Day 12: Pim and Nell rest at the little house again.

A question came tonight from a little one who could not fall asleep. "Pim, what do you do when you miss your home very much? From a child at a sleepover, with the light still on." Pim read the question twice, and then he looked over at Nell. Nell knew all about missing home, because she had been missing hers for a long time.

The Leaf on the Windowsill

The green leaf from the rainforest was still on the windowsill in the morning. It had dried a little in the night, and its edges had curled up, and June found it when she opened the curtains. "Where did this come from?" she asked, and she held it up to the light. "From a forest full of bats and rain," said Pim, and he told her the whole story. June listened with wide eyes and did not say a word until the end. "A piece of a star," she said slowly. "Is that true?"

"We do not know yet," said Nell from the teacup bed. That night there was no journey. The Night Wind blew softly around the chimney and said, "Rest tonight, little ones. Rest at home." So Pim zoomed three loops around the garden, just for fun, and came back to the sill. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," he sang. Grandma Ada was in the kitchen making cocoa, and the kitchen clock was ticking. "Tick, tock, the kitchen clock," June sang along.

Grandma Ada brought the cocoa to the window and sat down in her big chair. June climbed into her lap with the green leaf. Pim sat on the edge of the cup, and Nell peeked out over the rim. Outside, the sky was clear and full of stars. Suddenly a bright streak of light flashed across the dark, and then it was gone. "Oh!" cried June. "Did you see it?" Pim spun around twice to look, but the light had already vanished.

A Wish at the Window

"A falling star," said Grandma Ada. "When you see one, you make a wish. That is what my grandmother told me, and her grandmother told her." June shut her eyes tight and whispered a wish into her cocoa. Pim made a wish too, very quietly. Then everyone looked at Nell, and Nell was not smiling. She was looking up at the sky, and her light had gone dim and small.

"Nell?" said Pim. He flew down into the teacup beside her. "I am homesick," Nell said in a tiny voice. "Was that a star falling, the same way I fell? Is it lost now too?" Nobody answered at first, and the clock went on ticking in the kitchen. "Tick, tock, the kitchen clock," June whispered, because she did not know what else to say. Grandma Ada set her cup down on the sill.

"We have heard so many things," said Grandma Ada gently. "The owl says one thing, and the fox says another. The bats say something else again." Pim nodded, because it was true. The turtles had counted, the frogs had looked in the water, and the zebra had said everyone sees the same stars. "So many sayings," said Pim, "and we still do not know the way home." Nell's light flickered and went a little dimmer.

June sat up straight in Grandma Ada's lap. "Then let's find out what is true," she said. "Not what people say, but what is really, truly so. We can look and ask and look again." Nell lifted her head. "Can we really find out?" she asked. "Yes," said June, "people who look closely at the sky know a great many things." Grandma Ada smiled and stroked June's hair.

June took a pencil and a little scrap of paper from the table. In big careful letters she wrote three words: "What is true?" She folded the paper twice and tucked it into the teacup, right beside Nell. "There," she said. "That is our question now." Nell touched the paper with the tip of her light. Pim flew up and sat on the rim of the cup. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," he sang to them both.

Grandma Ada did not take the lamp from the window, because she never did. "This lamp is for anyone who is out in the dark," she said. "It says that someone is waiting." Nell looked at the lamp for a long time. "Someone is waiting for me up there too," she said, "with a lamp left on in a window of the sky." Her light grew a little brighter. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," Pim said softly.

Pim thought about the child's question then, the one who missed home. "When I am far away and I miss the little house, I think about the lamp," he told Nell. "I think about where it stands, and how warm it is, and who sits beside it. Then home feels close again, even when the Night Wind has carried me a long way off." Nell nodded, and she thought very hard about a place in the sky that she could not quite remember.

June yawned a great big yawn, and Grandma Ada carried her off to bed. The cocoa cups sat empty on the sill. Nell curled up beside the folded paper, and Pim settled on the green leaf. In the kitchen, the clock kept ticking in the dark. "Tick, tock, the kitchen clock," Pim whispered, very slowly. Nell was already asleep, with her light turned low.

Small Lights for a Homesick Night

Here are three small things for you to look for tonight, wherever your bed may be. Watch for a light that someone has left on for you, in a hallway, a window or a door. Watch for a sound that you know well, a clock, a fan, or a voice in the next room. And watch for one star from your window, and wonder what is true about it. Then let your eyes close slowly. The lamp is on, and you are safe.

Part 3: Looking a Little Closer

Pim and Nell have heard many sayings about the night, from owls and bats and turtles and a zebra. Now they go out to look closely and to ask the ones who watch the sky. One by one, they find out what is true, and the lamp in the window waits for them each night.

Day 13: A girl with a telescope looks at the moon.

"Hold your breath, and do not wiggle, or the moon will jump right out of the circle!" a girl's voice said in the dark. Pim and Nell were floating over a high, grassy hilltop. The Night Wind had brought them here, and Nell had brought June's folded paper. She held it tight against her light, because it said, "What is true?" They had promised June to find out, and this was the place to begin.

On the very top of the hill, Tess was bending over a long tube on three thin legs. It was a telescope, and she was looking into it. Her little brother sat on a striped blanket beside her, in a hat with a bobble on top, holding his breath and trying hard not to wiggle. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," Pim sang softly, and he and Nell drifted down to see.

The Telescope on the Hilltop

Tess turned a little knob on the side of the telescope. "Click, turn, look," she said to her brother. Then she saw Pim and Nell, glowing right beside the tube. She did not scream or swat. She only smiled and said, "Hello, you two. Do you want to see the moon up close?" Pim zoomed around her head twice with joy. Nell held up June's paper and showed Tess the three words written on it.

"What is true?" Tess read aloud. "That is the best question in the world. It is the one I always ask." She tipped the telescope a tiny bit toward the moon. "Click, turn, look," she said again. Pim and Nell crowded to the little glass at the end of the tube. There was the moon, huge and bright and full of gray patches, round dents and long shadows.

A Shepherd's Saying Remembered

"Oh!" said Nell. "It looks so bumpy." Pim stared and stared at it. Then he remembered something from the mountain meadows. "A shepherd told us that the moon lights its own lamp every night," he said. "Is that why it shines so brightly?" Tess sat down on the blanket and patted the grass beside her. "Lots of people say that," she said kindly, "and it is a lovely thing to say. But the moon has no lamp of its own."

"Then where does its light come from?" asked her brother, who had stopped holding his breath. "From the sun," said Tess. "The moon is a big round ball of rock. It cannot make any light at all. But the sun shines on it, even at night, from the other side of the world. The sunlight lands on the moon and bounces back down to us. So moonlight is really sunlight that the moon sends back."

A Ball in Pim's Light

Pim scratched his head with one leg, because it was a lot to think about all at once. So Tess pulled a white ball out of her bag. "Pim, you can be the sun," she said. "Shine on this ball, and let us see." Pim flew close and glowed his very brightest. The side of the ball that faced Pim lit up gold. The far side stayed dark. "Now the ball is the moon," said Tess, "and it is shining with your light."

Nell floated all around the ball to look at it. From one side it looked round and bright, and from another side only a thin slice was lit. "That is why the moon changes shape through the month," said Tess. "We see more of its sunny side some nights and less on other nights." Her brother laughed and clapped. Pim zoomed up, spun a loop and shone on the ball again, just to see it happen.

Sunlight on the Moon

They all looked back up at the real moon. It was very bright above the hill, and it lit the grass silver. "So the moon is not making its own light," said Nell slowly. "The sun is shining on it, and the moon sends that light down to us." Tess nodded. "That is what people who study the sky have found out," she said. "They looked, and they checked, and they looked again."

Nell unfolded June's paper and looked at the three words. "We found out one true thing," she said. "June will be so glad." Pim did a happy spin over the telescope. Tess bent to look once more and turned the little knob. "Click, turn, look," she whispered. Then she said, "Here is something else true. The stars are still up there in the morning, too. You just cannot see them." Nell blinked at her in surprise.

A Silver Path Home

The Night Wind came rushing up the hillside and ruffled the blanket. "Time to go," it said. "Morning is on its way." Tess and her brother waved, and Pim and Nell waved back. Then the wind lifted them high over the hill and carried them home along the bright, silver path of the moon. "Slow wings, soft light. The lamp is on tonight," Pim sang into the wind.

Grandma Ada's lamp was waiting in the window of the little house, a small gold light left on in the dark. Pim saw it from far away, and he knew someone was waiting for them. The Night Wind set them gently on the sill. Nell tucked June's paper back into the teacup. "The lamp is on. The door is near. And all is well here," Pim whispered.

The moon shone in through the window, quiet and silver, with light that came from the sun. Nell curled up in her cup and looked at it for a while. Stars in the morning, Tess had said, and Nell wondered about that. Her light grew softer and softer. Pim settled on the green leaf beside her. The house was still, and the night was long and quiet. And the two friends slept.