Best Friends Forever
By
Valerie L. Egar
The
magic started when Lily found a green bottle almost covered in sand at the edge
of the water. Ocean waves kissed it and receded, then kissed it again. “What’s
this?”
Lily
picked up the bottle and saw it was sealed, its golden cap screwed on tightly. Holding
the bottle to the sun, Lily shook it. Something clinked inside, but she couldn’t
see what. She tried the cap and was surprised it unscrewed easily.
A silver necklace
poured into her hand and glittered. At
the end of a delicate chain, a heart shaped pendant hung, engraved with the
words, “Be My Friend.” Lily put the
necklace on and shook the bottle again, expecting to find a note so she could
learn whose friend she was invited to be. No note fell out.
Lily
sat on the beach for a long time, thinking. She decided what she had to do.
Lily
dragged a huge red umbrella to the top of a grassy hill. She popped the
umbrella open and felt the wind tug it. “North!” she whispered and held on to
the umbrella handle with both hands.
Slowly the wind
lifted her and Lily floated over farms and
villages, wide rivers and green valleys.
A sassy crow kept her company for a little while, hitching a ride on the
top of the umbrella.
Lily landed gently
in a meadow. “This must be it,” she thought, noticing a dirt path leading
through the nearby woods.
Signs
were posted on trees along the path. “Go
home!”
“Turn
back now!”
“No
welcome mat here!”
“Hmmm,”
Lily thought. “With all these signs, it’s no wonder he or she has no friends.”
Lily
rounded a curve to find a cabin, its windows shuttered. Another sign, painted
in red hung on the door. “Nobody’s home. Really.”
Lily
banged on the door. “I’m here to be your friend!”
No
one answered, but Lily could hear footsteps inside.
Lily
banged louder. “I came a long way to see you,” she yelled. She peeked under the
door and glimpsed feet.
“I
found the bottle and the necklace you put inside.”
Lily
heard a quiet, “You did?”
“Uh
huh. I’m wearing the necklace. But you’ll have to open the door to see.”
Silence.
Then, “Come back some other day. I’m busy.”
Lily was hungry
and thirsty after her long trip. She wanted to sit in a nice soft chair for a
little while. “You don’t know how to be a friend!” she yelled. “That’s why you
don’t have any.” She started to cry.
The
door unlatched and slowly opened. “Would you like to come in and sit down?”
Lily saw a girl
who looked exactly like herself. The same black hair, the same sea green eyes,
the same dimple on one side. “Hello Lily, “ the girl said. “That’s my name,
too. But I use my middle name, Marie. I like that name better.”
The inside of the cabin
was a bit messy, but comfortable. Art hung on all the walls. Poems were scattered across the table. The
girls sat and talked.
“I journeyed a
long way to find you,” Lily said.
“And I have been
waiting all my life for you to find me,” answered Marie.
The girls talked
deep into the night, getting to know each other better. “How talented you are,”
Lily commented, looking at all of the paintings and reading the poems.
“And you are
brave,” Marie told Lily. “You had no idea who or what was waiting at the end of your journey.”
As
they talked, they realized they would never be separated again. They were happy to have found each other and would be
best friends forever.
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Copyright 2019 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be shared, copied or distributed without permission from the author.
Published May 25, 2019 Biddeford Journal Tribune (Biddeford, ME)
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