Bright and Shiny People in the Dark  

Once there was and once there was not a dark time that appeared to be full of brightness and light. Everywhere there were bright and shiny objects.

In the mornings, the people would get into their bright and shiny cars and drive to huge shiny towers where they sat in front of plastic machines and moved their hands all day. At night all the people would go into big shiny houses and play with their clean machines, eat dinner, and watch bright screens.

People wore sunglasses all the time because it was so bright and shiny.  They turned on lots of lights – not just inside but outside all over – in the streets and parking lots and the parks and highways so that it was never ever dark. All the grown ups were scared of the dark.  And they liked wearing sunglasses.

One day in winter, it snowed.  And snowed.  And snowed.

It snowed so much, the big people in the bright and shiny towers sent the small people home.  From work!  And the principals sent the kids home from school.  And it kept on snowing.

Oh no! Not snow!  said the grown ups.  We have to go to work and be important!  Oh no! Not snow! said the people who ran the city.  Call the army!  It’s a state of emergency!

And while the grown ups ran around saying Oh no! Not snow!  The kids had fun playing in the snow making snow people and snow houses and snowballs.

Soon it was dinnertime and getting dark out.  And most of the kids ran inside hungry for spaghetti.  And it was dark inside their homes too!  All the snow had broken the power lines.  Now it was dark as well as snowy!

Well, you can imagine the grown ups.  They had to take off their sunglasses.  And the bright screens wouldn’t work.  Darkness!  They didn’t know what to do.  Get the flashlights!  Find some candles!   We need light!

Even in the dark, one parent noticed that their child hadn’t come in.  They went to their door and peered outside.  They could hear a sound.  Swish Swoosh.  The child was making snow angels.  Swish Swoosh.

The parent went and lay beside the child and made snow angels too.  Swish Swoosh.  Look at the sky, said the child.  It sparkles!   And they stared in wonder at the stars that shone so brightly in the dark.

Other children ran back outside after having to eat cold spaghetti for dinner.  And they made snow angels too and looked at the sky.  And they noticed how some stars twinkled and some you could barely see out of the corner of the eye and how the clouds were barely there and how the trees cast fabulous shadows on the snow.  The children watched and wondered and played in the beautiful darkness.

And so did some of the grown ups.

But when the lights came back on, all the grown ups jumped up, put their sunglasses on, and ran inside to sit in front of bright screens.  And the outside lights chased away the beautiful dark.

Sometimes, you can’t teach grown ups about anything important.

And that is the story of how the bright and shiny people were scared by the snow and the dark. Except for the children.

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