I Counted All the Stars
It starts with a little idea…
Felix (child)“I tried counting stars but I kept doing the same ones. Can it be an owl? He’s got a telescope and he really wants to finish. Oh, and he has to try twice.”
Owl has a telescope, a notebook and a plan to count every star. His first attempt goes wrong. Can a tiny friend help him find a way to begin again?
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An enormous plan
I wrote a title in my new notebook: I Counted All the Stars. I had not counted any yet, but I liked to be prepared. I carried my telescope to the old oak above the village. The sky was full. My notebook was empty.
The first attempt
I began at the chimney and worked upwards. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Wren landed beside me. “How far have you got?” “Twenty—” A branch swayed across my view. Had I counted that bright one already? I could not remember.
An unfinished night
I tried counting backwards to find my place. That made it worse. Then a cloud slid over the roof. Another followed. By dawn, I had pages of numbers and no answer. I shut my notebook. “Perhaps the title was a mistake.”
A smaller beginning
The next evening, Wren brought a square of card with the middle cut out. “Start with a piece you can keep track of.” We fixed it between two twigs. Through the hole I could see a patch of sky above the chimney. A second attempt. A smaller beginning.
One light too many
This time I drew a little map. Each star I counted got a mark. At last I reached the edge of our square. Then another light appeared, low down. I made one more mark. “Wait,” whispered Wren. “That one wasn’t there a moment ago.”
The light in the window
We leaned over the branch. Behind the light, a tiny curtain moved. A window. Somebody was still awake. I rubbed out my extra mark. Wren stayed beside me while I checked the others, one by one. We took our time. Nobody asked how far I had got.
The same answer
I counted our patch again. Wren followed my map. Two tallies. The same total. “I’ve done it,” I said. Wren looked past the card. Beyond our little square, the sky went on and on. “Not all of it,” I said. “But this bit. All of this bit.”
Room for tomorrow
Under my grand title, I added one small line: The ones in our square. Then I put down my pencil. For a while, Wren and I simply looked. “Another square tomorrow?” she asked. I turned to a clean page. “Yes,” I said. “There’s plenty of room.”
An illustrated example of the experience we are developing. Talebrix is still in development; this book was not printed by the device.