A Very Creative Plan

    A Very Creative Plan

Joel sat on the front step of Grandfather’s porch exactly two days after Christmas. He was wondering. What was he wondering about? He was wondering about his new friends and how he could bring them back all the way across the country just in his new red backpack, with his new sketch pad and his new brightly coloured pencils and his pyjamas and ….and…. and…his forehead wrinkled. He turned his cap to the back and then to the front, hunched his jacket up close. 

If he asked his mother she would say - "Now Joel, you know that’s impossible.” Then she would go back to washing the dishes and sweeping the floor. 

If he asked his father, he would say - “Well, buddy, you just remember them but you can’t bring them with you.” Then he would go back to reading the morning newspaper. 

If he told his Grandfather, he didn’t really know sure for what he would say. He knew that his Grandfather would sit back in his rocking chair, pull out his pipe and after puffing on it two times - exactly two times, his grandfather would probably say “We’ll have to think about that.” But what his grandfather did say was “Well, have you thought about putting them in that new sketch pad of yours?”

“But, Grandfather, I only sketch stuff I see all the time like my silver bike or the blue birdhouse by the mailbox.”

“Well, Joel,”  his Grandfather said after exactly two puffs on his pipe “You could ask each of them to lie down on a page and you could sketch around him or her to get their shapes.”

“Oh. …But, Grandfather, Mr. Little is a giant and he is way bigger than a little piece of paper.”

After exactly two puffs on his pipe, Grandfather said - “Didn’t you tell me all your new friends are magic?”

Joel nodded exactly two times.

“Well then, ask Mr. Little to if he can make himself just as big as the page just long enough for you sketch him in his favourite colour. Then draw in his eyes and nose and all his clothes after he gets up. If that works for Mr. Little, you can try the same with Vanessa and with the faeries.”

“Hmm” said Joel after tapping the end of his nose exactly two times. “But then, I’ll just take pictures back, not my friends.”

And so Grandfather took exactly two more puffs on his pipe, rocked forward in his rocking chair and said. “Joel, my dear boy, when they lie down on the pages of your sketch book, they will leave some of their magic behind for you. Your sketches will be their shapes and their colours and with their magic you’ll have your friends with you at home”.

Joel jumped up from the step, turned his cap to the front, and gave his grandfather exactly two great big hugs. He ran into his grandfather’s house for his sketch pad and his brightly coloured pencils. Joel’s friends, Mr. Little the Giant and Vanessa, the Purple Dragon had listened as Grandfather explained their very creative plan to young Joel. Mr. Little was in his rocking chair as tall as Grandfather’s house. Vanessa, the Purple Dragon rested quietly in the gigantic pine tree in front of the house, her leathery wings folded gently behind her. The faeries had a hard time staying still. They wanted to fly around, chittering with the winter robins and lovely brown wrens. They finally settled themselves on Mr. Little’s broad shoulders dusted with snow and on Vanessa’s wide forehead, her eyelashes glittering with frost. Grandfather took exactly two puffs on his pipe and said to his guests  - “Please be careful with Joel's new things” looking pointedly at the faeries. “You have decided which of you will be first? It is a lovely day isn’t it when you can be with the people that love you.” Grandfather smiled, knocked the ashes out of his pipe exactly two times, leaned back and rocked himself to sleep, his Christmas quilt pulled up to his chin.

“A friend is a gift you give yourself.”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson