Sun, Moon and Stars

“Daddy,” said Ellie, while brushing her fingers through her long hair, “where does the sun go at night?”

Ellie had been staring out of the big bay window for the last hour, a fluffy blanket wrapped around her small shoulders as she watched with wide eyes how the sky darkened. She didn’t realise that she hadn’t noticed it before, how it changed from day to night so gradually. It had always seemed to quick, as if the sun had fallen away.

Her father gave her a toothy smile, and dragged a chair towards the window to sit beside her. Together they sat and watched the moon, glowing faintly in the sky far away. After a few moments, he turned to Ellie and spoke.

“Do you see that, high up over there?” His voice was gruff after a long day at work. Stubble started to grow on his chin, despite shaving early that morning. He pointed at the window.

Ellie giggled. “Yes, Daddy, that’s the moon! Not the sun!” Her voice was soft and high, and she spoke with a lisp due to missing her two front teeth.

He laughed along with her. “I know that Ellie, I know. Do you know what the moon does?”

Ellie put her finger on her chin, as if in thought, and stared at the moon for a minute. She eventually shook her head and glanced over her shoulder at her father.

“Well,” he began, pulling his chair as close to the window as he could without damaging his knees. “The Moon has a very important job. Her job is to look after the Sun.”

Ellie climbed onto her father’s lap. She could see out of the window better being sat higher up. “What does she do?” Ellie took the blanket off her shoulders and put it over their legs. Her father gave her a grateful smile.

He cleared his throat again. “Moon’s job is to protect the Sun from the things that want to hurt him. You see, Ellie, Sun is a very important being in the sky. He’s the biggest and the strongest, and everyone loves him.”

Ellie whipped her head around, flicking her golden hair in her father’s face.

“EVERYONE loves him? I thought people wanted to hurt him?”

Her father coughed from the hair. “I didn’t say people, Ellie. Its not people he needs to worry about.

“See, Sun used to be in the sky all the time. Always, at daytime and during the night. Every month, every week, every day of the year, he was always there.

“But, some of the planets got jealous. Sun was always with us, with Earth, and they felt neglected- sad, because he wasn’t spending time with them.”

Ellie had turned around to stare at her father. She said nothing, just sat squashing his legs in a very uncomfortable position. Her brown eyes were glistening.

Her father continued.

“One day, many years ago, before even I was born, something happened. All the planets, except for Earth, got together and talked about Sun. They said how unhappy they were, and came up with a plan to get back at him. They-”

“What happened? Daddy, what did they do?” Ellie moved so she was kneeling up, pressing her bony joints into her fathers thighs. He winced, but covered it with another cough.

“Excuse me, Ellie, Daddy needs a drink.”

Ellie clumsily climbed down from his lap, dropping the blanket to the floor with a gentle *fwump*.

He stood and picked up an empty glass from the side-table beside them. He took a minute filling the glass with water from the kitchen tap, taking a large gulp, then rinsing it our and leaving it on the strainer. His Star Wars slippers made a strange sound on the carpet as he walked back to their seats by the window.

“Where were we?”

Ellie bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited semi-patiently for him to sit back down. “You got to the bit when the planets were making a plan.”

“Ah, yes,” he sat back down and lifted Ellie back onto his lap. The blanket lay forgotten on the floor at his feet. “The planets came up with a plan.

“They decided that they would force Sun to spend time with each of them, so they could feel the warmth and see the light like we can do.”

Ellie was staring so intently at her father, that he felt the need to remind her to blink. She did, then giggled again.

“Carry on! What happens next?”

“The very next day, everyone on Earth woke up in the morning, and realised that everything was dark. Sun had disappeared! He was missing, and no-one new where he’d gone!”

Ellie gasped loudly.

“Where’d he go?”

“They didn’t know what to do, so they waited and waited. After a day, Sun’s friend Moon came by and asked where Sun was. She was upset when she heard he was gone, so she set out to find him.

“Moon found out that Sun was with Jupiter. Sunwas feeling sad because he was told he couldn’t go back to Earth, his favourite planet. Moon argued with Jupiter about it, but Jupiter was bigger and stronger than Moon. She couldn’t fight with him, so she left and tried to gather help.

“All the other planets wanted Sun to themselves, so they wouldn’t help her. But-” Ellie’s father stopped for a moment and pointed through the window, “The Stars came to assist her.” Ellie turned and leaned against the glass, watching the thousands of tiny, blinking lights filling the sky before her.

“The stars helped? But they’re so tiny!”

Her father laughed. “Yes, they are. But with all of them on her side, Moon was able to get Sun back from Jupiter and the other planets. Earth, and all the people here were overjoyed to see Sun again.”

Ellie paused, and tapped her father on his hand. “But Daddy, I still don’t know where the Sun goes at night? You said he came back.”

“Yes, I did say that didn’t I? But, Ellie, that’s not the end of the story.”

“Oh.” She whispered quietly, “Can you carry on?”

He smiled down at her. “Of course.

“Sun was very happy to be back, but he realised when he was with Jupiter that all the other planets were unhappy. Sun had always thought he made everyone happy, so it was strange to see others act in a different way. He came up with an idea of his own, and called all the planets, the Stars, and Moon to a meeting.

“Sun agreed to spend half of every day with Earth, because they were his favourite, and they were so used to having him around. He decided to spend the other half of each day with a different planet.

“Earth argued, saying it wasn’t fair that they wouldn’t have light or happiness if he disappeared for half of every day. So, Sun, Moon and the Stars agreed to share their time with Earth.

“Sun would have half of the day. Moon and the Stars shared the other half of every day, and even stayed in the daytime sometimes to check in on Sun. They still weren’t very trusting of the other planets because of how they treated Sun before, so every once in a while, when we look into the sky in the daytime, we can see Moon there, watching.

“Moon helped Sun to get back to the life he wanted, and she wanted to keep him safe. They are the very best of friends.”

Ellie didn’t say anything for a moment. She looked over her shoulder at Moon in the sky, leaned her head against the cold glass of the window, and whispered, “Thank you.”

Her father’s heart melted.

As did Moon’s, Sun’s, and the Stars’ in the sky.