A Magic Tree

A long time ago, there was a beautiful child named Keiko who had lost both of her parents. She lived with her friends who had the same fate in traditional orphanage. At that time, Keiko was still sad because she missed her parents so much. She always looked outside the window and hoped that her parents could come back someday.

  “Don’t be sad, Kei. Remember that you have a lot of friends here,” said Ane trying to comfort Keiko. Ane was three years older than Keiko. She had been here since she was a baby.

“I miss daddy and mommy, Ane. Don’t you miss them too?” asked Keiko in a trembling voice. “Of course, I miss them every day, Kei. You’re in luck because you can still remember their faces. However, I don’t have any memory with them. All we can do is praying for them. We should be a good girl so they can be happy in heaven” answered Ane wisely.

Even though many friends tried to comfort Keiko, she was still sad. She refused to play together with them. She cried all day until Namida, the care taker of the orphanage, came to her. “Can I tell you something just for a while, Kei?” asked Namida carefully. Keiko just nodded. Namida sat beside Keiko. She gave Keiko a glass of hot chocolate and also a sweater. Namida knew that Keiko didn’t want to close the window even though the weather was so cold.

“Do you see a tree over there, Kei?” Namida pointed a bare tree. That tree didn’t have any leaves, only branches which were covered by snow. “That’s called magical tree, Kei” Namida added. “How can it be?” Keiko wiped her tears and started to be curious. Namida smiled mysteriously. “Only good children can get what they wanted” said Namida.

Tomorrow morning, all the people in orphanage came outside. They stood in front of that bare tree. Namida wanted all children to write their dreams and hang it on the branches. Wang, the fattest boy in that orphanage, wrote his dream about a basket full of cookies. Ane wanted a new doll. Hideki wanted a skateboard. All the children wrote their dreams including Keiko. Namida said that their dream on magical tree could be fulfilled when they were being a good child. However, they should wait until the winter end.

Three months later, Namida said that they could pick up what they wanted. “You all are good children. You deserve to get what you want” said Namida. They could see that the tree also changed. The magical tree became so beautiful with a lot of green leaves and pink flowers. They also could see a lot of present hanged on it.

When Keiko opened her present, she was so happy. Finally she could see their parents because of that magical tree, though that was only a picture with beautiful frame. She smiled at their friends who also got a present like what they wanted. She thanked to Namida who arranged all of this. That day, all the people gathered under the tree and ate together with all of happiness.

Hastami Cintya Luthfi