Saddy the starfish

Ñêàçêà äëÿ äóìàþùèõ äåòåé.

       
       Saddy the starfish was given her name by her neighbours, other starfish, for her ever present sadness, the reason of which no-one ever bothered to find out, from her own point of view. You see, Saddy happened to be an orphan and, unlike the others taught by their parents, was unaware of who or what she was. She dwelled on the ocean bed, ignorant of the fact that the world was a little bigger than her neighbourhood, and, therefore, never suspecting that, along with the bottom, the ocean had a top, or a surface which was reflective enough to give her an idea that she was of the same kind as her neighbours, a starfish.
       And so, unaware of her origins, Saddy secretly admired her ever so beautiful neighbours and never dared approach them to offer her friendship, a friendship, as she reckoned, of a small, dull and useless creature, or a thing for that matter. Oh, Saddy! She certainly wasn't too self-confident was she...
       There were times when others were approaching her, whether out of curiosity or to make her a useful member of the neighbourhood, or to simply make fun of her, Saddy didn't know. Indeed, she wished she was accepted, but due to her not very high opinion of herself, any approach of a neighbour she perceived as nothing but teasing, or mocking, and responded with grave silence and tightly shut eyes, which gave her face the very expression of sadness everyone came to dislike. And that was reasonable indeed. You see, such negative, destructive emotion as sadness brings at least discomfort to any happy community. In other words, it is quite a task for others to maintain happiness in the constant presence of someone's constant unhappiness, or, in Saddy's case, sadness.
       No-one could recall for how long Saddy was around, but for the other starfish she was there long enough to be proved too rude and too sad, and, therefore, to be declared an outcast; not that Saddy ever knew about it, for the decision obviously was made without her. All she knew was that no-one tried to approach her anymore and that she had almost no chance to gain friends, or at least one friend, or at the very least a half-friend, if there is such thing as half-friendship. But for Saddy, that would still be better than nothing. And so, as days were passing by, her hope for a half-friend was turning into a half-hope, and then into a tiny bit of it, which made her grow sadder and sadder. Thus she grew so sad that, inevitably, her sadness replaced everything she had, including hope and thoughts.
       One day, or night (who would determine the time at the very bottom of the ocean?), hopeless and thoughtless, Saddy swam a few circles around her unwelcoming habitat, which at once made the others suspicious, and then, as the circles grew wider and wider until she completely lost direction, she wandered off without even knowing it.
       As her finally relieved neighbours watched her swim further and further away, one of them, the red starfish, said with a wry smile: "I hope you'll find a better home for yourself, Saddy. Preferably, inside a shark! Not that I don't respect sharks, of course."
       Saddy though, on her way to nowhere, heard neither the comment of the red starfish nor the roar of laughter that followed... She was so preoccupied with thinking of nothing that she wouldn't even notice if she really did get swallowed by a shark, or any other hungry creature. Little did she know that luck was actually on her side, and that she effortlessly escaped quite a few creatures which were undoubtedly interested in having her for a snack. And that was only due to her total unawareness of life around her, which, as you can guess, entailed fearlessness. With wide open eyes seeing nothing but her own sadness within and without, she swam either right near some monstrous fish, almost brushing against its side, or beneath an octopus, slowly winding her way through its enormously long arms, or straight into a gigantic shark's mouth that resembled an entrance gate opening hospitably for those who came to visit the Death Palace. But luckily, the monstrous fish, the octopus, the shark and many other potential consumers Saddy encountered on her way got very confused by her fearless wandering within their own territory, and came to the conclusion that she was definitely venomous, if she feared nothing at all. And so, as none of them happened to be suicidal, Saddy, who couldn't care less about her own safety, safely continued her journey to nowhere, until...
       Until she woke up to reality. "Where on earth am I?" Saddy finally managed to think when she found herself floating on the surface and looking up at something that resembled the inside of some incomprehensively enormous creature's mouth, or stomach; she couldn't work it out instantly. But as she looked around more attentively, she noticed that the black mouth, or stomach, was all spangled, and those spangles, thousands of them, looked rather like glowing eyes of fish, which she happened to see before; and those eyes were twinkling, too, as if winking to cheer her up and let her know that she was not the only victim. To Saddy though, the mysterious creature seemed rather harmless, for she felt neither like she was about to be transported from the mouth to elsewhere nor like she was already being digested; well, not just yet.
       "Well," Saddy thought to herself, "wherever I am, nothing will change my miserable little life, or I'd rather say existence. Nothing, except death. I shall lie here and wait for it then." She then looked up at the thousands of spangles above her, and thought: "I hope those glowing fish won't come to interrupt me... Though, I have to admit it, they are spectacularly beautiful, spectacularly!" With that, Saddy shut her eyes as tight as she could and began to wait...
       Hour after hour she lay on the water, motionless but not as thoughtless as she wished to be. Even with her tightly shut eyes she couldn't help seeing those innumerable spangles, within her mind, and she couldn't help thinking that they were almost as beautiful as her neighbours, or her former neighbours which she truly hoped to never see again. And the more she thought of that, the more she wished her life was ended as quickly as possible, so a miserable, useless thing like her would never be in anybody's way anymore...
       After a few or quite a few hours, she didn't know, for telling time never was her strong point, Saddy began to feel that something was definitely happening to her. It wasn't painful, it felt rather strange. First, she was slowly pushed out of the water, and then, as the water dripped off her body, she was licked, very gently though, by hundreds of someone's tiny tongues which felt warm and tickling, in fact so tickling that Saddy was about to burst out laughing. Though she never did. Because all of a sudden, all the sensations and feelings she had were swept away by something else, something she, until that very moment, wasn't familiar with at all. And that was but fear! Oh yes, she was really afraid. Which was quite an ordinary reaction and wouldn't surprise anyone but Saddy, for she had no idea that indifference to one's well-being doesn't necessary provide him with the courage to face the end of it.
       "Is this it?.. Oh no, no!" Saddy thought to herself, shaken to the bone, or since she didn't have one, to the thickest part of her brain. Nevertheless, she shut her eyes even tighter and decided not to open them whatsoever, for just the thought that witnessing the end of herself could double her fear and, possibly, could give her enough strength to resist and even break free, frightened her even more than death itself. Thus, holding her breath, determined to follow her plan, she lay still on whatever that was beneath her and under whatever that was licking her, ready to experience her final moment. For a while, there were no tangible changes. But as her body started refusing to feel anything and, eventually, grew completely numb, Saddy, as she believed, thought for the last time: "That's it, I guess, that's it. I am no more. No more than a bygone."
       Poor, silly Saddy! She didn't know that if her life was really ended, she surely wouldn't know it! Neither would she be able to think, or to hear for that matter. But she did hear, something that sounded rather like a chuckle. Confused, Saddy ordered herself not to look but listen. In no time, the chuckle was followed by a very loud laughter, so loud that she found herself shaken again, but, this time, shaken by something.
       "I hope you and your friend have already forgiven me for upsetting your plans," the laughter was followed by a voice. "Good morning to you both!"
       It didn't take long for Saddy to realize that she wasn't safely dead, and she decided to open her eyes. And as she did so, to her own bewilderment, she found herself lying on the end of a dolphin's nose and looking straight into his tauntingly sparkling eyes.
       "I am The Grinner," the dolphin continued; and it was obvious why he was given that name; for his broad smile, characteristic of all dolphins, really was more of a grin. "Grinner the dolphin," he added presently, noticing that Saddy's glance was changing to a blank stare, "since you cannot see past your nose, never mind mine. And you? How about introducing yourself?"
       But no sound came from Saddy; she was too preoccupied with thinking to her puzzled self: "Did he say you and your friend? Did he? Why did he say that?"
       Having no patience to wait for an answer he knew all the time, The Grinner chuckled and said: "My-oh-my! I have just learned that there is someone in the ocean who likes catching snacks just for their tongues! Or was it the sun that overcooked that tongue of yours? Then I apologise, on behalf of the sun, of course." With that, he bowed his head, submerging his nose and thus letting Saddy slip off, and began to swim away from a one-way conversation which he considered as but sheer waste of time and, more importantly, jokes, for he had a true passion for making others laugh, and mostly at themselves with their ever so serious attempts to conceal their ever so obvious silliness, if not stupidity.
       But a pleasantly cool ocean water instantly breathed life into Saddy's numb body, including her tongue, and withdrew her mind from a question-yourself land. "I don't know what you mean! I don't have a friend!" she shouted after the dolphin, and marvelled at her own voice, the actual sound of which she never heard before. "I don't have a friend," she repeated only to hear her voice again and find it fairly pleasant.
       In no time, The Grinner's head appeared right above her, and he said, seeming serious: "Why, of course you do! And what a loyal friend it is, too! Your own sadness," he chuckled and added: "my dear Miss Saddy."
       To that and The Grinner's open laughter that followed, Saddy squinted her eyes and thought: "I knew that, he was simply mocking me, and he still is!"
       But this time, believing that the dolphin, the glowing fish and herself were swallowed by something, perhaps a giant whale, which was her latest presumption, and that the end of them all will come sooner or later, Saddy decided to allow herself to express her opinion, for once, which possibly could result in confrontation or even fight, or a single bite, which was more likely. In any case, as she believed, either it could fill the hours of waiting with some sort of fun that even a miserable, useless thing like her was never forbidden to have, or it could rid her of those hours; and the sooner was the better.
       And so, she looked straight into the dolphin's laughing eyes and said defiantly: "Who do you think you are to laugh at me?! And how can you behave this way with someone you don't even know?!"
       But no confrontation or fight, or bite followed. On the contrary, The Grinner burst out laughing, and then said: "That's more like it, Saddy, that's more like it. As for not knowing you, you're quite right, I don't know you. No-one knows you this way." He chuckled and added: "Unfortunately. Otherwise you wouldn't have ended up miles above your home."
       And that was enough to prevent Saddy's momentary arrogance and bravery from becoming permanent. "Miles above... But... Wait a minute... I thought... er..." she managed to only mumble.
       "Go on, you thought?" said the dolphin, and that famous grin of his became even more obvious. But Saddy fell silent, completely lost in thoughts. Not for long, though, because the dolphin, losing patience, slightly pushed her with the tip of his nose and whispered with that kind of piercing whisper that could wake up the dead: "You thought you've been swallowed by a giant whale, eh?"
       Saddy rounded her eyes and whispered back: "How do you know that? My name, my plans, my thoughts? Do you know everything?"
       "Only God knows everything. And a fool." said The Grinner in his normal voice, and his grin, for once, seemed to have disappeared. "I know almost everything, almost everything that's happening in these waters, including thoughts of the troubled and desperate. And that, I'd say, is my misfortune. I rather feel obliged to help, and always try to do so, but fairly often the troubled and desperate prefer to remain that way! Perhaps, in order to diversify their boring lives." And, his nose pointed up, The Grinner heaved a heavy sigh.
       As Saddy unintentionally followed his nose, with her eyes, she suddenly saw that the giant whale's mouth, or stomach, wasn't dark anymore but was all lit up by something that resembled a huge golden jellyfish, but so bright that it hurt to look at it! She gasped in fright and uttered: "That's what was tickling me!"
       "That's not a jellyfish," said the dolphin, having read her thoughts.
       "What is it then?" Saddy asked. "It looks neither like an ordinary fish nor..."
       "It looks like sun to me, and the sun it is," The Grinner interrupted her, and his grin seemed to have come back. "Why, you still didn't understand that none of us have been swallowed, and that what you see above you is neither the inside of a giant whale nor anything else but a sky? My-oh-my!"
       "What is sky?" asked Saddy, genuinely curious.
       "Well, sky is a... is a..." The Grinner halted, pondering.
       "Sky..?" Saddy said cautiously, hoping that, for once, she said something that was worth considering.
       "That's it! Sky is a sky!" exclaimed the dolphin, happy to waste no time on long, tedious explanations. "When the day begins its long journey, the sun climbs up the sky to light up the day's path," he almost sang. "And when the night takes over, out come the stars, not the glowing eyes of fish, Saddy! They shine bright to help the resting day have nice dreams, not nightmares which usually attack in total darkness. They even shone within your mind, didn't they, to save you from your worst nightmare, which is your own miserable self!" The Grinner chuckled and said: "See, they quite helpful aren't they."
       But Saddy was so intrigued and so curious about this whole knew world she discovered by chance that, this time, taking one of the dolphin's taunts personally never crossed her mind.
       "But are they alive, those stars?" she asked.
       "Frankly," said The Grinner, pondering, "that's what I'd really like to know myself. Once my friend, White-Wing the albatross, heard from the fishermen that the stars help them find their way home, and he asked if they knew what they are, the stars. That day, the fishermen were in luck and didn't mind to tell The White-Wing that the stars are planets, just like the one we live on. They might have oceans and lands, but no-one's sure of that. And how could one be, really? They are so faraway, those stars, far beyond anybody's reach."
       Fascinated by the dolphin's speech to the extent of speechlessness, Saddy unintentionally closed her eyes. At instant, a spectacular picture of the edgeless black sheet with the thousands of spangles unfolded within her mind. And she imagined herself wandering amongst those spangles, touching them with her arms and whispering to them: "Now I know who you are, you are stars, beautiful stars, almost as beautiful as my neighbours. And you are not beyond reach as I was told. Nothing is beyond my reach... except my own happiness."
       As soon as she thought that, her breath-freeing fantasy transformed into a squashing hand of reality, and she opened her eyes, only to stare into those of the dolphin's, knowing, mocking eyes from which a single thought of hers had no chance to escape.
       "Perhaps sometime, you should ask The White-Wing to lend you his wings," he said merrily, "to see for yourself that the stars are beyond reach. They are much further away from you than your happiness. And that is far!"
       And that was far, far too much for Saddy. "That's enough!" she cried out in genuine anger, which surprised her own self, for she never suspected that she had true pride and the ability for objecting to humiliation. "Maybe my happiness is out of reach," she continued, "but I'd rather die unhappy than live amusing myself through humiliating others!" With that, she shut her eyes and decided to lie there still and silent, no matter what, until she is left alone.
       Little did Saddy know that The Grinner's laughter that followed wasn't directed at her but was more of his satisfaction at her genuine outburst, which was exactly what he was hoping to achieve. And even less than little did she know that that achievement was only a little part of The Grinner's big plan.
       He fell silent and quietly observed Saddy floating lifelessly on the water and determined to conquer her desire to peep. As the sounds of the ocean breeze whispering something to the murmuring waves weren't occasionally interrupted by chuckles, or giggles, or anything of that kind, she presumed that the dolphin must have heard a call from other victims of self-disparagement and was already on his way to help by turning them into victims of his humour. And so, as you can guess, she peeped, only to be caught in the act by the dolphin's taunting eyes.
       "So," said The Grinner presently, "how about borrowing a pair of wings? Look up, Saddy! There he is, White-Wing the albatross!" And, his nose pointed up, he shouted to the sky: "Good morning to you, White-Wing! How do you do?"
       Saddy looked up, and the sight of a magnificent, majestic creature effortlessly gliding over the waters made her mouth open much wider than it ever could and stay that way for a long time. Everything, including the dolphin's annoying, never-ending presence, was forgotten under a spell of true beauty.
       Luckily for Saddy, she was so amazed and fascinated by the albatross that she hardly noticed that the "true beauty" was actually in a very bad mood.
       "Good morning, good morning," he shouted back to The Grinner, grumpily. "But what's so good about it?"
       "Why, the sun shines bright, the sky is clear and the waters are calm," replied the dolphin. "Besides, isn't it good to start the morning with the lovely chat about the stars, I mean with my lovely guest, a lovely Miss Saddy!" The Grinner chuckled and shouted again: "Won't you come down to meet her?"
       "Yeah-yeah-yeah," said the albatross, circling above his friend and Saddy, and having no intention to look or come down. "Saddy-baddy, I've heard of her. What's it to me?"
       "Well," said The Grinner, "she was just wondering if you could be so kind as to lend her your wings, so she could try to reach the stars!"
       "I suppose I could, since they are of no use to me," replied The White-Wing, and came down to take a closer look at the dolphin's mad guest, as he concluded. "I flew miles and miles," he continued, crossly, addressing The Grinner, "and couldn't find a single fish around, a stupid, brainless, dumbest fish that can't tell the difference between a bubble and its own stomach in someone else's mouth! Or have they all gathered for the general election, at the bottom?"
       To that, The Grinner laughed, and then said: "Chill out, White-Wing! If they are holding an election, it is only to your advantage. Just wait until the winner emerges to show off his muscles! And that will be the biggest of them all, not mentioning the thickest!"
       But the angry, hungry albatross was too hungry and too angry to be cheered up by the dolphin's jokes, or by anything else different from the sight of food.
       "Yeah-yeah-yeah, chill out and wait," he muttered, glancing over Saddy who was so mesmerised by his magnificence that her conscious perception of the happenings around her was out of the question. Thus, she never heard The White-Wing saying in despair: "I can't wait, Grinner! I am absolutely starving! I wonder if your lovely guest could be so kind as to be my lovely tea!"
       With that, the albatross darted down, and surely Saddy would have ended up as his lovely tea, if it wasn't for the dolphin. He jumped out of the water and over Saddy, so swiftly that The White-Wing's bill, instead of pleasantly boneless tea, found a hard dolphin's back.
       "Hey, hey, not so fast, my friend!" The Grinner shouted to the retreating albatross. "Your stomach will definitely fail to digest a meal that thick! Even my brain did. So don't deprive me of the pleasure to have the one and only living reminder of my wasted efforts!"
       The dolphin then playfully pushed Saddy with his nose, in order to bring her back to reality and to show his good manners as to not departing unnoticed.
       "Well, goodbye for now, my dear Miss Saddy," he said as she finally came to her senses and focused her wondering eyes on his. "I hope you and your friend will appreciate my leave which I take in order to save at least one of you."
       With that, The Grinner leapt out of the water and so high that he nearly touched the albatross who was still circling over his friend and his possible tea which he never failed to keep an eye on.
       "Follow me, White-Wing!" the dolphin shouted. "Let's go and break up the gathering. I know just where it is!"
       Soon after, when the two of them were well away from Saddy, in fact so far that the dolphin could be easily mistaken for one of the waves and the albatross for one of the swiftly moving little clouds, The Grinner suddenly looked back and shouted as loudly as he could: "I advise you to go home, Saddy! There isn't much food around here! Well, not for a starfish!"
       But either because the ocean breeze and the waves got too excited gossipping, and their whispering and murmuring gave place to screaming and roaring with laughter, or because her sense of hearing was still half absent, the second half of the word starfish never reached Saddy's ears.
       "A star?!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "Not much food for a star? Hey, wait! Wait!" she uttered a desperate outcry addressed the dolphin who, by then, was completely out of her sight; as was the albatross, which made it impossible for her to work out both the direction they went and whether or not her voice will ever reach its destination.
       "Well," she thought to her delighted self, "I don't need him anymore. Or any of the local inhabitants, for that matter. I am but a star! Now I understand why I could never have friends here, in the ocean!"
       Saddy closed her eyes and, once again, imagined herself wandering amongst the stars which, this time, weren't planets as the fishermen believed, but beautiful live creatures who could think and, therefore, speak. (Well, Saddy didn't know that speaking doesn't always depend on the ability to think.) She told them all about her miserable existence amongst her neighbours, which was due to her unawareness of the fact that she was a star and that her true home was the sky; she told them all about Grinner the dolphin who was annoying indeed, and yet so kind that he opened her eyes, so as to end her suffering in the ocean where she could never be appreciated properly and, therefore, could never be truly happy. Of course, the stars were amazed at her story and deeply moved by her courage and determination to survive anything in order to discover her only home and to be finally rewarded with happiness amongst her friends, thousands of friends indeed! They greeted and welcomed her with joy, and all of them joined in a celebration resulted in a wonderful starry dance...
       Perhaps the waves, excited to the extent of a reckless disregard of consequences, told the ocean breeze some silly yet insulting joke about himself, and the ocean breeze turned into a furious gale showing his might by slapping the waves so hard that they couldn't stop raising and bowing as if begging his forgiveness; or perhaps the ocean breeze sneaked inside Saddy's fantasy and, in order to help her wish to reach the stars come true, ordered the waves to practice their highest jump to give her a lift; or perhaps they all simply have had enough of her presence on the surface, and tried to force her home.
       As for Saddy herself, who was entirely absorbed in her realm of fantasy and couldn't care less about reasons or purposes of the storm, her travelling by air from wave to wave only helped her enter the realm of sleep where her cherished fantasy was followed by a similar dream, a dream of dreams coming true...
       Much later, when Saddy opened her eyes, the day was at rest; and the sun, having served the day by providing enough light for it not to lose its way and get lost, was already gone to serve another day, somewhere on the other side of the earth, perhaps praying that one day, after billions of years of hard work and sleeplessness, it will finally be permitted to retire. But for Saddy, the poor, weary sun was the last thing to think or care about, particularly at the very moment she opened her eyes and acknowledged that she was still well below the stars and that her speaking and dancing with them was only a sweet dream.
       Indeed, Saddy was greatly disappointed at the fact that nothing comes easy and that achieving a goal obviously required some, if not much effort. But to her advantage, her disappointment only woke her determination to do whatever was possible to end her misery once and for all.
       By that hour of the night, the raising and bowing waves began to reach their highest, and Saddy, who was constantly thrown up in the air, couldn't wish for better help. Every time she flew up, she wiggled and wriggled and waved and swung her little arms in her desperate attempt to clutch at some invisible ladder leading right up to her starry home. But, for some reason, the ladder wouldn't happen to be there, and Saddy would drop in the water, only to try again and again.
       Eventually, exhausted to the utmost, Saddy came to the conclusion that it was no use trusting those waves, and decided to give herself some time to catch her breath and think of some other source of help. And it wasn't long before she gasped in delight, thinking of someone who apparently was on very, very good terms with heights! "Why, of course, only White-Wing the albatross can help me with this!" she thought to herself, and looked around, expecting to find him gliding beneath the stars. But the albatross wasn't there at all, not even a glimpse of him could be caught by Saddy's hoping eyes. "I suppose I should call him then," she thought aloud; and, disregarding the fact that she never said hello or goodbye to him, which was rude enough to close and seal up the door on any expectations of favour, Saddy shouted to the sky: "White-Wing! Help me, White-Wing!" She shouted over and over again, until, finally, she spotted a spot, white and round, swiftly closing in on her and disclosing its real shape.
       "Who is calling me at this hour of the night, and in this weather?!" thundered the albatross, circling low yet high enough to avoid the leaping waves - the numerous ocean's servants, dancing tongues, the deadly lick of which could instantly paralyse and deliver him right down to the rumbling stomach of their master.
       "It's me, Saddy!" she cried out from between the waves. "Can you see me?"
       "I can see you all right, Saddy-baddy," muttered The White-Wing, "or better to say Saddy-maddy! You've got to be mad to be away from home now!"
       "Oh, White-Wing! I am, I am trying to get home, but it seems that I will never manage it on my own," Saddy said ingratiatingly. "I was just wondering if you could help me, White-Wing."
       "Oh what?" the albatross thundered again. "To help you get home? I am a bird, for your information, not a submarine! Even The Grinner wouldn't go that deep! Farewell, Saddy-baddy-maddy!"
       And surely the albatross would have disappeared from Saddy's view as fast as he appeared, if it wasn't for tears in her voice when she shouted: "You don't understand, White-Wing! You've got to help me, you're my only hope!"
       Discontented yet yielding to his own curiosity, the albatross came down as low as he could, and asked earnestly: "Well, I never mind to help, but how?"
       Saddy grasped at her chance to explain everything at once and spoke perhaps even faster than her little tongue could allow her: "Well, all you have to do is get me out of the water, with your bill of course, and, holding me that way, fly up as high as you can; then let me go by throwing me up in the air, and your job will be done. I'll find something up there to help me go further, or someone."
       "Wait a minute," said The White-Wing, not quite grasping what she really meant, "why should I do that? And why should I risk my life for your crazy idea to reach the stars instead of going home?"
       "But that is my home, up there!" Saddy exclaimed with dignity. "Don't you understand, White-Wing? I am a star! A star! I don't quite know how and why I happened to be here, in the ocean, but I do know that if I'll stay here I will never be happy and will never be able to make others happy either!"
       "Why, I reckon you should stay here, you are very entertaining," said the albatross and burst out laughing. "A star..." he managed to say through his laughter, "oh dear... oh dear..."
       "It's not funny!" Saddy screamed in anger, felling that she is losing her only chance. "The Grinner told me that I am a star!"
       "Well, if The Grinner himself told you that," said the albatross, and continued laughing so loudly that even the roaring, furious gale couldn't compete. "You are even madder than I imagined, Saddy-maddy."
       Having no idea how to persuade The White-Wing to fly her up and sinking more and more into despair, Saddy began to hyperventilate and hit the water with her arms, which only amused the albatross and turned his laughter into hysterical. "See, I told you!" he said, which sounded more like quacking.
       "If you don't help me," Saddy cried out, "I will perish in this ocean and will never be useful to anyone, never!"
       "Why, you could be quite useful to me!" said the albatross, suppressing the last sounds of his laughter. "But not today. Thanks to Grinner, my stomach is stuffed with fish."
       To that, Saddy heaved a heavy sigh and said sorrowfully: "I meant to say that I will never be useful like the other stars, shining bright and showing the fishermen their way home."
       Remarkably, Saddy's sincerity and naivety reminded The White-Wing of himself when he was a baby-albatross and fantasised of being born as a dolphin. (Perhaps that is why he chose The Grinner to be his best friend.) Once he sneaked away from his mother and jumped into a raging sea, trying to imitate a dolphin's behaviour. It was fun, but he could have drowned, if it wasn't for his mother. She snatched him out of the water and gave him a long speech clarifying that he could never ever, ever be a dolphin for he was born as an albatross, and that he had to come to terms with it for his own good, and that if he didn't, she would leave him to the sea and its creatures to do with him whatever they could think of, which didn't exclude a shark gobbling him up in one go and without thinking at all! The White-Wing remembered how it felt when his little fantasy was completely destroyed, with such carelessness and heartlessness that even long after that incident, only thinking of that always brought tears to his eyes.
       And so, remembering that and feeling that tears have already begun their journey from down his throat and up to his eyes, yet not willing to part with his apparent toughness which he was usually respected for, The White-Wing muttered: "Alright, alright, I'll do it. But mind you, I'll do it only to prove to myself that I am not afraid of these monstrous waves! Try to jump onto one, by the way. It will be much easier to grab you from the top."
       But Saddy didn't have to jump anywhere, for she appeared to be at the right place and at the right time. An enormously long and wide wave suddenly picked her up, and all she had to do was keep her balance on top of it for at least one second. And that one second was long enough for the albatross to choose the right angle and dash with the speed of an arrow to catch Saddy with his bill and to make their escape.
       "You made it, White-Wing! You made it!" Saddy exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy. "I knew I can trust you!"
       "Shut up, Thaddy," said the albatross, having both Saddy in his mouth and difficulties with pronunciation. "I have enough vibvation near my tail!"
       Though it wasn't The White-Wing's order that made Saddy fall silent at once, but her own presumption that her further talking could provoke his laughter and, therefore, her slipping out of his mouth and dropping back into the ocean, which could end her most desired journey before it even started. And so, coping with the fact that travelling by transport in a shape of a bill was not pleasurable at all, for The White-Wing made sure that she was squeezed enough not to slip out, Saddy silently observed the beautiful, magical world of stars, which, with every flap of the albatross' massive wings, seemed to grow brighter and brighter and even more beautiful in the welcoming embrace of its boundless heart.
       And so, up and up they flew, both silent, each thinking of his own. But after a while, to her disappointment, Saddy began to notice that no matter how much higher they were rising above the ocean, the distance between them and the stars remained the same; in fact the stars seemed to respond to their every conquered height by retreating and plunging themselves deeper and deeper into the sky. "How strange," Saddy thought to herself. "I surely cannot move faster than The White-Wing, so how can they?"
       With that, Saddy closed her eyes and decided not to waste time on solving too difficult a puzzle but to think over what she shall say first to her friends stars when all the puzzles and problems will be left behind, as well as her transport - the albatross who, as she hoped, might find enough strength and courage to fly her further than he thought he could, perhaps in order to satisfy his curiosity.
       Meanwhile, the albatross, who in fact was curious but only about the duration of Saddy's self-delusion, suddenly began to pant and gasp for air which was becoming thinner and thinner, in fact so thin that he felt like fainting any minute and was forced to relinquish his idea of helping Saddy any further.
       "What is it, White-Wing?" asked Saddy, opening her eyes, only to be frightened by the fact that his bill held her only by one of her arms.
       "I am afvaid you have to go on your own now," said The White-Wing, still having difficulties with pronunciation. "Thorry, my dear."
       "Oh no, White-Wing, no!" Saddy exclaimed. "They are still so far away!"
       "They are, not my death," replied the albatross, "I am thuffocating, Thaddy."
       To that, Saddy heaved a heavy sigh and said somewhat shyly, for she never used those words before, even in her mind: "Thank you anyway, White-Wing. I am ready now."
       And before she knew it, the albatross threw her up in the air, with all his might (or what was left of it) and as high as he could, and darted down perhaps faster than his instinct could form a thought of possible ways to save his life.
       Meanwhile, Saddy, who had no idea what gravity is about, reached the highest point of The White-Wing's throw and, rapidly, began to lose hight. In her fall though, she felt like she was being continuously rotated by some invisible string attached to her body, and at such speed that the stars and the ocean began to blend into one another, deluding her sight and senses to such an extent that considering her actual fall as a fall never crossed her mind. Instead, she came to the conclusion that perhaps some invisible yet all-knowing, mighty forces were about to grant her wish, but not before she experienced what she did, which Saddy regarded as but a compulsory trial that had to be accepted with all its displeasures and discomforts. Thus, believing in the impossible, Saddy squinted her eyes tired of flashing images, and yelled: " Behold! I am coming, my friends! I am coming home!" And as her last word left her tongue...
       ... She was home, naturally! But neither the painful entering nor the familiar sensation could enable Saddy's little body to deliver the right information to her little brain. "Done!" she uttered, trying to catch her breath and preparing herself for the most momentous moment in her life, such as opening her eyes to see the other stars rushing towards her with their greetings.
       And so, oblivious to the fact that her body began to experience exactly the same sensation as it did before she began her journey to the stars, Saddy took a deep breath and thought to her excited self: "It feels much more comfortable in here. Not that I ever doubted it!"
       With that, Saddy opened her eyes... only to be terrified by the fact that she was unceremoniously thrown about by the same waves, in the same ocean, with the same nothingness around and with the same distance between her and the stars which seemed to be so cruelly indifferent to her despair that all she could do was burst into tears. "Why? Why?" Saddy thought to herself, crying. "We were so high, we were almost..." But the word we interrupted her thoughts at once, and she looked around, hoping to see The White-Wing in order to ask him for an explanation of her return to the ocean.
       Little did Saddy know that explaining the formula of gravity and thus destroying her cherished dream and belief in the impossible was the last thing the albatross wished to do. By the time Saddy hit the water, he was so far away from her that her crying couldn't possibly reach his ears. And that cry, which he did expect to occur, was just the thing he feared to hear the most, for it certainly could let his compassion get better of him and could make him offer his help again and again, only to witness Saddy's tears of disappointment again and again and again...
       And so, having found no-one in the sky but the stars, Saddy courageously suppressed her emotions, which obviously were of no help, and thought: "What now? There must be a way to get there. But what?"
       Suddenly, she noticed that one of the stars began to shake as if attempting to answer her question. Eyes regaining hope and riveted to the shaking star, Saddy cried out: "What? What are you trying to say?"
       But the roaring ocean was so deafening that even if the answer ever could come from the sky, it would sound so remote that Saddy's ears would definitely fail to hear it. So all Saddy could do was try to guess or imagine what message there was in a star's shake, if it really was a message.
       "Shall I call The White-Wing again?" she shouted to the sky. "Or shall I wait for someone else to help me? Someone who is not afvaid of thuffocation! But who is that someone? Or can that someone be one of you?"
       Suddenly, as if pondering over Saddy's last question, the shaking star froze for a moment and then, which was not beyond Saddy's imagination, began to move, across the sky and, seemingly, towards her!
       "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Saddy cried out excitedly. "She is coming for me! Or he, who cares. I am saved!" At that very moment, a huge wave appeared to be very thoughtful and lifted her so high that one had to be totally blind not to see her. "I am here! " Saddy shouted to the star that was rapidly closing in on her.
       But, to Saddy's disbelief, the star did happen to be blind! It flew right over her and fell on top of a different wave, or so it seemed.
       "Bother! How could she miss me!" Saddy muttered and, wasting no time, began to swim in the direction of the star's fall.
       She paddled and paddled and paddled, faster than she ever thought she could, and wondered why no wave appeared to be thoughtful enough to throw her right where she wished to be. Instead, as if teasing her, the waves were throwing her backwards and forwards, then from side to side, then backwards and forwards again, thus throwing her into such confusion that working out her initial direction was out of the question. Nevertheless, she refused to admit the defeat of her last hope and decided to search for the star everywhere. In order to do that, she submerged deep enough not to be affected by the force of waves and swam beneath them. Every time she supposed that the star was floating right above her or nearby, she would emerge, look around, and, finding no-one, would submerge again, to continue her search in a different direction.
       Thus, Saddy swam to and fro, all night long, to find no-one but herself, exhausted to such a degree that acknowledging sunrays tickling her resting upon the calm ocean water was as possible as for The Grinner to part with his grin.
       And yet, despite her weariness and obliviousness towards the external changes, Saddy's throbbing little brain couldn't help producing thought after thought: "What if that star will get lost in these waters for ever, and will become a miserable, useless creature, just like I have? And there will be no-one to help her return home! Oh poor, poor star! If only I could find her. But I am so, so tired..." With that, Saddy closed her eyes which couldn't see a thing in any case, and was about to dose off when another wave of thoughts raised in her mind: "But what if she was only teasing me and missed me on purpose? And she didn't drop into the ocean at all? Or, perhaps, she didn't even recognize me, as I probably have turned into the ugliest star of all, thanks to these damn waters! Well, if that is the case, all my efforts to get home were sheer waste of time, for they wouldn't have accepted me up there, the way I look now. But how on earth would I know how I look? " She then sighed and, thoughts drifting over the peacefully murmuring, lulling ocean, began to fall asleep.
       "You look just the same as when you were born," Saddy heard a voice, which sounded remote enough for her to assume that she was dreaming. "Except that you are much bigger now, and sadder," continued the voice. "But then, who wouldn't be sad, if his ears didn't work properly? Good day, Saddy!"
       Half asleep, Saddy still managed to think that the voice, the laughter that followed and the sensation of being shaken were too real to be only a dream, and too disturbing to be ignored. So, she opened her eyes and, finding herself lying on top of a dolphin's nose shaking with laughter, gasped in fright.
       "Why, I thought that none of the local inhabitants could ever frighten a star!" said none other than The Grinner. "Unless she is a starfish, of course."
       "Fish? I am not a fish! And you know it, Grinner!" Saddy exclaimed, both outraged and pleased to see him, having realised at once that his knowledge about happenings in the ocean could help her find the fallen star in no time.
       "Your ears have betrayed you twice now," said The Grinner, eyes twinkling. "I never said fish. Neither did I ever say star. I said starfish, or starfish, whichever sounds best to you. You are but a starfish, my dear Miss Saddy!"
       "A starf-f-f-fish?" Saddy asked, perplexed and shaken by such an unexpected development. "Is that what befalls a star when she falls into the ocean? She turns into a... starfish? Whatever that means."
       "Or he," said the dolphin, and burst out laughing,
       "What's so funny?!" Saddy had to yell to be heard. "Instead of laughing, you better help me find the star that fell in here last night, before she turns into a starfish too!"
       "Or he," The Grinner said through his laughter.
       "She, or he, what does it matter!" Saddy cried out in despair, still lying on top of the dolphin's shaking nose.
       But suddenly, that nose gave her a strong push, sending her right up in the air, and so high that she could catch a glimpse of White-Wing the albatross diving for fish, at some distance.
       "Face the water!" The Grinner shouted to Saddy as she began to fall.
       Not that Saddy was eager to blindly obey the dolphin's command, and her spinning in the air made it almost impossible, too, but her hopes that she was asked to face the water for a reason, kept her eyes open for whatever she was meant to see. And so, just before her fall was complete, Saddy spun in the air for the last time and managed to focus her eyes on the shiny surface of the resting ocean which never lacked hungry mouths or a little more pleasant surprises. And what a surprise it was for Saddy to see and to fall upon one of her neighbours, who seemed to lie either right on the surface or not far below it.
       "Oh no!" Saddy cried out, terrified by the presence of the one who reminded her of her sadness and misery, which she so wished to become history but which never did. To avoid seeing her neighbour again, she shut her eyes the way she always did before, and said, addressing both herself and the dolphin: "What is she doing here? What does she want from me?"
       "Frankly, I have no idea," Saddy heard The Grinner's whisper, right above her. "But one thing I know for sure. It is a she. And she is beautiful, very, very beautiful!" The dolphin chuckled and added: "Unlike her best friend who doesn't seem to like leaving her alone."
       "But she was alone! There was nobody else there," Saddy said, opening her wondering eyes to look in those of The Grinner's, even more taunting than ever.
       "Yes there was," said the dolphin, with a wry grin, and submerged his nose to throw Saddy out of the water and up in the air again. "Take a good look!" he shouted to her as she began to fall.
       And again, Saddy spun and spun in the air, but kept her eyes open to see her beautiful neighbour who might have come with a friend that Saddy didn't notice at first. "I saw her again," she said as she hit the water. "And she was alone!"
       "Hmm," the dolphin pondered. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps her best friend did fall behind, for once, which is only too good for her. You see, Saddy, there are some best friends that are best not to have at all. Especially such friends as..."
       "Sadness?" Saddy asked, suddenly remembering The Grinner's frequent references to her best friend, to whose constant presence she owed her name.
       "My-oh-my!" he exclaimed with such joy and contentment that, for a moment, Saddy doubted that she was looking at the same dolphin. "If I knew that you are so smart," he continued, "I definitely wouldn't have wasted my time on thinking how to explain that the beautiful neighbour you saw in the water was but your own reflection!" The Grinner pondered and added, with the same old grin: "Well, I hope that you are smart enough to know what reflection is."
       Not that Saddy really knew anything about reflection, but, by then, she got so annoyed by the fact that she was always regarded as a stupid little thing, that she decided to say no more until her throbbing little brain worked everything out for itself and produced the very thought she could be truly respected for. But rushing from one conclusion to another without a thorough examination of facts, which as a matter of fact required logic thinking, created such a pandemonium in Saddy's little head that The Grinner, who couldn't help reading her thoughts, or what was meant to be those, couldn't help but laugh.
       Of course, Saddy perceived that laughter as the dolphin's habitual mockery; and, completely withdrawn from the chaotic world of conclusions, which didn't really contradict her desire to avoid an unavoidable headache, she screamed at the top of her voice: "Stop laughing at me! I am not stupid! I am not stupid!"
       "Of course you are not," The Grinner said simply, when his laughter finally died out. "Lack of knowledge, Saddy, doesn't really mean stupidity. It is the one who refuses to learn who I would regard as stupid. For, you see, life is all about learning, and first of all, about yourself."
       With that, he gently scooped Saddy in his mouth but so that she could be able to look out and down at the surface, and raised half his body above it. And, as you can guess, Saddy saw her beautiful neighbour again, right below her; but this time, remembering that the dolphin mentioned something about reflection, she began to doubt her initial conclusion and decided to examine the view for as long as she could be allowed. And wasn't she amazed at the fact that whenever she moved one of her arms or made a wry face, the creature below her did just the same! "This is queer!" she thought to herself, and was so curious that she couldn't help expanding the field of her vision to discover that the creature below her was also lying inside a dolphin's mouth, and that the sun in the water was just the same as the one in the sky, and that all the images were slightly shaken as if frightened by a thought of being washed off.
       "So that's what reflection is all about," she said addressing The Grinner's image. "I got it! It's an object's image shown on a shiny surface! So that creature, who I believed was my neighbour, is but me! Indeed! And I am not beautiful, I am double-beautiful! For my reflection makes me two-faced!"
       The Grinner certainly would have laughed or made a comment which would have been equally undermining, if it wasn't for his minding manners as to never laughing or speaking with his mouth full, and if it wasn't for his belief that Saddy's conclusions expressed in her own way, perhaps amusing but still reflecting the truth, had more chances to be embedded in her memory than a proper lecture on the above mentioned subject, which he couldn't afford anyway. And so, he didn't speak or laugh. He only chuckled.
       "I am glad that I have finally learnt the truth about myself," Saddy said, which instantly made the dolphin break into sincere laughter. "And I am glad that I have come to understand that my neighbours are also starfish, if I am one," she continued ignoring the noise and the fact that she was dropped back in the water, "and that I am just as beautiful as they are, and that my home is amongst them not the..." She paused, and asked: "What's so amusing, Grinner?"
       "Go on, not the..?" he said, having managed to suppress his laughter.
       Suddenly, to The Grinner's greatest surprise (for it was almost impossible to surprise him, due to his ability to not only read thoughts but foresee the upcoming events, too), he found Saddy not celebrating the happy end of her journey, as he expected, but bursting into tears and weeping so bitterly and so hysterically that, for a moment, he doubted that revealing the truth was the best way of making one happy, especially the one who may have chosen his eternal search for the truth in preference to the truth itself.
       "Well, I am sorry, Saddy," he said, knowing exactly which word was meant to complete her speech. "I really am sorry for disappointing you, but let's face it, you don't have to be a star to be happy. There are so many things that you..."
       "It's n-not th-that-t," Saddy managed to say, interrupting him. "You d-don't und-d-derstand, Grin-n-ner!"
       "And I certainly never will, if you don't calm down and speak properly!" The Grinner shouted at her, realizing though that it wasn't Saddy he was angry at but his own temporary inability to grasp her thoughts. "Explain yourself!"
       "I w-wish I'd n-never been b-born!" Saddy mumbled, and continued to weep.
       "Oh what? I would equate that with wishing yourself dead!" The Grinner shouted again, getting more and more confused, and more and more angry at himself. "Well, you are not a star, and so what? Big deal! All I meant was to prove to you that your life is worth living, and that even a little starfish like you deserves happiness, but all I achieved is your desire to die, just where I started! You are a waste of time, Saddy! And space. That, I guess, is not a problem no-one can solve." And he shouted to The White-Wing whom he could see in the distance: "Hey, my friend! How about feeding on some real delicacy I've got over here? I would have it myself, but I am positive that it will hardly notice a change for the better, and will still be weeping and causing such a terrible vibration in my stomach that the ocean breeze might mistake the consequences for an unwelcomed visit from his brother hurricane, which means he will turn into a furious gale, and piece in these waters will be broken, which means..."
       "Enough of that!" The White-Wing shouted back to the dolphin, as he flew towards him. "Since when do you believe that a verbal diarrhoea is the best way of persuasion? You are not selling that delicacy to me are you!" said the albatross, and flew right down, to rest on the calm water, between The Grinner and a weeping Saddy. "And tell me, Grinner, since when do you believe that it's alright to offer your best friend what is not good for you? And last of all, since when did Saddy become it?"
       "Since I am angry!" the dolphin exploded. "And I am angry, since her only wish is to die!"
       "To die?" The White-Wing thundered. "Why? Because you made her believe that she is a star? And then heartlessly shattered her wonderful dream only to amuse yourself? Is that why?"
       "I never said she was a star!" The Grinner yelled back at the albatross.
       "Yes you did!"
       "No I did not!"
       "Yes you did!"
       Thus they argued and argued, on the top of their voices, blaming one another, calling each other names, perhaps having forgotten that arguing in such a manner has never solved a problem, and that anger fairly often led even best of friends to their bitter separation and the following regrets about the result of misunderstandings, which could never occur if they, at least, minded their manners. And so, they continued arguing, and, probably, would have argued until lost their voices, if it wasn't for Saddy who, at last, stopped weeping and instead uttered a loud, alarming cry. Both the dolphin and the albatross grew silent at once, suddenly realizing that a temporary absence of their manners, which, along with their tongues, loosened their alertness, could cost them a permanent absence of their lives. They both glanced at Saddy whose eyes were riveted to neither of them but something else she saw in the distance, and looked in the direction of her gaze. And there, sticking out of the water and rapidly closing in on them, they saw a dorsal fin that couldn't belong to any other creature but a shark!
       "Run everyone!" cried out The White-Wing, instinctively taking off the water.
       "Run? You've got to be joking," said The Grinner, perhaps hiding his fear behind his grin. "Since when do you doubt that winners are grinners?"
       "Since I know that addressing yourself in plural doesn't automatically pluralise your only life!" shouted the albatross, circling above the shark. "It's twice your size, Grinner! Run!"
       "Never!" said the dolphin, and laughed. "I will never run! For one simple reason: I don't have legs!" He laughed again, then turned to Saddy who, at that moment, wasn't thoughtless enough to have no fear and was shaking badly, and said: "But I can swim! And that is precisely what I intend to do, so as to avoid preventing your latest wish from becoming last! So stop being worried, my dear Miss Saddy!"
       With that, The Grinner submerged his entire body and disappeared from Saddy's sight, leaving her to the mercy of fate in a shape of fatal jaws of a tiger shark, the type of shark that would snap at anything in its path, appreciating garbage as much as delicacy, and often employing its exceptional knowledge of nutritious cocktails to combine both ingredients and enjoy delicious garbage like nothing else in the world.
       Of course, The White-Wing was astounded at his friend's deed such as letting poor Saddy face certain death, and he even thought of darting down to snatch her out of the water, but, by the time his thought was formed, the distance between Saddy and the shark was so short that saving Saddy's life would probably result in losing his own, which would indeed contradict his belief that one's compassion for others only arouses his own passion for life.
       As for Saddy, she was fortunate to have enough time to acknowledge that her statement "I wish I'd never been born!" (which she thought was only a figure of speech) instantly attracted a figure that could leave her speechless for ever, and that wishes of similar nature, expressed in words, are more likely to be granted than those that remain on the tip of the tongue on which they die instead of their owner. Having come to such a conclusion, Saddy decided that it will be best for her to keep her eyes wide open, so as not to be deluded on the subject of her whereabouts and, once in the shark's mouth, to say as clearly and loudly as possible: "I wish I was already digested!", hoping to avoid a tedious journey from the mouth to the place where she would have to undergo an even more tedious process of execution.
       And so, saving energy for her last speech and therefore silently bidding farewell to The Grinner, The White-Wing and her own fear, which wasn't too eager to part with her and was still causing her a terrible shake, Saddy kept her eyes wide open and waited... never suspecting that right below her, as still as the calm before the storm, The Grinner was waiting too!
       And it was only a matter of moments before he acknowledged that the fearsome jaws were close enough to ensure Saddy's very last journey, along with her very last regrets about it, and stormed the shark from underneath, punching it straight in the heart, with his nose, over and over again, until the shark was in such pain that getting its teeth into more than Saddy's arm, which it did manage to consume, was out of the question. As swiftly as it came, the shark left for good, perhaps not without a doubt that such a small-sized ingredient as Saddy's arm was necessary for its nutritious cocktail and was worth the trouble of swallowing; not that it ever associated swallowing with trouble, of course.
       "My arm! It took my arm!" Saddy exclaimed, watching the shark's dorsal fin disappear into the distance and feeling more disappointed than hurt.
       "I guess, more than that would have been a better price to pay for learning that life is priceless," remarked the dolphin, emerging beside her to catch his breath after the battle. "Hey, my friend!" he shouted to the albatross circling above them. "How did it look from up there? Spectacular?"
       "Yeah-yeah-yeah," replied The White-Wing, both delighted to find his friend having kept his dignity, and angry at himself for having not participated in saving Saddy's life, which was only due to his unusually slow thinking. "Spectacular indeed," he muttered, but loud enough for everyone else to hear. "Especially the part when Saddy's arm was bitten off!"
       "You wouldn't be so sarcastic if your head was bitten off instead!" said the dolphin, knowing all about his friend's reasons and excuses for having stayed out of action. "And you wouldn't be so sarcastic either if you considered picking Saddy up while I was, so to say, picking on the gobbler!"
       "I could have, but..." said the albatross.
       "No buts!" said the dolphin.
       And, surely, they would have begun to argue again, if it wasn't for Saddy whose presence they seemed to have forgotten about. "Stop it, both of you!" she screamed at the top of her voice. "Don't you see that you are poisoning your friendship with arguing over something that is not worth arguing at all?"
       "What do you mean, lady?" asked The White-Wing, and flew right down to rest on the water.
       "Yes, what do you mean, lady?" The Grinner repeated after his friend, only to seem to be unaware of the answer he already knew.
       "I mean my life!" Saddy answered them both, then turned to the dolphin and said: "Which I did not want to be saved! So why did you do it, Grinner?"
       To that, the dolphin exposed his saying-it-all grin and said: "Purely from force of habit, my dear Miss Saddy. I never leave mysteries to be solved by time. I am in the habit of solving them myself."
       "Mystery?" asked Saddy, confused and curious at the same time.
       "What mystery?" asked The White-Wing.
       "Your weeping, of course," replied The Grinner, addressing Saddy. "And your wish that you'd never been born! I certainly expected to find you a little more optimistic, or a little less perverted after you have learnt the truth about your beautiful self. So what was that all about?"
       "I thought... I thought you'd know," Saddy replied, and looked away to avoid The Grinner's piercing eyes seeing hers, suddenly filled with tears.
       "As I said before, life if all about learning," said the dolphin. "If I knew everything and had absolutely nothing to learn, I too would wish that I'd never been born! Wouldn't you, White-Wing?" he asked turning to the albatross.
       "Yeah-yeah-yeah, life would be unbearably boring then," answered The White-Wing, who, at that point, felt more like solving a mystery than arguing, and therefore agreed, despite the fact that he didn't really mind knowing everything, for it could free him from feeling envious of The Grinner's knowledge about almost everything, thus freeing him from feeling guilty about having a secret that he could never share with his best friend.
       "Precisely, my friend, unbearably boring!" said The Grinner, looking The White-Wing straight in the eyes. "For only God can bear such burden as life with no surprises. Or secrets."
       With that, The Grinner burst out laughing, clearly showing The White-Wing that his secret was known all the time and therefore wasn't worth the trouble of keeping. Having got the message, The White-Wing decided that no matter how embarrassing it will be, he should and he will, as soon as possible, tell The Grinner the truth about his envy, which, hopefully, will not be grinned at. That, of course, was very unlikely, and, knowing it, The White-Wing thought to himself: "I will, I will still tell him, for the sake of our friendship, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or after-after tomorrow... perhaps."
       "Perhaps cannot be equated with certainly, as far as I know," said The Grinner, grinning at his friend's thoughts but addressing Saddy. "And I certainly would like to hear the truth, perhaps in order to decide whom I should help first, you or my best friend."
       "What do you mean?!" cried out the albatross, going on the defensive, only to conceal his understanding of the dolphin's hint, and to discover that confessing to anything in words was not quite as easy as it sounded within his mind.
       "You know," said The Grinner. "Sometimes honesty needs a little encouragement, which is help."
       "Oh what? Are you accusing me of being dishonest?"
       "Well, not quite. But..."
       "No buts! You are accusing me!"
       Once again, they were ready to break into their habitual arguing, but were interrupted by Saddy's desperate outcry: "Stop it! What kind of breeding is that to ask a question not meaning hearing an answer?"
       And that question was answered at once - by grave silence screaming loudly of The Grinner's and The White-Wing's shame to which they were put for the first time in their lives. But not for long.
       "I guess, we owe you an apology," said The Grinner, whose quick-wittedness never failed to come to rescue. "That is for not explaining that some questions are rhetorical, just like the one you asked a minute ago. And answering questions of that nature indicates no other than poor breeding, which I very much doubt my friend and I have."
       "Rhetorical?" Saddy asked, eyes widening. "Then why instead of asking what my weeping was about, you didn't say how do you do?"
       The Grinner couldn't answer that question, for he and The White-Wing couldn't help but roar with laughter, which only convinced Saddy of the fact that she wasn't humourless after all, and that humour was a good way of coping with pain that she, by then, began to feel imperiously.
       "She is a fast learner isn't she!" said the albatross, suppressing his laughter.
       "She is, too!" said the dolphin, tauntingly. "So, how do you do, Saddy?"
       Saddy pondered, and said challengingly: "I am sure that you don't mean to hear about my troubles or deepest fears, or desires, or anything for that matter. But, bearing in mind that my breeding isn't as good as yours, it will be pardonable if I use the opportunity and do answer your question. And the answer is..." She paused for a moment, which gave her a chance to acknowledge that both her listeners were truly amazed at her speech, and said: "Fine. I am doing fine. Despite that..." She paused again, which, this time, gave her listeners a chance to acknowledge that her self-pity began to overpower her courage, and mumbled bursting into tears: "...that I am... I am... I am awfully hurt... There!"
       Neither The Grinner nor The White-Wing felt like laughing anymore, for indeed Saddy's suffering deserved a serious thought of how to ease or end it, and how to make her give her preferences to being helped out, instead of in - which could easily end any kind of suffering but which, in Saddy's case, was too trite an approach to the matter to stand the chance of being helpful.
       "I presume that you expect me to apologise for the absence of your arm and the pain it causes," said the dolphin. "But I will not. On the contrary, I am to admit that I am pleased with the ordeal you are going through, for it is but a part of a learning process." He then turned to The White-Wing who seemed to be rather outraged by the dolphin's calmness bordering on brutality, and winked at him, thus averting another argument that could have taken place due to The White-Wing's ignorance of the Grinner's plan. "I am also to admit that I envy you, Saddy," he continued. "See, I am very, very honest about it."
       Having heard that, the albatross came to the conclusion that his friend was appealing more to him than to Saddy, and was definitely aware of his secret, and that the day of honesty will be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or after-after tomorrow, perhaps.
       "Envy me? Me?" Saddy asked as her tears finally stopped bothering her eyes rounded with surprise.
       "Yes, you," replied The Grinner, and threw an all-knowing glance at his friend who could no longer bear the dolphin's teasing and took off the water.
       "I hope you will excuse me my sudden leave," he shouted circling in the air. "But my wings need a bit of exercising!"
       "Of course they do!" replied The Grinner. "But not as much as your tongue does! That is in relation to your preparations for tomorrow! Or the day after tomorrow! Or after-after tomorrow!"
       "Yeah-yeah-yeah, perhaps," The White-Wing muttered, displeased more with his own cowardliness than with his friend's comment and laughter that followed. "Goodbye, Saddy! It was nice meeting you!" he shouted waving his awesome, magnificent wings which Saddy never stopped admiring, and disappeared into the distance, muttering crossly: "Saddy-baddy-maddy." (That was probably due to his habit of avoiding showing his true emotions and seeming grumpy even to his own, good-hearted self.)
       "Goodbye, White-Wing," Saddy said in a casual manner, for she was too intrigued by The Grinner's confession of his envy to think of something else and to presume that she might never see the albatross again. "You said you envy me," she said turning her questioning eyes to the dolphin.
       "Yes," he replied. "And that is because... Oh, Saddy! You don't know how lucky you are to be born as a starfish not as a dolphin, or an albatross!"
       "And what is that supposed to mean?" Saddy asked. "Another joke?"
       "That is for you to find out," said The Grinner, earnestly, or, that is to say, with an earnest grin. "And there is only one place that can provide you with an answer you will believe. You certainly wouldn't believe me if I told you. Your home, Saddy. That is the place."
       "You are joking, Grinner!' Saddy cried in disbelief. "I will never go back there! Not to my neighbours! Because..." She paused recalling her feelings of loneliness and misery, which was an unavoidable part of her life amongst her neighbours, and continued in a choked voice: "Because I have realised that despite that I am of the same kind as them and am as beautiful as they are, still they will never accept me and will never ever be my friends. I am just no good to them, for whatever reason. They hate me, Grinner, they always did!"
       "My-oh-my!" exclaimed the dolphin, finally grasping the meaning of Saddy's weeping that threw him into the confusion he wasn't familiar with before. "Now I understand why you wept," he said, "and so bitterly that even my mind couldn't help but shrivel! Hate you say? Well thought! They do, or did hate, but not you, believe it or not. They hated the fact that they couldn't compete with your best friend, with whom you were so preoccupied and by whom you were so influenced that your best friend and you have become one! Your sadness, my dear Miss Saddy! That's what they hated." He then gently lifted Saddy out of the water, with his nose, letting her lie on top of it, and said: "While The White-Wing is exercising his wings, I need to exercise my tail, if you don't mind. Besides, a little ride may as well ease your pain. Hold on, Saddy! I enjoy being someone to bleed on." And with Saddy stuck to the top of his nose, as firmly as her remained arms could allow her, the dolphin made a giant leap with a somersault, which instantly reminded Saddy of her journey to the stars, and swam off as fast as it would be needed to outpace the ocean breeze, if the two of them held a competition.
       "So, tell me, my dear Miss Saddy, how can your neighbours hate you if they don't know you? I mean you as you really are," said The Grinner, interrupting Saddy's silent enjoying the speedy ride which did begin to soothe her pain, as well as her initial suspicion that there was more to the dolphin's idea than a simple exercise. "And how on earth can they know you if you never allowed them to know you?" he continued. "Speechlessness may indicate good breeding and wisdom, and conversely the lack thereof and ignorance, which no-one ever happened to enjoy; well, not in these waters."
       "Are you saying that I should have spoken to them?" Saddy asked.
       "No," replied The Grinner, "not should have. Should!"
       To that, Saddy gasped in fright, having understood the purpose of her ride, and cried out: "You are taking me home! I knew it! I knew it all the time! Oh, Grinner, how could you..." But her speech was interrupted by her own thoughts: "But why, why am I so afraid of my neighbours? I am no worse than them, and I am not ashamed of myself as I used to be. Why, I can't be that bad if The Grinner himself chose to look after me. And he is right, I have to show them who I really am. And I am not a blob of sadness anymore, I am... I am me! Oh, how stupid it was of me not to simply speak to them! And I can speak, as it appears! I can even argue with them, the way The Grinner and The White-Wing do. They do it all the time and are still the best of friends."
       Having read her thoughts, The Grinner only swam and swam, grinning to himself, which was appropriate indeed, for nothing could make him more happy than a successful realization of his plan, which, basically, was all about opening Saddy's eyes to the fact that having them shut, as well as her mouth, was only shutting the doors to the hearts of her peers, along with those to her only home.
       After a while of swimming on the surface, the dolphin paused, then submerged and began to dive, deeper and deeper, with the water becoming darker and darker.
       "Are you sure that we are heading in the right direction?" Saddy asked boldly.
       "Are you asking me?" The Grinner asked in his usual, sarcastic manner.
       Saddy pondered, and said: "Stupid question, I suppose."
       "What did you say?" The Grinner asked in earnest, or so it seemed.
       "I said, stupid question, I suppose," Saddy replied.
       "What did you say?"
       "I said, stupid question..." Saddy paused, and then shouted: "Is everything all right with your ears, Grinner?"
       "No need to shout," he said. "There is nothing wrong with my ears. They simply cannot get enough of music."
       Saddy heaved a sigh, and said: "You can't help yourself can you."
       "Nope. My job is to help others," said the dolphin, and suddenly stopped, panting. "And mostly, by getting to the bottom of their problems, not to that of the ocean which may knock the bottom out of all my schemes."
       "Why don't you just say that you are suffocating!" said Saddy, and slipped off the dolphin's nose.
       "That's the bottom line," he replied. "Well. Your home is right below you. So keep it straight down." He then bowed his head and said simply and sincerely: "I wish you luck, Saddy. And friends. Not that you don't have any."
       Having heard that, Saddy couldn't help but burst into tears, which was indeed as old as the hills and too trite to even grin at. Yet, the tears were different.
       "Oh, Grinner!" Saddy uttered, crying WITH JOY! "Thank you so much, for everything! You... You are... wonderful! You and The White-Wing. Will you send him my best wishes?"
       "Of course," said the dolphin, truly moved by Saddy's sincerity yet responding to it in no other way than grinning, for that, as you know, couldn't be helped. "He will receive them in a matter of minutes. I bet you, he is already waiting for me up there. Farewell, Saddy! Or... I shall rather say goodbye."
       With that, the dolphin began to make his way up to the surface, but was suddenly stopped by Saddy's loud call: "Wait, Grinner, wait! What happened to that fallen star?"
       "I am not telling you!" The Grinner replied. "I'd like you to investigate it yourself! Besides, White-Wing and I would certainly like to see you up there again. You are an excellent peacemaker! And so peace be with you!"
       "But can you at least tell me who God is, briefly?" Saddy asked, stopping him once more.
       "Briefly?" The Grinner attempted a laugh but was so desperate for air that it sounded more like a bad cough. "Well, God is..." he pondered, and said: "someone who forbids me to stay here any longer!"
       With that, up and up he went, from the depth of the ocean to the depth of a conversation that was awaiting him on the surface where, as he predicted, The White-Wing was anxiously paddling to and fro, rehearsing the words of his confession. Which was supposed to begin with a declaration of his deep understanding of the necessity to avoid things that can be done today being postponed until tomorrow; for tomorrow usually entails the day after, and the day after never excludes the possibility of being confused with a next year.
       And so, as soon as The Grinner emerged, he was fired at with the words of truth, pattered in such a manner that, if not for The Grinner's awareness, The White-Wing's act of confessing could be easily mistaken for that of conjuring. And was The White-Wing ever surprised when, out of breath and words, he received his friend's confession in turn! Oh yes, The Grinner did have something to reveal. And that was his lifelong discontentment, the essence of which lay in the fact that no knowledge could ever provide him with the ability to fly, the very thing he always wanted to do and never could. He also revealed that he would have gladly exchanged his knowledge for those marvellous, magnificent wings granted to the albatross at his birth and, therefore, taken for granted, which to him, The Grinner, was unpardonable and very disturbing. And that, The White-Wing perceived as an accusation, and started an argument over who took what for granted and what was more important and valuable, the wings or the knowledge.
       Again, they argued and argued, with feelings running high and with no sign of them running out of the offensive words. But suddenly, The White-Wing became quiet, looked around, then flew up in the air, made a circle and came back to rest on the water, beside his friend who knew only too well what, or who the albatross was looking for.
       "I thought something wasn't right. No-one interrupted us!" said the albatross. "Where is Saddy?"
       "She is headed for home," replied the dolphin. "Or so I believe."
       "You left her all by herself?" The White-Wing cried out indignantly.
       "She'll be safe. Or so I believe," said The Grinner.
       "Believe it or not, I don't believe you, Grinner! What if..."
       "No whats!"
       "Stop patronising me!"
       "STOP ARGUING, YOU TWO! AND STOP POISONING YOUR FRIENDSHIP!"
       And that was Saddy's thundering voice that they both heard and that instantly threw them into bewilderment and speechlessness.
       "That is weird," the albatross whispered, after a while.
       "Not at all," said the dolphin. "We heard her voice only within our minds. And that is because subconsciously, we both know that she is right and that we really should stop arguing." The Grinner squinted his taunting eyes and added: "For today."
       The two of them laughed, and decided not to argue the way they were used to but peacefully discuss whatever they were concerned about or whatever they were unhappy with. Indeed they didn't find it easy to keep calm no matter what, for over the years, their arguing became a habit, and getting out of a habit was never a simple task and required a tremendous effort, or some help. Speaking of which, they couldn't wish for better help than Saddy's voice which they heard every time they were about to loose their minds and temper. "Stop poisoning your friendship!" they would hear, and would command their mouths to become as gentle as their hearts, so as to not scald one another with offensive words but speak them out politely.
       As for Saddy, she safely reached the ocean bed where she easily found her home and was presently surrounded by her neighbours who, at that very hour, had no intention of minding their manners in order to conceal their contempt.
       "Well, well, well, what have we got here!" said the red starfish, who apparently was in charge of the whole neighbourhood.
       "Not what, who! I am not a thing!" Saddy said with dignity, despite that the unwelcoming, tense atmosphere and the absence of one of her arms were making her nervous.
       "Was it only my imagination or she really has spoken?" the red starfish asked the others, and, not waiting for an answer, addressed Saddy: "Have you, by any chance, bitten your arm off to use it as a tongue?"
       All the other starfish burst out laughing. But Saddy didn't efface herself, for she knew that if she could handle The Grinner's grin, she could handle anything.
       "My arm, for your information, was bitten off by a shark." she said. "Which you, arrogant bunch, only heard about or saw from a great distance!"
       Perhaps only because it was true, or because of Saddy's self-confidence as well, all of her neighbours, including the red starfish, were delighted to change their initial attitude towards her and find out what the shark's jaws actually looked like and how she managed to get away with loosing only one arm. Saddy also was delighted to answer all their questions and, moreover, tell them the whole story of her journey to the surface where she encountered the knowledgeable dolphin who saved her life, the grumpy yet good-hearted albatross who flew her to the stars which she first mistook for the glowing eyes of fish, the sun that she believed was a giant jellyfish, and her own reflection that helped her learn that she belonged to the starfish family and was as beautiful as them, her neighbours, whom she always admired but never dared to express it in words or actions.
       The attention and genuine curiosity of Saddy's listeners inspired her to not only describe the occurred events but also mention her own ignorance which was a favourite target for the dolphin's well-aimed humour and at which she had learnt to laugh herself. And that particular detail provoked similar thoughts running through her neighbours' minds:
       "She is not as bad as she seemed to be," thought one.
       "She must be something special if she was not eaten but helped by a dolphin and albatross," thought the other.
       "She has learnt a great deal, I must admit," thought the red starfish. "And I like the fact that for all that, she doesn't present herself as a hero."
       As Saddy's tale was complete, all the starfish exchanged their glances, and the red one said: "I hope no-one here will object to my suggestion. And I suggest that, one day, we all take on a journey to the surface. With Saddy as a guide, of course. Perhaps together, we will find that fallen star. Unless it was a shooting one." She then turned to Saddy and said pleasantly: "As for now, welcome home, Saddy."
       "Thank you," Saddy said presently. "It is good to be home, and safe and sound too. Except..." She glanced at her wound and...
       And wasn't she astounded at the scene unfolded before her eyes! Right there, where she still felt the teeth of the tiger shark, began to grow a brand-new arm!
       "My-oh-my!" she exclaimed, and marvelled at the fact that she began to use The Grinner's expressions.
       All the starfish cheered, and the red one said: "You are lucky to be born as a starfish not as a dolphin, or an albatross."
       Having heard that, which was exactly what The Grinner said before, Saddy finally understood what he meant by those words, for obviously neither he nor the albatross were given such a gift from nature as the ability to regrow a tail or a wing. Indeed, she felt extremely lucky, and yet, she couldn't lie to herself and deny that, deep down, she did cherish a dream of being granted a one-day-only opportunity to be just like The White-Wing or The Grinner, both of whom she, without knowing it, had come to love with all her heart.
       And it was not due to her brand-new arm but that love that Saddy's face broke into smile, her first ever smile, the presence of which replaced that of sadness and never failed to keep it at a safe distance, till the rest of her days.
       And did it ever feel great, to smile! As a result of it, Saddy was given a warm, welcoming embrace by each starfish, and was accepted in the community as a valuable and the most experienced member. And if Saddy happened to speak with The Grinner or The White-Wing, or anyone for that matter, she would not refer to the other starfish as her neighbours but as her friends only, her dear, wonderful friends as they have become. Speaking of which, the very next day after Saddy's return, they held a meeting at which they all agreed that Saddy's name suited her no longer and had to be changed once and for all.
       To what? you might wonder. Well. Soon after the renaming took place, Grinner the dolphin, who was the first outsider to know all about it, shared the news with his best friend, White-Wing the albatross. He, in turn, passed it on to the ocean breeze; and the ocean breeze whispered it to the waves; and the waves murmured it to the fishermen; and the fishermen, on their return home, spread the news across the land. And soon, very soon, the news will reach you and me. It surely will. For, you see, the world is big, and yet, it is very, very small, so small that there isn't anything that remains a mystery for ever.
       Or is there?..