Grandma’s Little Light

One morning, Grandma was waiting outside her burrow. She had a basket over her paw and kept looking down the path.

“Now where are my little adventurers?”

“Here!” called Leo.

He came running out of the ferns, with his little sister Poppy right behind him.

“Are we going blackberry picking?” she asked.

“We are,” said Grandma with a smile. “And I’ll show you a very special place.”

“What place?” Leo wanted to know.

“You’ll see.”

They set off through the woods. Leo ran on ahead. Poppy walked beside Grandma, carrying the basket. It was still empty, so it was nice and light.

At the stream they stopped. A narrow footbridge led across the water.

Leo ran right over it.

Poppy stayed on the bank.

“I’m scared.”

Grandma held out her paw.

“I’ll go with you. We’ll take one step. And then another.”

Poppy held on tight. She kept her eyes on the bridge and walked slowly.

Leo was waiting for her on the other side.

“You did it!”

Poppy smiled. Now she was happy to let Grandma carry the basket.

Beyond the stream grew tall pine trees. And among them was a little clearing. In the middle stood a wide tree stump, and blackberry bushes grew all around it.

“Here it is,” said Grandma.

Leo looked around.

“Hardly anyone can see us here!”

“It’ll be our hideout,” Poppy decided.

First they sat on the stump and had a snack. Then they picked blackberries. Some went into the basket. Others went straight into their mouths.

They ate so many that their noses turned purple.

Before they left, they built a tiny house out of sticks and bark under a tree.

“Maybe someone will move in,” said Poppy.

“As long as the roof doesn’t leak on their head,” Grandma laughed, and she added one more piece of bark to the roof.

By the time they got back to Grandma’s burrow, it was getting dark. Grandma lit her lantern and set it in the window.

Then she hugged the children. She always held them a little bit longer.

“There,” she said. “That hug should last you all the way home.”

***

They went back to the hideout together often.

Sometimes they picked blackberries. Other times they fixed up the tiny house or just sat on the stump. Grandma told them stories, and the children listened.

But then Grandma became very sick.

She was very old by now. She rested a lot and didn’t have the strength for outings anymore.

The children came to visit her at home. They brought her drawings and told her what they had seen in the woods.

Grandma snuggled her nose against them and listened.

One day Leo promised her he would build a little boat.

“When it’s finished, I’ll bring it to show you.”

Grandma gently squeezed his paw.

***

One morning Mom came to the children and sat down beside them.

She looked sad.

“Grandma died today,” she said quietly.

Poppy snuggled up to her.

“When is she coming back?”

A tear rolled down Mom’s cheek.

“She isn’t coming back, Poppy, sweetheart. She was very sick, and her body couldn’t keep living anymore. It stopped breathing, and her heart stopped beating. Nothing hurts Grandma anymore.”

Leo looked at his unfinished boat.

“But I haven’t shown it to her yet.”

Mom took him in her arms.

For a while nobody said anything. Then Poppy started to cry.

Mom held them both.

***

The children missed Grandma very much.

Sometimes Poppy cried. Other times she played and forgot about being sad for a little while.

Once she burst out laughing when a pine cone fell on Leo’s head. Then she quickly covered her mouth.

“Is it okay to laugh even though Grandma died?”

“It is,” said Mom. “You still love Grandma, even when you laugh.”

Leo, on the other hand, was often very quiet.

One evening he sat down next to Mom.

“Last time, I didn’t go see Grandma. I wanted to play.”

Mom stroked his head.

“That’s not why Grandma died, Leo. She died because she was very old and sick. It’s not your fault.”

“And did she know I loved her?”

“Yes. She knew.”

Leo snuggled close to Mom. Now he was crying too.

***

One day the children went with Dad to their hideout in the woods.

At the stream, Poppy stopped.

Leo came back to her and held out his paw.

“I’ll go with you. First one step. And then another.”

Poppy held on to him tight.

In the clearing they all sat down on the stump. The tiny house under the tree had a broken roof.

“Grandma would have helped us fix it,” said Leo.

Dad nodded.

Poppy looked up into the branches.

“Dad, where is Grandma now?”

Dad thought for a moment.

“Nobody knows for sure. Some people believe she’s in heaven. I believe she’s all right and that death isn’t the end of everything.”

“Will we ever see her again?” asked Leo.

“I hope so,” said Dad.

For a while they sat side by side and listened to the woods.

Then Poppy stood up.

“Can we fix the tiny house?”

Dad found a piece of bark. Leo made a roof out of it, and Poppy put a little pebble in front of the door.

“There,” she said. “Now it won’t rain inside anymore.”

***

That evening at home, they lit Grandma’s lantern.

Leo set his finished boat beside it.

Poppy brought a drawing. It showed Grandma, both children and a basket full of blackberries.

At dinner they talked about their first trip to the hideout.

“Remember how your nose turned purple?” asked Leo.

“So did yours!”

And they both laughed.

Later, when they were lying in their beds, Poppy called softly:

“Leo?”

“What is it?”

“I miss Grandma.”

“Me too.”

Leo came over and hugged her. He held her a little bit longer before he let go.

“That hug should last you all the way till morning,” he whispered.

That was exactly how Grandma used to hug them.

Outside the window, her lantern was glowing. Mom tucked them in and sat down with them.

“Will you tell us Grandma’s story?” Poppy begged.

“The one about the hedgehog who wanted to taste the moon,” Leo added.

Mom smiled.

“Well then, listen.”

And she began.

The End.