The Tale of Friendship

Once upon a time, there was a maiden named Ella. On a fine summer day, she met a maiden named Beatrice. Though the two did not know it at the time, they were destined to become the best of friends.

Time went as time goes, and the girls grew closer and closer, until the day came when a big dark cloud floated over Ella’s kingdom while the two were playing. Ella was at a loss, and she surely did not know what to do with herself. Beatrice, however, was not at a loss. Beatrice had Google.

Beatrice’s kingdom was just a decurtate walk away, and after seeing the dark cloud presiding below the heavens, she sprinted to her domain. She sat in her garden, turned her head up to the periwinkle blue skies, and said, “Please Google, tell me what Ella’s big dark cloud means!”

Google’s booming voice pulsated in the air around her and made her hair flutter around her face, but Beatrice sat calmly and listened to Google’s candid answer: “My dear, the dark cloud means many things for Ella. For you, Beatrice, it means this: Ella is going to need a friend. It will probably be hard, and it will probably be forlorn at times. It is up to you what you do next.”

Beatrice stayed seated for many a minute. She had some thinking to do. At last, she knew what she must do. Beatrice went up to her attic palace, and retrieved the things she would need. She heaved the satchel she had assembled over her shoulder, and a short while later she was back at Ella’s dwelling, where she found Ella on the seesaw in her backyard. It was so dark Beatrice couldn’t even see the empty seat on the other end of the seesaw, only Ella’s pale white face illuminated by the tears streaming down it.

“Ella, I’m here. Can you see me?”

“Beatrice, is that you?” Ella exclaimed, turning her head wildly from side to side, searching for her darling friend.

“Undoubtedly.” Beatrice reached her hand into her satchel, and pulled out the fairy flashlight she had brought with her. It had been a gift from her godmother. She flipped the switch, and rays of light shone all around the friends.

“Beatrice!” Ella exclaimed as she stumbled off the seesaw and rushed to receive a hug from her friend’s endless supply. “I haven’t been able to get off that seesaw for forever. It’s just up and down, up and down. Thank you!”

“There’s more, Ella,” Beatrice said, as she reached her hand back into the sublime satchel. She pulled out a box of homemade confections, a music player full of the very best songs one could ever find, a stack of gazettes brimming with hunky dory pictures and outrageous accounts of cults sure to distract even the gloomiest of girls, and fancy cutlery fit for kings. (Because who doesn’t need cutlery?)

The maidens giggled and guffawed the hours away, day after day. The big dark cloud continues to shift and sway until today, though it never leaves. But, every minute that the girls spend together, the less frightening the big dark cloud becomes, and the more heart to hearts the girls have, the closer they become.

This is how the tale of friendship goes. In every corner of our world, when one lifts their head up to the sky and says, “Please Google, tell me what friendship means”, the response they get starts like this:

“Once upon a time, there was a maiden named Ella. On a fine summer day, she met a maiden named Beatrice. Though the two did not know it at the time, they were destined to become the best of friends.”

FIN

 

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Happy birthday, Beatrice. You deserve the very best of everything. You will always have my love and my support. Be joyous.

 

Good Knowledge (as Beatrice would say),

Ella

 

Song Quote:

I hope you find the love that’s true, so the morning light can shine on you. I hope you find what you’re looking for, so your heart is warm forever more. –Shine, Benjamin Francis Leftwich