Olivia Follows the Silver Path
On Saturday morning Olivia found a tiny silver ballet shoe on the windowsill. It was no bigger than a raindrop, and it was humming a soft waltz.
— Mom, look! — she whispered.
Mom Grace put down her tea and bent close.
— Somebody must be missing that, — she said.
— Then I'll take it back, — said Olivia. — I found it, so it's my job.
The shoe gave a hop on her palm and tugged toward the garden.
Beyond the gate, between the apple trees, a thin silver path had begun to shine.
Olivia looked at Mom.
— Will you come with me? — she asked.
Mom was already reaching for her coat. She took Olivia's free hand, and out they went through the gate. Olivia's rag doll sat on the windowsill and watched them go. Olivia tugged up her pink trousers and walked bravely ahead.
The silver path wound through the grass.
Soon something white slipped out from behind a bush. It was a cat with one black ear and a tail held up like a flag.
— Hello, cat, — said Olivia. — Do you like waltzes? The cat only said mrrp. That was all, but he fell into step beside her. Olivia decided his name was Button, because his black ear looked just like one.
The shoe hopped in her palm.
Its waltz hummed a little faster, as if it was glad of the company.
One-two-three, one-two-three, hummed the shoe. One-two-three, one-two-three, hummed Olivia. Then the path came to a stop. It split into three, and none of them shone. There was a left path, a middle path and a right path, and each one looked just the same.
Olivia did not hurry. She stood very still. She closed her eyes and listened.
— Which way does it hum the loudest, sweetheart? — asked Mom.
The waltz was soft on the left. It was soft in the middle. On the right it was loud and clear.
— That way! — said Olivia, and she pointed. The right-hand path led down to a blue stream. Flat grey stones lay across the water, one, two, three, four, five. The shoe began to tremble in Olivia's hand.
— Almost there, — Olivia whispered to it.
— I've got you.
The shoe stopped trembling and hummed a little louder.
— Take my hand. We'll cross together, — said Mom. So they did. Olivia hummed the waltz and hopped from stone to stone in time with it. One-two-three, hop! One-two-three, hop! Her pink trousers swished. Mom held her hand tight. Button leaped across behind them and landed without a single wet paw.
The Dance in the Meadow
Beyond the stream lay a wide green meadow.
It was full of red poppies, yellow buttercups, purple clover and orange marigolds. Dewdrop lanterns hung on the stems, and every dewdrop sparkled. In the middle of the meadow a little fairy was hopping on one foot. Her other foot was bare. She peeked under a petal. She peeked under a leaf. She peeked inside a buttercup.
— My shoe, my shoe! — she cried. — Where is my shoe?
The Dewdrop Waltz starts when the sun touches the top of the old apple tree!
Olivia held out her palm.
— I found it, — she said. — It was on my windowsill. I promised myself I would bring it back.
The fairy gasped.
— The wind blew it away at dawn! — she said. — I'm Nell. Oh, thank you!
The silver shoe leaped from Olivia's hand. It landed on Nell's bare foot, and it fitted perfectly.
At that very moment the sun touched the top of the old apple tree. Somewhere in the clover, tiny fiddles began to play, and the Dewdrop Waltz began. One-two-three, one-two-three.
— Will you dance with me? — asked Nell.
Olivia felt the music in her toes and in her fingers. She stretched out her arms like petals. She turned and turned in her pink trousers, slowly at first, then a little faster.
The waltz carried her round like a leaf on a stream, and she laughed out loud.
Mom clapped. Then Nell flew over and tugged Mom's sleeve, and Mom laughed and twirled too, with her coat flapping.
Button sat on a red-and-white mushroom. He kept time with the tip of his tail. One-two-three, swish. One-two-three, swish.
When the waltz was over, Nell flew close to Olivia.
She held a thin silver thread in her hands.
— This is for you, — she said. — Tie it on your wrist. Olivia tied it on. The thread began to hum the waltz very softly.
— It hums only when you are happy, — said Nell, and she smiled.
Olivia was happy right then, so it hummed all the way down the silver path. It hummed past the stepping stones and the three paths.
It hummed through the gate between the apple trees, and Button trotted along with his tail up.
Back in the kitchen the tea was still on the table. Mom touched the cup.
— Our tea has gone cold. Worth it, though, — she said.
Olivia laughed. She hummed the waltz, and the thread on her wrist hummed along. Then she spun once more across the kitchen floor, one-two-three, with Button watching from the windowsill beside the rag doll.
