As Tombo Kopoli turned on the lamp and got ready to change for bed, he heard a rap on the window of their fifteenth floor apartment. He went to draw open the shutters and found his favorite black-dressed, big-bowed witch balancing precariously on a broomstick, holding out a small box.

"Delivery for Kopoli?"

"Kiki!" Tombo hurriedly pushed up the window. It had been awhile since he'd gotten a surprise like this. It was kind of their thing, to visit each other on Sunday nights, before the coming week of school and witches' training took over. Kiki and Tombo had been good friends for about a full year, and as a perk, Tombo was a regular patron of her delivery service. She didn't have the heart to charge him, though.

Carefully, Kiki squeezed through the small opening, and tumbled into Tombo's arms. "Ooh, whoa."

"I haven't seen you in so long, Miss Witch." He flashed her a smile. "I missed you."

"I know. It's good to see you too."

Tombo stuck his head out the bedroom door. "Hey, Mom! Guess who's here?"

Kiki leaned her broomstick against the wall, studying the room. Airplane posters, dirigible models, flying machine fixtures hanging from fishing wire… it was so… Tombo.

Tombo returned with a tray of two steaming mugs. "She made us some hot chocolate," he explained. "Said she wants to give us some time alone."

They both blushed. But it was for the best; Kiki did have something she wanted to tell him. "Tombo, I - "

"Oh! Kiki, I've been meaning to tell you. I managed to develop the prototype of that bicycle with the propeller on it - you remember the one we rode around in that one day? Well, since it was so ineffective to keep pedaling around, I figured it needed an engine of some kind… " And Tombo was off on another one of his prattles. Kiki didn't really have the heart to stop him; his eyes got so bright and he became so animated. This was really his dream.

She perched on the bed, patiently watching him pace and recount his story. It took a while.

"In the end, I figured - duh - why not do the windmill thing? Trade manpower for wind power? It'd sure help me not fall flat on my face again when taking it out for test runs!" Tombo laughed a hearty laugh, and plopped down beside her. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before. Anyway, what did you want to tell me?"

When it came down to it, she just couldn't do it. She had come all the way up there… and choked. Kiki looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

Startled, Tombo gathered her in his arms. "Oh no! Kiki, what's wrong?"

"I'm… I'm… " The truth got stuck in her throat, suffocating her. But something told her the sooner she got it out, the sooner she'd really feel like she was dying. Frustration only made the tears come faster.

"Huh? What happened?" Tombo pressed. Fear gripped the pit of his stomach; Kiki didn't normally cry like that, and if she did, it lasted for maybe two seconds. "Is it something I said?"

Kiki shook her head against his chest.

"Was it something I did? Did I do something wrong?"

She shook her head again.

"Do you need me to get something for you? Hey, Mom!"

"You don't need to do anything, Tombo… "

"Then tell me what's wrong. You're making me so sad, I wanna cry."

"I'm… I'm ju - I'm - " The words jammed in her throat, puttering out like one of his engines. She didn't have the heart to, well, break his. Not yet. "Can you just hold me for a little longer?" she asked.

"Sure, Kiki," Tombo said, confused. And he did just that.