet?" asked Nell. She had asked it at breakfast, and at lunch, and again at supper. Now it was dark, and she was floating by the window of the little house. June pressed her face to the glass beside her. The sky was gray and thick, and there was not one star to be seen. "No," said June sadly. "It is a cloudy night. The clouds are everywhere."

Gray Clouds over the Garden

The Night Wind came whistling round the corner of the house. "I remember my promise," it said. "On the first clear night when the kite is high, I will lift you there. But tonight is not clear." Nell's light dimmed a little. "Maybe it is clear somewhere else," she said. "Maybe over the hills, where the kite is." The Night Wind thought about it. "We can go and see," it said. "Hold on tight, both of you."

Grandma Ada opened the window and tucked the green leaf from the rainforest, dry and curled now, around Pim, to keep the damp off his wings. "Come back before morning," she said, the way she always did. "The lamp will be on." June waved from the sill. The Night Wind lifted Pim and Nell out into the gray dark. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," Pim sang. Below them, the little yellow window grew smaller and smaller.

The Badger's Stone Wall

The Night Wind carried them far away to a place of soft, rolling hills. But the hills were covered in mist, and the sky above them was covered in clouds. Everything was gray and wet and very quiet. The Night Wind set them down on an old stone wall. A badger with a striped face poked its head out of a hole at the bottom of the wall. "Who is out in this weather?" it asked. "Only frogs and badgers enjoy a night this wet."

"We came to find a kite of stars," said Pim. "It should be high over these hills tonight." The badger looked up at the gray sky and sniffed. "The stars are up there," it said. "But the clouds are in the way." Pim did not want to wait. He zoomed straight up into the mist, with all his might. He flew up and up, until the mist was all around him and his wings were wet. Then he came tumbling back down to the wall, dripping wet.

"I could not get through," he said, shaking the water off. "How high are the clouds? Are they up with the stars?" The badger chuckled. "No, little firefly," it said. "Clouds are low. They float just above the hills, and sometimes they come right down and sit on them. That is what this mist is. The stars are far, far beyond the clouds, farther than any wind can blow. The clouds cannot touch them, and they cannot put them out."

Nell looked up at the gray. "So the kite is still there," she said slowly. "Just behind the clouds." The badger nodded. "It is there, shining the same as always," it said. "Clouds come, and clouds go. The wind moves them along. When you cannot see the stars, there is only one thing to do." Pim and Nell waited for the answer. "Wait a little," said the badger. "Wait a little, somewhere warm and dry."

A Window in the Clouds

The badger made room in the mouth of its hole, under the big stones of the wall. Pim and Nell squeezed in beside its warm, furry side. The mist dripped from the grass outside while Pim's wings slowly dried. Nell's glow lit up the little burrow, and the badger blinked at it. "Wait a little," said Pim to Nell, and he yawned. It was cozy under the wall, and nobody was in a hurry or afraid.

After a long while, the badger nudged them with its nose. "Look," it whispered. Outside, the wind had pushed a hole into the clouds. Through the hole, a patch of dark sky was showing, and in that patch there were stars. There were four of them, in a kite shape, high and bright. At the tail of the kite was a small, dark gap. "One, two, three, four, and a gap," said Nell. Her light shone out softly, the way a lamp shines in a window when someone is coming home.

Then the clouds drifted together again, and the window in the sky was closed. Nell did not mind. "It is there," she said. "It is waiting. I know it now." The Night Wind came rustling over the wall. "That gap was too short for me to lift you so high," it said. "But the clouds are moving on. The clear night is coming soon."

Nell was quiet for a moment. "Before I go home," she said, "I want to say goodbye to all our friends. The fox, the hare, the turtles, the owl, everyone." Pim flashed his light in a quick, bright yes. "Every one of them," he said. "We will not leave anybody out." The Night Wind said that it would carry them to every friend in a single night.

They thanked the badger, who was already half asleep, and the Night Wind lifted them up through the mist. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," sang Pim and Nell together. Far ahead, through the last of the gray, a small yellow light was shining. Grandma Ada's lamp was on in the window of the little house, as it was every night. The Night Wind set them down on the wet sill, and Pim looked in at the warm room. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," he whispered.

Nell curled up in her teacup bed. Pim tucked himself into his curled leaf beside her. Above the roof, the clouds moved slowly along, and far, far above the clouds, the stars shone on. The kite was up there too, with its little gap at the tail. Wait a little. Wait a little. The rain dripped softly from the gutter. The lamp glowed on in the window, and slowly, slowly, the little house went to sleep.