Day 2: Pim makes a warm bed for the star.

Dear Pim, where do the stars go to sleep in the daytime, and do they have beds? I have a bed with a blue blanket, and I want to know if stars do too. From a child who is still awake. Pim read the question twice, and then he looked over at Nell. Nell had slept all night in the mint, and now the sun was coming up over the garden.

Pim remembered his promise from the night before. "Today I will make you a proper bed," he told Nell, "a warm one, up on the windowsill by the lamp." Nell blinked her sleepy light at him. "Do stars sleep in the daytime?" she asked. "I am not sure what stars do. I only know I am very tired." Pim was tired too, because fireflies sleep while the sun is up.

The Teacup Bed

June came out with her hair still messy from her pillow. She was carrying a small white teacup with a chip on its rim. "Grandma says this one is too chipped for tea," she said, "but it is just right for a little star." She set the teacup on the windowsill, right beside the lamp. Pim zoomed around it three times, looking in from every side, and then he landed on the handle.

"It needs something soft inside," said Pim. "A bed must be soft, or nobody can sleep in it." Nell peeked over the rim of the cup. The inside was white and smooth and a little cold. "Can I help?" she asked. "You can rest," said Pim, "and June and I will do the gathering." Then he was off across the garden, fast and bright in the morning air.

Soft Things from the Garden

Pim flew to the thistles first and pulled off a puff of thistledown. He carried it back and dropped it into the teacup. Then he flew to the roses and found a pink petal that had fallen in the night. June went to the hen house and came back with one small brown feather. Pim hummed his night song while he worked. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight."

June laughed at him. "Pim, it is the morning, not the night!" Pim landed on her finger and blinked his light at her anyway. "The lamp is still on," he said, and it was. Grandma Ada had not turned it off yet, and it glowed pale yellow in the window. June tucked the brown feather along one side of the cup, and Pim pressed the petal flat at the bottom.

Then they lifted Nell together, very carefully, and set her on the thistledown. "Tuck, tuck, tuck," said June, pushing the petal edges in around her. Nell wriggled until she fit just right. Her bent points rested on the feather, and her light grew warm and steady. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "This is a very good bed."

Grandma Ada and the Daytime Stars

Grandma Ada came to the window with her morning tea and looked down into the cup. "So that is where our little star will sleep," she said. June looked up at her. "Grandma, where do the other stars sleep in the daytime? Do they have teacups too?" Grandma Ada sipped her tea and thought about it.

"When I was small, my father told me the stars sleep in the daytime," said Grandma Ada. "He said they shine all night, so they must be tired when the sun comes up. They close their eyes, and that is why we cannot see them." June looked at the bright blue sky. There was not a single star in it. "Then they are all asleep up there right now," she said.

Nell listened from her teacup and looked up at the sky too. "Is that what I am supposed to do?" she wondered aloud. "I do not remember sleeping in the day before, up there. But maybe I did." Pim landed on the rim of the cup. "I sleep in the day," he said, "and I wake up at night. So maybe we are the same, you and me." Nell liked that very much.

The Daytime Nap

All day the sun moved slowly over the little house. Bees buzzed in the mint, and the hens clucked in their yard. Pim curled up under the eaves, and Nell slept in her teacup by the lamp. Once she woke and peeked out, and June was there, reading a book on the step. "Tuck, tuck, tuck," June whispered, and Nell went back to sleep. Nobody woke her after that until the sun went down.

In the evening Pim flew down and sat on the teacup handle. The sky was turning from orange to purple to deep blue. One by one, the stars came out above the garden. "Look," said Nell, "they are waking up now." Pim looked with her. He said quietly, "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight." In the window behind them, the lamp was on, and Grandma Ada was setting out the cups.

June came to the window in her nightgown to say good night. She gave the petal one last tuck. "Tuck, tuck, tuck," she said, and Nell giggled. Grandma Ada turned the lamp down low, but she did not turn it off. She never turned it off at night. Pim said, "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here." Nell said it with him the second time.

Then, from the old oak at the end of the garden, came a deep and hollow sound. "Who, who, who?" Nell sat up in her teacup with her points wide. "Who is that?" she whispered. "That is the old owl," said Pim. "She lives in the oak, and she knows a great many sayings. She will want to meet you, I think." Nell lay back down slowly and pulled the feather closer.

Lights for the Windowsill

Tonight, before you sleep, watch for a lamp or a light in somebody's window, left on for someone who is still coming home. Watch for the first star that comes out when the sky turns dark blue, and say good evening to it. And watch for something soft in your own bed, a blanket or a pillow, that you can tuck around you three times. Tuck, tuck, tuck. Then close your eyes, with Nell asleep in her teacup by the lamp, and sleep.

Day 3: The old owl calls the star naughty.

"Who, who, who is sleeping in a teacup on the windowsill?" The deep voice came from the old oak at the end of the garden. Nell sat up in her bed of thistledown and looked at Pim. Pim was sitting on the handle of the teacup, glowing in the dusk. "That is the old owl again," he said. "Last night you heard her call, and tonight she wants to meet you."

Nell was a little afraid, but she was curious too. "Will you come with me?" she asked. "Of course," said Pim. So Nell climbed onto his back, holding on with her bent points. Pim lifted off from the sill, past the glowing lamp, and out over the dark grass. He flew slowly, so that Nell would not slip. He hummed, "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight."

A Branch in the Old Oak

The old owl sat on a thick branch near the top of the oak. Her feathers were gray and brown, and her eyes were round and golden. She turned her head almost all the way around to look at them. "Who, who, who have you brought me, firefly?" she asked. Pim landed on the branch and bowed his head politely. "This is Nell," he said. "She fell into the garden two nights ago."

The owl leaned closer and looked at Nell for a long time. Nell tried her very best to shine nicely for her. "A fallen star," said the owl at last, and she clicked her beak. "I have heard about fallen stars since I was an owlet. My grandmother told me about them, and her grandmother told her." She fluffed her feathers. "A star only falls when it has been naughty. That is what the old owls say."

Nell's light went very small and very dim. "I was not naughty," she said. "I was only shining in my place, the same way I always did." The owl blinked her golden eyes slowly. "Perhaps you were and perhaps you were not," she said. "I only know what the old owls say. The good stars stay up high, and the naughty ones come tumbling down."

Pim felt his glow grow hot and bright. He zoomed up off the branch and spun once in front of the owl's beak. "Nell is not naughty," he said. "She is kind, and she laughs at my spinning, and she says thank you for her bed." Then he flew back and landed close beside Nell, so close that his wing touched her points. "I was not naughty," Nell whispered again, and Pim said, "I know."

The owl was quiet for a while. She did not say she was wrong, and she did not say she was right. "You are a loyal firefly," she said finally. "That much I can see with my own eyes." Then she ruffled her feathers and looked out over the garden. "Who, who, who can tell where a star belongs?" she said. "Not an old owl in an oak tree."

A Voice in the Leaves

Just then all the leaves of the oak began to rustle at once. The grass bent down, and the mint patch swayed far below. A cool breeze swept around the branch, and it spoke in a soft and rushing voice. "I have been listening," said the Night Wind. "I go everywhere at night, over the whole wide world. I could carry a firefly and a little star, if they wanted to look for a lost place."

Nell held on tight to Pim and asked, "Who are you?" "I am the Night Wind," said the voice in the leaves. "I blow over hot sand and cold snow, and over seas and hills. I hear what everyone says about the stars. Perhaps somebody out there knows where your place is." Pim's light flickered with surprise, and he asked, "You would take us? And you would bring us back to the little house before morning?"

"Before morning, every time," said the Night Wind. "I promise. Your lamp will still be on when you come home." The owl hooted softly. "The Night Wind keeps its promises," she said. "That much the old owls say too." Nell looked at Pim, and Pim looked at Nell. "Not tonight," said Pim. "Tonight Nell needs her teacup bed. But tomorrow night, when the lamp is lit, we will be ready."

"Tomorrow night, when the lamp is lit," the Night Wind repeated. "I will come for you then, and we will go over the sand." Then it sighed away through the branches and was gone. Pim said good night to the owl, and the owl said, "Who, who, who," very softly, which was her way of saying good night too. Pim carried Nell back down through the dark. He hummed, "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight."

They landed on the windowsill beside the teacup. The lamp was glowing low behind the glass, and June was asleep inside with one arm over her pillow. Grandma Ada was in her chair with her knitting in her lap. Nell climbed into the thistledown and pulled the brown feather close. "I was not naughty," she said, one more time, but she said it quietly now, and she did not sound afraid.

"No," said Pim, "you were not." He settled on the handle of the teacup and made his glow soft and warm. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here." Nell said the words along with him, slowly, the way she had the night before. Outside, the oak was still. The Night Wind was resting somewhere far away, waiting for tomorrow.

Pim watched the lamp in the window, and he watched Nell's little light beside it. Her light grew slower and softer. His light grew slower and softer too. The garden was dark, and the house was quiet, and the lamp was on. Somewhere far off, very faintly, the owl said who, and then nothing more. Nell was asleep. And Pim, with one wing over the edge of the teacup, went to sleep beside her.