Friend

 Noah liked sitting by the window and look at the outside world. He spent a lot of time watching the children play in the parc. He had no friends, and he never went to school. Not even for a single day.  It could have made him ill. Sicker than he already was, because Noah was born with a serious condition, that required a lot of care. And so, he spent a lot of time in his room; sometimes playing, reading books or drawing.  But most time he looked at the people in the parc, wondering what it would be like to be able to go out there himself.

Miss Rose came 4 days per week. She was his teacher and thought him everything other children learned in school. They couldn´t really go on trips and such; so, Noah and Miss Rose would invent a trip every week and pretend that they would go off for the day. Once they took the Staten Island ferry and watched the harbour and looked at lady liberty. Miss Rose had told him everything there is to know about her.

Noah had never really been on a boat though.

Another time they took a really fast elevator in the empire state Building. Miss Rose pretended she had a fear of hights and started acting silly. That was a fun lesson; but Noah didn´t really know what it felt like to take an elevator. Sometimes his dad would swing him in the air and catch- that made him laugh because he felt tickles all over his stomach. Sometimes he would play hide and seek in the house with his mom, and she would let him jump up and down on her bed for a short while, because jumping on a bed can be very dangerous for children. He loved it when his grandmother came to visit, she would always have beautiful picture books and they would re-enact the stories together. One time for Halloween grandma had dressed up as a sea captain, and together they had made a sailboat in the living room, by putting two armchairs together and pretended all afternoon that they were out on the high seas having to face many dangers. That was fun, but Noah wasn´t allowed candy, nor trick or treaters at the doors.

Noah loved sunny days because there would be a lot of kids in the parc. There was also a playground with cartwheels, slides and swings and other fun things. When it rained the children wouldn´t come to the park. Then he would just watch the raindrops on his window and follow them imagining a race and guessing which one would be at the bottom first.

Sometimes, at night when he couldn´t sleep he would crawl out of his bed and go look if the moon was out and he would imagine talking to the moon. Indeed, on these nights where he couldn´t sleep the moon became his friend. They would talk about football and cheese, all kinds of things really. Sometimes they would talk so much that Noah would fall asleep, and his mom would find him in the morning sleeping on the windowsill.

Later that day he overheard his mom talking about it to his grandma, and maybe even crying. That made Noah sad because he didn´t like it when his mom was sad. When grandma came to give him a kiss good night, she sat on his bed and told him something interesting:

-         “You know, Noah, you can make a wish upon a star.”

-         He couldn´t believe his ears.

-         - “Really? Which one Nana, tell me! Please please please! Which star do I wish upon?”

He was so excited he had to sit up.

-         “Please, Nana: tell   me!”

His grandmother smiled and said:

-         “All right, but then you have to go to sleep, Miss Rose comes back tomorrow, and you don´t want to be sleeping through her lesson, now do you?”

Noah shook his head.

- “you just make sure that you are very very calm! And think very hard on what it is your little heart desires.” Her grandson was staring at her with big eyes,

- “Then you glance over the night sky, and let your eyes rest upon a star, and tell it what it is you wish for.”

- “Anything Nana? Can I ask for anything?”

- “Well, it´s what my grandfather told me.” Grandma answered.

- “Can they make me better grandma?”

- “You will ger better one day Noah” she gave her grandson a kiss on his forehead,” all your dreams will come true! I´m sure of it! However difficult it gets sometimes; you can always look at the stars and dream!”

Of course, as soon as his grandmother turned off the lights and closed the door, Noah jumped out of the bed and ran to his window to look if the stars were out.  And yes, they all hung bright in the night sky.

With his nose glued to the window he looked and looked and tried to pick one. But there were so many. Which one should he choose? What if he picked a star already busy granting some other kid´s wish? He should have asked his grandma.

He grew sleepy from stargazing and went to bed and fell asleep right away.

The next day he wasn´t too interested in the lesson miss rose had prepared. He kept asking her all kinds of questions about the starts and she promised they would spend a whole day together learning everything there is to know about the stars. Noah liked that idea very much. Later that night when his mom tucked him in, he couldn´t help himself: he slipped out of bed and ran to his window. What a dilemma! Which star should he pick? Maybe it would be better to ask Miss Rose- surely, she would know all about wishing upon a star and explain it to him.

He sat in his windowsill for a little while more and just when he was starting to rub his eyes, he started seeing blue spots. He rubbed his eyes one more time; yes… he could definitely see blue sparkles. He was starting to get scared and thought maybe now was a good time to start screaming.

He stared at the blue sparkling dust, thinking maybe he was asleep and was dreaming already. In a flash: a big blue shining light filled all of his room. He wanted to call for help, but he couldn´t find his voice! He was so scared; put both his hands over his mouth and tried thinking really hard, real fast.

And look: on the other side of the window sat a funny looking little boy. About his hight and covered in blue freckles.

Surely, he was dreaming…

- “Won´t you let me in?”

Oh my, he speaks… how did he get there? That is so dangerous, what if he falls?

- “let me in!” the blue boy said.

Noah didn´t know what to do. Maybe he should call his mom.

“Who are you?” he asked.

- “what do you mean? Let me in!”

What to do? What to do?

Noah came a little closer to the window. The blue boy put his face closer to the window too- Noah leaned back.

- “You have to invite me in you know.” Said the boy on the other side of the window.

Noah hesitated, and then slowly turned the window knob. The boy immediately jumped through spreading blue sprinkles all over Noah´s bedroom floor.

- “You wished for me” giggled the blue boy while he was looking at Noah’s toys….” Aren´t you going to tell me why?”

Noah rubbed his eyes again to make sure he wasn´t dreaming.

- “Are…are you real?” he stammered,” really real?”

- “Hmm hmm!”

- “How did you get here?”

- “I came on a star beam.” Noah´s visitor giggled “you have a lot of stuff!

Noah shook his shoulders.

-         “Why did you wish me here?”

-         “I didn´t! I was thinking about how I should wish upon a star; I haven´t really thought about what to wish for exactly. How many times can I make a wish?”

The boy giggled again and put his hands in front of his belly as if somebody had tickled him, then started scratching his head. More sprinkles landed on the carpet:

- “Sorry about that! Now tell me, what can I do for you?”

Noah looked at him and asked if he could touch him.

-         “Sure! But don´t tickle me” his blue friend replied.

Noah touched the boy’s arm- he felt so soft.

-          “You are real! he whispered.

-         “Of course, I´m real!”

-         “Do you come from the stars?” Noah asked, a little scared he was asking a stupid question.

-         “Indeed! From all the way up there” he went to the window and pointed to a bright star next to the moon. Noah didn´t exactly know what star he was pointing at, but he was too shy to admit that.

-         “I have to tell miss Rose about you,” Noah was thinking out loud.

-         - “Oh no! you don´t want to that!”

Noah stared at him in amazement:

- “Why not?”

The boy turned serious now, and a little silver too.

- “I don´t know. That´s just how it works.” He answered in an earnest tone.

Noah didn´t understand this and he was trying to think hard on his next question. Actually, he was a little scared that his mom might walk in the room and notice his visitor.

- “I´m not supposed to talk to strangers.” Noah said and before he could say anything else the boy who had turned blue again jumped in and said:

- “Well, that´s the best way to never make a friend! Besides- I don´t think I don´t qualify as a stranger anymore.”

Noah felt his head getting heavy and started to yawn. His blue friend came a little closer and blew some blue dust in his face….  Noah travelled off to dreamland.

The next morning when his mom woke him up, Noah didn´t know where he was at first. He quickly looked around the room and was sure that his mom would ask him about all the blue sprinkles on the carpet. But he could see nothing. He jumped out of the bed and ran to the window. On the windowsill from the outside, he saw some blue glitters.

So, he was real after all, he thought. He decided not to say anything to his mom just yet or Miss rose. Maybe he would tell his grandma next time she came to visit.

When it was time to go to bed, Noah felt strangely excited. His mom noticed it too, but he gave her a big hug before she could ask anything. He pretended to yawn and to be half asleep already.  She tucked him in and gave him a kiss. He waited till the lights were out and his mom had closed the door; jumped out of bed and to the window. He was hoping his little blue friend would come back.

He went to sit by the window and looked at the stars. He did his best to concentrate as hard as he could. He saw nothing and was getting drowsy. He was beginning to think, that maybe he had imagined it after all. He sighed and stood up and sat on his bed a little. Just when he wanted to go back under the covers, a bright blue light came through the window.

He jumped out of bed and ran to open the window.

- “I´m so happy you´re back! I was waiting for you!”

His little friend giggled and shook off a lot of blue sprinkles. They both laughed.

Suddenly Noah thought about something serious:

-         “I´m not supposed to play with other children:” he said, “because they might make me ill”.

The boy didn´t seem surprised.

- “Don´t worry about that; I´m not here to make you sick!”

Noah looked at him with big eyes.

- “I´m here because you need a friend: one day you will heal and then you can go make friends outside!”

Noah turned sad:

- “I´m never going to get better.”

- “What an odd thing to say!” his blue friend jumped in front of him and turned a little grey again. Noah thought that must mean he´s getting very serious  again.

- “Of course, you are going to get better! You can never stop believing that you hear me?”

Noah nodded his head.

- “What´s your name?” he asked. His friend whistled a tune and giggled:

- “I don´t think humans can pronounce my name! You can call me whatever you want!”

Noah gave it a serious thought and said:

-         “I will call you friend than”.

That seemed like a very good idea to both of them.

As Noah grew older, he was sometimes very sick; and Friend would come visit him at night to comfort him. He was right, in time Noah did get better. He eventually went to school and worked hard to become a doctor.

He never told anybody about Friend. Well; he never told grown ups that is. When he did his rounds in the hospital and he saw one of his little patients being scared and lonely, he would whisper a secret in their ear and when he came back in the morning to see   a smile on the child´s face; he knew Friend had visited.

  When he went to look at the windowsill on the outside of the hospital ward, he would always notice a few blue glitters….