Ever since Mary Ann Snow was a wee baby her eyes were so big
and twinkly, that her father called her "Twinkle" and so did everyone
else. When she was eight years old she was a pretty little girl with soft brown
hair and pink cheeks. Her feet were dancing feet and her hands were clapping
hands whenever she was happy. She lived in a nice white and green house in the country
with her father, her mother and her Grannie. She should have been a happy child
most of the time but I am sorry to say that sometimes she was sad indeed. Why was
she sad, you ask? Well, because she had no brothers or sisters and there were
no children nearby.
There were many pets: Rufus the big white cat; Blackie the
little black dog; Chee-Chee, the yellow singing canary bird; and Do-Re-Me, the
three gold fish in the bowl on the window seat near Daddy's favorite chair.
These were Twinkle's very own pets and she loved them dearly. She would talk to
them and they would talk back to her in their own special way.
Then there were birds in the trees outside; hens and baby
chicks in the hen yard; there were ducks and ducklings in the pond; cows in the
pastures, some with tinkling bells around their necks; there were horses in the
barn that loved to lick sugar off of Twinkle' s hand and would sometimes take
her riding; sometimes garter snakes slithered past Twinkle in the tall grass
and Twinkle loved them all , second best to her in-doors pets. She counted them
all as her friends, yet they belonged to the animal kingdom and Twinkle was
lonely for children, belonging to the human kingdom like herself and Mother and
Daddy and Grannie and Katy who worked in the kitchen and Tom and Ken who worked
in the fields. So each evening Twinkle would pray for a brother or sister and
then she would fall asleep and dream about them.
Sometimes Twinkle would go out into the garden and talk to
the flowers. She loved the pansies because of their funny little faces and
velvety poke bonnets and she loved the hollyhocks because they were so tall and
sometimes she would have to stand on her toes to whisper secrets right into the
flower itself where sometimes she found bumble bees playing. Twinkle would look
up into the trees and watch the wind playing with their leaves. She thought the
trees were very graceful and the flowers were beautiful and smelled delicious
so she loved them too but they belonged to the vegetable kingdom and were not
boys and girls belonging to the human kingdom. So each evening Twinkle would
pray for a brother or a sister and then she would fall asleep and dream about
them.
On pretty days Twinkle would gather pebbles in her apron pocket
and then go down to the pond to toss them into the clear blue water. She liked
to watch the circles the pebbles made in the water. Sometimes she laughed and
gave the pebbles names saying such things as: "There you go, Clinky";
or "Make a big splash Buster"; or Find a little friend Dumpy at the
bottom of the sea”. She enjoyed doing this; then when the pebble s were all
gone she liked to lie down on her back in the grass and watch the clouds. She
would pretend that they were children running and playing. Often she would wave
at them. She loved the pebbles and the pond and the clouds. It was fun to play
with them and make up stories about them. She knew that they belonged to the mineral
kingdom and not to the human kingdom and she would grow sad again thinking about
children and wanting more than ever to have a brother or a sister, or both. At those
times she would pray.
One day, just after the postman left, Twinkle saw her mother
sitting on the porch reading letters. As Mother read one letter that came from
a pink envelope, Twinkle noticed a smile spreading over her face and just then
Mother looked up and saw her little girl looking at her wonderingly.
"Come here, darling", Mother called gaily. "I
have a big surprise for you."
"What is it Mommy, tell me?" Twinkle exclaimed as
she ran over to sit on the edge of Mother's chair.
"I have a letter from Aunt Sally and what do you think?
She and Uncle Ted have adopted a daughter -- a nice little girl ten years old
and they are coming to visit us very soon!
"A really, truly, little girl is coming here to our
house?" Twinkle asked, clapping her hands. What is her name, Mommy? 'Will
she like me? I know that I will like her a lot."
“Of course, she will like you, Darling, especially if you
are kind to her and share your toys. Her name is Sparkle. Doesn't that sound happy?
I imagine Uncle Ted gave her that name just like Daddy gave you your nickname.
"Twinkle and Sparkle sound like two stars that belong
together. Oh, Mommy, I know I shall love her and I'll share everything I've
got. Can she sleep in my room?"
"We’ll settle all that later, dear. We will have to make our plans right away
because she is coming Friday which is just three days away. You and Daddy and I
will drive to the station to meet them."
Twinkle could hardly wait until Friday came. She told all of
her pets about Sparkle. "You must purr nicely for her, Rufus” she said,
and "You, Blackie, must wag your friendly tail and not jump on her or bark
and, please, Chee-Chee, sing your very happiest song."
Finally, Sparkle arrived and she was very much as Twinkle
had hoped she would be. She seemed nice but noticeably thin -- Aunt Sally was
going to make her gain some weight. She appeared so sparkly and full of
laughter! She and Twinkle became the dearest of friends and told each other
many things. The days were such happy days that they flew away almost as quick
as a wink.
Then came the last day of the visit. Sparkle and Aunt Sally
would be going home the following day. That was the day the girls went down to
the pool once more to skip pebbles and when they were tired they sat down in
the grass to rest, and to talk. Twinkle began by asking, “Sparkle, what in the
whole world would you like to have most?"
"I don't know exactly,” Sparkle answered. “I used to
say I wanted most to have a father and mother who would love me very much. I
used to pray and pray for them and now I've got them I am so happy that I can't
think of anything else that I could possibly want!" “What would you like
best, Twinkle?”
“I want a brother or a sister, more than anything else I can
think of," Twinkle replied.
Hmmm… if your parents can’t have any children, maybe your
mom and dad can find some children from the city who would like to come and
visit you. They would love it, I know and they could take turns. I remember
when I lived at the orphanage – we children were always happy if someone came
to take us to their home for a visit – sometimes for a day or even a
week."
“I would like that", answered Twinkle, her eyes more
twinkly than ever. "Would they be like a real brother or sister?"
“Of course, they would. Loving people and being kind to them
makes us feel more like real true brothers and sisters than by just being born
in your family. That’s what Mom and Dad told me", said Sparkle.
“I'm glad," said Twinkle smiling.
The next day, when Sparkle waved goodbye from the train
window, Twinkle did not feel so sad. Aunt Sally promised they would find some
children from the orphanage to come and visit with Twinkle who promised to
share her parents and Granny and all her pets and her very happy home with
them. Mom and Dad thought it was a fine idea, too. So that night when she said
her prayers, they were thank-you prayers and she whispered in her pillow that
she was never going to be a sad and lonely little girl ever again. And do you
know, she never was!
(Adapted from 'Child’s Way' magazine, August 1953)
