Change

"After a few more hours of getting my hands dusty, I suddenly noticed something: parts of the blue ball were disappearing! I scurried myself out of the crater to take a closer look at it. It now looked like a crescent going up, kinda like a smiley face. My face however was anything but. I started to become worried that the ball would disappear too and that I would be left in the dark once again. Not that I mind having the stars above me but the ball just reminded me so much about the Sun. And now it was going away too."

"But then I noticed something else: there was light. Sunlight… My friend was back! I saw its shiny body rise up from just under the vanishing blue ball. I was overjoyed… but upset too since I can no longer draw the blue ball anymore."

"I looked at my giant drawing, thinking I was doing a pretty good job. I got the outlines of the green and brown patches of land and even the white wispy-looking things which strangely seem to change shape every time I look at them. Strangely, the wisps in my drawing also changed! I was sure I didn't touch them after I drew them… it seemed like it had a mind of its own!"

"After a long stare at my artwork, sure enough, I was right: these floaty things were slowly drifting around in every which way. Some of them even seemed to be floating behind the drawing! My drawing was flat so you could imagine how strange it looked! But I was also excited! I mean, to see your art coming to life after all that hard work, I can't imagine anything else which would make a child happier!"

"I once read a sentence by a famous artist on Earth: Pablo Picasso. He said that all children are artists inside but it depends on them to decide to keep that passion when they grow up. I mostly agree with this but I personally believe that in some way, everyone is an artist no matter how aware you are. Like I said: we're all adding something to this universe, both accidentally and on purpose. But I think it just makes you feel happier inside if you really know this is the case."

"I then remembered these tiny objects going around the ball so I added them in too. Like the floaty things, they started to move. I thought back to my dream of riding one of these objects around the ball. What could be on the other side? Is it the same thing or something completely different? Oh, how I wished I could know… I'm sure there's more to see from a closer point of view. Little, little adorable things."

"Some people like to look really carefully at things that seem interesting. Take… uh…" I look around. "This flower!" I point to a small daisy growing next to Blue. "I want all of you to look at it veeeerry closely."

And so, everybody gathers around to look at the cute little thing.

"Could you believe all that used to fit in just a tiny seed?"

"I did learn about this with Steve!" Blue replies. "We learned that oranges grow on trees."

"That's true!" I say. "But if you really really observe carefully, you may see signs of this once tiny pod."

"See these leaves?" I continue. "Now look at these little stubs at the very bottom of the stem."

"Well, what are they?" Sprinkles asks.

"Try and figure it out," I say with a cheeky smile.

After that was a period of silence. Then, Roary spoke up.

"Maybe these used to be leaves," he suggests. "Leaves that have fallen out."

"You're right about that. When a seed grows out of the dirt, the main body of the seed breaks up into stem and the first few leaves called cotyledons."

"Cota- what?" a puzzled Fred asks.

"Hee-hee. Don't worry, it is a hard word to say. But sadly, these soon dry out and fall away. By then, the little plant had just figured out how to make new leaves. Then, it will make more and more and more! Finally, a bud will appear with the leaves. Like a seed, it will break itself open, and voila: a beautiful little daisy, a masterpiece!"

"Everyone and everything always goes through some kind of change. This world is full of it. I guess it was harder to tell on the Moon because there was nobody there except for me and my round friends. Like I said, I have a very good memory. This got me thinking back to when I dragged the first line onto the moondust. Then slowly, even still unfinished, it turned out into something full of life and joy! Something that almost mirrors one of my favorite things."

Then suddenly, a little common jay butterfly appeared and landed on the daisy. Very unusual since butterflies are supposed to be asleep at this time… It's very pretty! And very interesting!

"Moona?" Joe asks. "You ok?"

I was staring at the little butterfly. "Oh, sorry Joe. Wait just a moment."

I flew to the butterfly to talk to it. It was just a little bit smaller than me.

"Little butterfly," I whisper softly to him. "It's late now. You should be in bed."

"But… I can't sleep…" he whispers back.

"Your friends will be worried about you," Joe follows. "Go home now. You can play again in the morning."

"I don't wanna sleep!" he starts to whine. "I can't sleep!" He covers his face with his big wings. He also appears to be shaking.

Just then, Blue steps up.

"Little butterfly," she asks softly. "Did you have a bad dream?"

He looks up and nods slightly.

"Oh, shhh… it's ok…" She then sticks her paw out for the butterfly to sit. "We all have bad dreams sometimes."

"T-this dream was horrible! I-I was alone and my mommy and daddy were nowhere to be found and… oh!" He covers his face with his wings again.

Blue gently stroked his wings with her soft paws: exactly what you'd expect from such a kind-hearted puppy. I'm so proud of her!

"You know," Sprinkles speaks up. "When I have bad dreams, Blue would tell me a fun little bedtime story to make me feel more comfortable."

"A little too comfortable!" Blue jokes. "After telling that story last week, you were up for hours bouncing on your toes pretending to be a bunny rabbit!"

"Well, he was my favorite character!"

Just then, Roary had an idea:

"Hey, maybe you can listen to our friend Moona telling us her story," he suggests. "Do you know she is a fairy who came aaallllllll the way from the Moon?!"

"Wow, really?" the butterfly exclaims.

I nod.

"A moon fairy?" he whispers. "Wow… uh, I've never met an actual moon fairy before."

"That's what I said when I met her," Joe says.

"Hi! My name is Moona, Moona the moon fairy!" I greet. "What's your name?"

"I'm… uh Bill, Bill the butterfly."

"What a cute name!" Pail exclaims. "Here, you can perch on my handle!"

"Thanks!" the cute little insect replies while flying to Pail.

"Wait a minute…" Polka- Dots wonders. "Moona, could you talk when you were on the moon?"

"Mmm-nnh" I shake my head. "All I could do was cry and laugh… but mostly laugh.

"Well… how did you get your name?"

"Ah! A fascinating question! To know how I got my name…"

"Yes?!" everyone, including the butterfly asks at the same time.

"You all just have to wait, hee- hee!"