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"And they lived happily ever after," Billy's mother softly read. Billy was curled up on his mother's lap. He stretched and yawned. He loved the quiet evening time after dinner when he and his mother would choose a story book and take it into the living room. Then she would sit down in her big, soft, brown chair. Billy would crawl into her lap, and she would read wonderful stories about exciting adventures. Sometimes, his mother would make up stories about a little boy named Billy. Those were the best stories, because Billy always remembered the exciting things in the stories. One of his favorites was the story of "Billy Goes To Marineworld" because he remembered all the fun watching the shows, going on the water slide and best of all, petting a real, live tiger.
"Bedtime, Billy. Go to the bathroom, brush your teeth and then get your kisses," Mom said. Billy scrambled off her lap and walked into the bathroom. When he washed his hands, he took special care to clean his ring. Sometimes when he played, dirt got stuck in the little grooves between the 'B's. He went back into the living room and kissed his dad goodnight. Then he went over to his mom. She leaned down as he wrapped his arms tightly around her neck.
"I love you, Mom," he said.
"I love you too, Billy," she said. "Come on now and I'll tuck you in." She handed Billy the storybook and followed him into his bedroom. He put the book back on his bookshelf and climbed into bed.
"Don't forget to turn on the night light," Billy reminded his mother as he pulled the covers up under his chin.
"I won't forget. Now you have pleasant dreams and I'll see you in the morning," was the response. She reached down next to the bed and turned the switch for the night light. Nothing happened. "Billy, I think the bulb is burned out. I'll have to get another one tomorrow."
Anxiety filled Billy's blue eyes. "Will you leave the big light on?" he asked. "That might keep you awake." his mother explained. "But I will leave the bathroom light on. You will be able to see it from here."
She got up and walked out the door, switching the overhead light off as she left. The moonlight filtered into the room, lengthening the shadows and giving the room a strange and unfamiliar appearance. Suddenly, Billy felt wide awake and frightened. He didn't want to call his mother or father because they might think he was a baby. He wasn't a baby anymore. After all, he had started school this year and his father had just mentioned this evening that he needed new clothes because he was getting too big for the clothes he had. He lay on his bed, alert to any sound of danger. OH!; how he hated the dark!
As he lay there looking around his room, he noticed a faint glow near his toybox. Very slowly, it came toward him. When it was about halfway to his bed, he recognized the small figure next to the light. It was Jack, and he held a lantern in his hand. "Come on, Billy!" called Jack. "We need your help!" Billy closed his eyes and wished as hard as he could. When he opened them, he saw that he was in a big cave---a very soft cave. He soon realized that the cave was only the blankets on his bed. He crawled out of the blankets toward the top of his bed. He stood near his giant pillow and looked down.
"Jack, how am I going to get down?" Billy asked. Jack looked around for something that Billy could use as a ladder. He could find nothing that would work. "I don't know," he said.
"I wish I could fly down," Billy said in frustration. Suddenly he felt himself lift off the bed. Very slowly, he drifted through the air and landed next to Jack.
"WOW!!" said Billy. "I can fly! Did you see....." Billy stopped in mid-sentence when he looked up and saw the worried look on Jack's face. Billy had never seen his friend upset before and it frightened him a little. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"We have a terrible problem in the magic kingdom. Shadowbird is supposed to fly up to the golden light every day for quiet time. Then everyone in the magic kingdom sleeps. Shadowbird works all during sleep time, then flies back to his cave. He has had that job since the beginning of the magic kingdom. No one else could do such a wonderful job as he does. But Shadowbird is very angry about something. He won't talk to anyone or explain why he is so upset. He flew up to the golden light and just sits there covering it. Sleep time was over a long time ago and the kingdom is still very dark. Many of the creatures are becoming scared. Please come and help us," Jack pleaded.
"I don't know what I can do, but I'll sure try to help," Billy promised.
Suddenly Jack's lantern went out and he and Billy stood in total darkness. Billy reached out and took Jack's hand. They started to walk across the smooth floor toward the toybox. After about three steps, Billy stumbled over an object on the floor. "Can you re-light that lantern?" he asked Jack. "I can't see a thing."
Jack searched through his pockets looking for matches to re-light the lamp. "Sorry, Billy. I don't have any matches." Then Billy had an idea. "Maybe I can re-light it with my magic ring," he said.
"It might work." smiled Jack. Billy reached out and felt for the lantern. He opened the little glass door and put his hand the ring inside. When the band of the ring touched the wick of the lantern, it began to glow. Billy took his hand out and closed the door. The glow grew brighter and brighter.
Soon they were surrounded with a warm circle of light. As Billy looked around, he realized that he was no longer in his room, but instead walking through a dark forest.
"Where are we, Jack?" Billy asked.
"As far as I can tell, we are in Fantasy Forest," Jack answered. Even in the very dim light, Billy could tell that it was a beautiful forest. The trees were tall with thick rich leaves. It felt like a very happy place.
Jack looked around to get his bearings. "This way," he said to Billy. As they walked through the forest, Billy tried to see as much as he could. The ground was covered with soft, brown needles that had fallen from some of the tall trees. It was like walking on a thick carpet. There were a few small, smooth stones, like the one Billy had tripped over scattered throughout the forest. In the lamplight, they reflected all the colors of the rainbow.
"What kind of rocks are these?" Billy asked.
Those are opaliters," Jack replied. "Even when Shadowbird goes back to his cave, not much light from the golden light gets into the forest because the trees are so thick and full. So Frillop gathered these stones from Desert Land and placed them all over the forest. Now, when the golden light shines, the opaliters catch the light and magnify it all over the forest, so it is bright and colorful.
"Who is Frillop?" asked Billy.
"Frillop is one of the creatures of Fantasy Forest now. He hasn't lived there very long and no one knows where he came from. He just moved into the old, empty thatch hut near the edge of the forest one day. No one else wanted to live there because it was so old and broken down. But Frillop went right to work and fixed it up better than new. Then he went to work trying to make the forest nicer. His idea to put opaliters in the forest has made it much more beautiful and much brighter. Soon they arrived at the edge of the forest. They looked out across a field. The lantern wasn't bright enough for them to see very far across the field, but Jack seemed to know exactly where he was going. Soon Jack stopped and pointed toward the sky. "If you look very closely, you can barely see parts of the golden light. Shadowbird is covering it very well so you have to look hard."
Billy looked up and saw nothing but dark sky. "I can't see it," he said.
"Wait a minute," Jack said. He turned the lantern down until it just glowed dimly. "Sometimes, you can see things better in the dark," he explained. When Billy looked at the sky again, he saw a faint glow of the golden light outlining Shadowbird. As his eyes became used to the dark, Billy could see that Shadowbird was actually sitting on a small ledge in front of the golden light.
"Shadowbird looks more like a cloud than a bird," Billy said. In fact, Shadowbird did look more like a cloud. Usually, he looked like a happy, light blue cloud as he floated to and from the golden light every day. But now he looked like an angry, unhappy, black cloud. He felt miserable. He didn't know if he felt more angry or hurt. He looked down at the field near Fantasy Forest and saw Jack talking to a stranger. At first he didn't recognize Jack because it was so dark, but when Jack reached down to turn down the lantern, Shadowbird saw his face. He wondered who the stranger was. Well, he didn't care. He'd had enough of strangers. He'd just stay up on his ledge forever and make everybody as unhappy as he was.
Billy looked up at the faint glow in the sky as he tried to think of a way to get Shadowbird to go to his cave. "I guess I should try to talk to him, "Billy finally said.
"Good luck," Jack said. "We've all tried calling to him and he won't listen."
"Maybe if I went up to him to talk, he would listen," Billy suggested.
Shadowbird watched Jack and the stranger. They kept looking toward him and talking. Suddenly the stranger started to drift up off the field. Slowly, he flew toward Shadowbird. Shadowbird felt very frightened. He was miserable enough without having to be bothered with another stranger. Billy flew slowly toward the glow of the golden light. When he reached Shadowbird's ledge, he stood on it next to Shadowbird. Billy hadn't realized until then how big Shadowbird was. He was much bigger than Billy. In fact, he was even bigger than Billy's house.
"Hi, Shadowbird. I'm Billy. I'm a friend of Jack's and he asked me to see if I could help you," Billy didn't know what to say next. Shadowbird just looked at Billy. "I can see that you are very upset about something," continued Billy. "But how can I help you if you won't tell me what's wrong?" Billy reached out and touched Shadowbird. Shadowbird felt very warm and soft, like Billy's aunt's angora cat, but Billy could feel him trembling.
"Nobody wants me any more," Shadowbird suddenly said. Billy "Nobody wants me any more," Shadowbird suddenly said. Billy looked into Shadowbird's sad eyes. He felt sorry that anyone could feel so unhappy. "Why do you say that?" Billy asked. Tears came to Shadowbird's eyes and he sobbed. "Because now they have Frillop to make the kingdom beautiful. They don't need me anymore," Shadowbird began to cry. His big tears rolled down his cheeks and dropped to the field. His sobs sounded like thunder as the sound rolled across the kingdom. Billy tried to console Shadowbird, but the poor creature kept on crying. "I need Jack's help," Billy said. "I will be back soon," he promised. He flew up off the ledge. As he looked down at the field, he could see that the tears from Shadowbird were flooding the kingdom. He knew he had to do something quickly or the kingdom would be lost. Worse than that, he would know that he had failed a friend. When Shadowbird had started to cry he had shifted over a little and part of the golden light shined past him, lighting part of the field. Billy saw Jack running through the water toward a large rock across the field from the Fantasy Forest. Billy flew over to where Jack was. "What happened up there?" Jack asked. "Shadowbird thinks no one cares if he is here anymore now that Frillop is working so hard to make the kingdom more beautiful." "That is silly," Jack said. "Frillop is doing some fantastic things in the kingdom, but no one could replace Shadowbird. The kingdom needs Shadowbird. He has one of the most important jobs in the entire valley. Without him, the golden light would always be shining on the kingdom and we wouldn't have a chance to sleep. We have to convince Shadowbird that he is important." "Yes, and we had better do it quickly before he drowns the valley," added Billy. Billy flew back up to the ledge where Shadowbird was still crying. "Shadowbird, I just talked to Jack. He said that no one could do your job nearly as well as you do. He also told me that you have one of the most important jobs in the kingdom. From what Jack said, I have to think that they not only want you in the kingdom, they need you." Billy reached out and touched Shadowbird as he spoke. Shadowbird stopped crying and looked at Billy. "What about Frillop?" he asked. "Have you ever talked to Frillop?" Billy asked. "No, I just saw all the things he did and thought he was more important than me now." "Why don't we fly over to your cave and discuss this?" suggested Billy. "OK." said Shadowbird. Together, they flew over to Shadowbird's cave near the top of the Giant Rock of Caves. While Shadowbird made some hot chocolate for the two of them, Billy talked to him. "You must try to understand, Shadowbird, that nobody is more important than anyone else. That is especially true here in the kingdom. Everyone here is very special, and everyone has something special to share with everyone else. It is silly to be jealous of another person. No one else could do the job you do, just like you couldn't live in the thatched hut in Fantasy Forest." Shadowbird started to laugh at the thought of trying to fit himself into the little thatched hut. "You are right, Billy. I guess I was being a Silly Bird." They drank their hot chocolate and enjoyed getting better acquainted. Then Billy said he had to leave and find Jack. When they walked outside of the cave and looked down at the field, they saw that all of Shadowbird's tears had made a big lake on the valley floor near the meadow. Billy smiled, "I think we should call it Silly Bird Lake. Then it will always remind you how silly it is to get jealous, and how foolish it is not to discuss your problems." "I like that idea." Shadowbird said. Billy flew down to the field and located Jack. "I have to get home for now," Billy told Jack. "But I will be back another time." Billy looked up toward the golden light, and it was so bright that he had to close his eyes. When he opened them again he was in his bed. The sun was shining brightly into his window, and he felt so good about himself. He had learned a lot from Shadowbird and he knew Shadowbird had learned a lot from him. "Mom," Billy called. "I don't think I will need the night light any more." THE END (of this adventure)
THE END (of this adventure)
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Last updated September 29, 2006 by Serena.