A tale of a brown unicorn and her blond-haired friend
Please indulge me. I don’t usually write fiction. In fact, I haven’t written fiction for, oh, about 35 years. Last week, my daughter came to me and asked me to write her a story. I had started making dinner and thought about putting her off. Then, I recalled a friend urging me to write at least 150 words per day. I hadn’t written anything that day. And in that pause, I considered how happy a story written by Daddy would make my daughter feel. I wrote it by hand, and left room for her to draw some pictures based on the story. She couldn’t read my writing well, so I typed it and expanded the story a bit. Thank you to Jordan T. Jones, Rishi Pethe, and Sioban Bamber for editing this piece. I hope you enjoy it at least one-twentieth as my daughter did!
There once was a unicorn named Remy. She had brown hair and a brown tail that shimmered in the sun.
One day, Remy’s Mom came to her with a strange and delightful request. “Remy, could you please go to the store for me? We need bread and butter. And apples.”
“Sure, Mom!” said Remy. She felt so excited! This was the first time her Mom let her fly to the grocery store by herself! As soon as her Mom gave her money, Remy took flight.
As soon as she landed outside the store, Remy saw a little girl crying. The little girl had bright blue eyes and blond hair. The little girl was crying, and tears streamed from those bright blue eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Remy asked.
“My Mom asked me to go to the grocery by myself and I was so happy! But now my bags are broken, and I have no way to get everything home,” she sobbed.
Remy felt torn. Her own Mom had told her to go to the store and come straight home. But seeing the girl so distressed made her sad too.
“My name is Remy and I am happy to take you home! Climb aboard,” Remy said, “and put your groceries in my saddlebags.”
The little girl climbed aboard and Remy took off. The girl wiped away her tears and a smile as bright as her eyes lit up her face.
“My name is Petra. Thank you so much, Remy!”
“I’m happy to help, Petra. Maybe we could play sometime?”
“I’d love that,” Petra exclaimed. Remy landed at Petra’s house. Petra and Remy carried the groceries inside the house. Petra’s Mom was relieved to see Petra and thanked Remy for her kind assistance.
“See you at the playground this weekend, Petra,” said Remy.
“I can’t wait! Thank you, Remy!”
Remy took off and headed home. She felt nervous about how her Mom would react when she saw that Remy hadn’t bought the groceries. Remy would have to tell her the story of assisting Petra.
When she landed, her Mom did notice her empty saddlebags. Remy explained her adventure with Petra. She told her Mom she didn’t know what to do -- help Petra or keep on her task at the grocery store. But, Remy further explained, she thought her Mom would have urged her to help Petra.
“Remy, I am proud of you,” said her Mom. “You thought for yourself, and you made a choice. I think you made the right choice, too. I would have done the same thing.”
“And I made a new friend!” exclaimed Remy, clearly delighted.
“That’s wonderful too, Remy,” said her Mom. “Remy, why don’t we go to the grocery together? And then, we can stop for some ice cream.”
“That sounds great, Mom!” And off they flew!
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Image created by Midjourney. Illustration by Cordelia Smith.
