Day 28: Pim and Nell say goodbye to their friends.

Here is a question from a child who is going to move to a new house soon. "Dear Pim, I have to say goodbye to my best friend next door. My tummy feels funny when I think about it. How do you say goodbye to someone you love? Is it always sad? From a child with all her toys packed in boxes." Pim did not know the answer in words. But he knew that he and Nell had a lot of goodbyes to say tonight.

A Night for Farewells

The clouds still hung low over the little house, and not one star could be seen. Nell had not forgotten her wish from the misty hills. "Before I go home, I want to say goodbye to all our friends," she told June. June hugged her knees. "Will you come back here after?" she asked. "Yes, before morning," said the Night Wind at the window. "I promised to carry them to every friend in one night. We must be quick." Grandma Ada kissed June's head and turned the lamp up a little.

The Fox on the Warm Dune

The Night Wind rushed them over the sea to the hot desert, where the sand was still warm from the day. The fox with the big ears was sitting on top of a dune. "You came back!" she said, and she jumped down in a spray of sand. Nell told the fox that she had found her place in the sky. "The stars are not campfires after all," she said. "They are giant suns, very far away." The fox laughed and said she still loved her campfire story.

"Goodbye, and thank you," said Nell. "You showed us the first faraway sky." The fox touched her nose very gently to her light. "Goodbye, little star," she said. "When I see a new light in the sky, I will know it is you." Pim zoomed three times around the fox's ears, and the fox snapped at him playfully and missed. Then the Night Wind swept them up again.

The Hare in the Snowy Hollow

Next they flew to the snowy forest. The trees stood white and silent. The hare was there, sitting up very tall beside her hollow. "Is the hole in the blanket fixed?" she asked with a twitch of her nose. Nell laughed. "There is no blanket, and there are no holes," she said. "Each star shines with its own light, far, far away. But I have found my place, and I am going home."

The hare thumped her foot in the snow, which is how a hare says it is pleased. "Goodbye, and thank you," said Nell. "You kept us warm when the snow was falling." The hare tucked her paws under her chest. "Goodbye, both of you," she said. "Come back in a dream sometime." Pim did a quick loop over her long ears, and they flew on.

Turtle Tracks on the Moonlit Sand

The island beach was quiet, and the waves rolled in slowly over the sand. The sea turtles were there, crawling down to the water in a long, slow line. "We never finished counting," said the old turtle. "I got to six hundred, and there were always more." Nell floated down beside the old turtle. "Nobody can count every star," she said softly. "There are far too many. But I found my place without counting."

The turtles were very glad to hear it. They stopped at the edge of the water and lifted their heads. "Goodbye, and thank you," said Nell, to each one of them. "Goodbye, little star," said the old turtle. "We will swim slowly and look up often." One by one, the turtles slid into the dark sea. Pim watched their tracks until a wave washed them away.

Many Friends and the Old Owl

After that, the Night Wind flew faster than it had ever flown. They waved to the shepherd on the mountain meadow, and he waved his hat back. They called to the frogs in the rice fields, and the frogs sang a croaking song. They flashed at the boy on the roof, at the zebra in the grass, and at the bats in the dark rainforest. The girl with the telescope on the hilltop waved both arms. Far in the south, the penguins flapped their short wings and called after them. And from every place where someone had shown them what is known, friends waved and called goodbye.

"Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," sang Pim, nearly out of breath. At last the Night Wind turned for home. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," sang Nell, much more slowly. Far ahead, a small yellow light was shining in the window of the little house. Grandma Ada's lamp was waiting, the way it always did, so that anyone out in the dark could find the way.

On her branch in the old oak at the end of the garden sat the old owl. Her eyes were round and gold in the dark. "So you are going home, little star," she said. "Long ago I said you fell because you were naughty. I was wrong about that." Nell floated up to the branch. "Goodbye, and thank you," she said. "You were the first one to tell us a story about the sky." The owl ruffled her feathers. "When you go up, I will be watching from this branch," she said. "I will see you all the way."

The Night Wind set them down on the sill. June was asleep in her chair, under the kite drawing on the wall. Grandma Ada was asleep in her own chair, and the lamp was glowing beside them. Pim looked at the lamp and at June and at Nell. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," he whispered. Nell curled into her teacup bed, tired from so many goodbyes.

Goodbye Lights for Your Window

Watch for a friend's window tonight, and think of a goodbye wave you can give them in the morning. Watch for a light far away in the dark, because every light is somebody's lamp, and somebody is waiting there. And watch for the small things friends leave behind, a feather, a thread, a white pebble, a seed. Goodbye, and thank you. A goodbye can be gentle, and friends stay friends. The owl is watching from the oak, and the lamp is on, and it is time to sleep.

Day 29: The Night Wind lifts Nell up to her place.

"Tonight is the first clear night," said the Night Wind softly. It said it at the window of the little house, just after the sun went down. June ran to the glass and looked up. The sky was deep and dark and clean, with not one cloud anywhere. The stars came out slowly, one by one. And high over the garden, above the old oak, four stars made the shape of a kite.

The Owl on the Oak Branch

The old owl was already sitting on her branch in the oak, as she had promised. Her round gold eyes turned toward the window. "I am watching," she called in her deep voice. "I will see you all the way up." Nell floated out onto the sill and looked at the kite for a long time. "One, two, three, four, and a gap," she said. Her light was shining brighter than Pim had ever seen it. "That is my place," she said. "It is time."

Grandma Ada came to the window with her shawl around her shoulders. She turned the lamp up so that it glowed warm and full. "Well, little star," she said. "You came down into our garden on a clear night, and we found you lost in the mint." She smiled, and her eyes were wet. "Now you know the way back." Nell floated up and touched Grandma Ada's cheek with her light. "Thank you for leaving the lamp on," she said. "Every night, it showed me where to come back to."

Goodbye at the Garden Gate

They all went out into the garden in their slippers, past the mint and down to the gate. June held Nell up in her two cupped hands. "Will you be able to see me from up there?" June asked. Nell glowed. "I will look for the lamp in your window," she said. "Every night, I will look for it. And when you look up at the gap in the kite, I will be there." June nodded and sniffed.

"Goodbye, Nell," said June, and she held her hands up high toward the sky. "Goodbye, June," said Nell. "Goodbye, Grandma Ada. Goodbye, little house, and the mint, and the gate." Grandma Ada put her arm around June. Up in the oak, the old owl shifted on her branch and waited without a sound. The garden was very still, and the kite shone overhead.

Pim landed on June's thumb, right beside Nell. He was very quiet, and Pim was hardly ever quiet. "I will fly with you until my wings stop," he said. Nell looked at him. "You brought me home, Pim," she said. "You found me in the mint. You made my bed in the teacup. You flew with me over the whole world." Pim's light flickered on and off, on and off. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," he said, in a small voice.

The Long Climb Up

The Night Wind wrapped itself gently around them both. "Hold on," it said. Then it lifted them up off June's hands, up over the gate, past the old owl in the oak. They rose over the roof of the little house and over the chimney pot. Pim beat his wings hard. "Higher, higher, a little higher," he sang. The garden grew small below them. The yellow window became one tiny spot of light in the dark.

They went up over the fields and the hills, and the air grew cold and thin. Pim's wings began to ache. "Higher, higher, a little higher," he puffed, but his wings would not take him any farther. He had never flown so high in all his life. "This is the highest I can go," he said. Nell turned toward him in the cold, dark air. "Then this is where we say goodbye," she said. "Goodbye, and thank you, Pim."

"Goodbye, Nell," said Pim. "Goodbye, and thank you." He hung there in the air and watched. The Night Wind carried Nell on alone, up and up, toward the four bright stars of the kite. Her light grew smaller and smaller. The owl watched from the oak, and June watched from the gate, and Grandma Ada watched from beside June. "Higher, higher, a little higher," whispered Pim, for the third time. And then Nell's light was not moving anymore.

A Light in the Kite's Tail

There, at the tail of the kite, where the dark gap had been, a small new light was shining. It was pale white, not the hottest and not the coolest. One, two, three, four, and now five. The kite was whole again. Pim looked at it for a long time. Nell's light stayed in its place in the kite. It shone there, a lamp left on in a window, so that everyone below would know where she was.

The Night Wind came back down for Pim and carried him gently home. "She is in her place," it said. "She is home." "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," Pim sang very softly to himself. He let the wind carry him down, past the cold air, past the hills, past the chimney pot of the little house. Down in the garden, June was waving at the sky with both arms. The old owl hooted once, softly, and folded her wings.

The Night Wind set Pim down on the sill beside the lamp. Nell's teacup bed was there, empty now, and still a little warm where she used to sleep. June came in and sat down very close to Pim. Grandma Ada put a blanket around them both. Together they looked up through the window, at the kite with its new light at the tail. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," Pim whispered.

June fell asleep in her chair with her head against the window. Grandma Ada fell asleep beside her. Pim stayed awake a little longer, glowing softly on the sill. High above the little house, the small white light shone at the tail of the kite, in its own place. Down below, the lamp glowed on in the window. Two lights, one up high and one down low. Slowly, slowly, Pim's light grew dim, and the little house was asleep.