"Hello," she said.
"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "You scared
the daylights out of me!"
"I'm sorry," said Emma. "I didn't mean to."
"I'm sure you didn't," he said. "But who are you,
and what are you doing up so late at night?"
"I'm Emma. And I'm always up this late in the summertime.
But I've never seen you here before."
"Well, I can't be everywhere at once, you know."
"No, I guess not."
The shiny creature sat down and pulled the sack back into position.
It had begun to float up slowly, surreptitiously, and was held
only by the thread in his hand. He subdued it and went back
to sewing up the hole.
"I beg your pardon," said Emma, "but may I ask you
something?"
"Yes."
"Who are you?"
"You mean you don't know?"
"No."
"I'm the Starcatcher."
"The Starcatcher?"
"Yes. Haven't you ever seen a star fall?"
"Of course I have. Lots of times."
"Well, when a star falls, I catch it. That's my job."
"Oh."
"And a demanding job it is too, I'll tell you," said
the creature who called himself a Starcatcher. "It keeps me
running. I hardly ever have time to stop and take a rest on
a nice little hill like this. But I got this hole in my sack,
and it had to be sewn up right away or else I'd be losing stars
faster than I was catching them. Stars are full of energy, you
know. They're never still for long."
"I see," Emma said, looking with amazement and intense
curiosity at the rippling silvery sack. "I've always wondered
what happens to stars when they fall. They just seem to go
out like magic."
"It's not magic," he said. "They're going into my
sack. Want to see?"
Emma leaned over the sack as he opened it just barely and just
for an instant. She saw a gorgeous twinkling light that filled
the inside of the sack and bubbled up and tickled her face
like the fizz on a soda. She saw sparkles of every color in
the rainbow, and it looked like nothing she had ever seen or imagined
before. Without thinking about it, she reached up her hand
to touch - but the Starcatcher quickly closed the sack again and
continued with his sewing.
"That's funny-looking thread," Emma said.
"It's starlight," said the Starcatcher. "Lightweight,
but almost indestructible."
"How does a star do that - turn into thread, I mean?"
"Oh, stars can do many more things than you can imagine," the
Starcatcher said.
Emma watched. As he sewed, the hole disappeared, leaving not
even a trace of the iridescent stitches.
"How many stars do you catch in one night?" she asked.
"In a busy night, I might catch a thousand or two."
"And you put them all in that sack?"
"Yep."
"And then what do you do with them?"
"I usually try to put them in a different place. Somewhere
without a star. You know, the Universe is an extremely large
place."
"Oh yes. I know."
"Sometimes, though, I give them to people who need something
to brighten their lives," he said.
"You do?" asked Emma, her eyes widening.
"Not often," he said. "Only once in a great while.
And only to someone with a very serious problem."
"Like who?"
"Oh, once I gave a star to a famous composer who had forgotten
how to make music. The star gave him inspiration and restored
his confidence so that he remembered how to find the songs
that were hidden in his heart.
"Another time," he went on, "I gave a star to a
little girl who had such terrible nightmares that she was afraid
to go to sleep. The star slept on her pillow beside her and
filled her sleep with happy thoughts. It taught her how to
dream sweet dreams again."
"Oh," said Emma. "I guess stars can do a lot of
things I hadn't imagined." Secretly, she wished he would give
her a star. But she wasn't a famous composer - or famous for
anything at all, she didn't have nightmares very often, and
she didn't actually have any serious problems to speak of. So she
didn't think he would.
As they talked, the Starcatcher had finished sewing up the
hole. He picked up the sack and examined his work.
"Not too good," he said, "but it will have to do
for now."
"Being a Starcatcher must be a wonderful job," Emma said
quickly. She was trying hard to think of something interesting
to say so he wouldn't leave quite yet.
"Wonderful? I suppose it is full of wonders, even if it is
rather exhausting and even exasperating sometimes." He shook
the sack gently to settle its contents, and fastened its opening
securely. "Say - you seem to be interested in stars. Would
you like to come with me tonight?"
Emma couldn't believe her ears. "I'd love to!" she exclaimed. "But
I can't fly."
"You don't have to," he said. "Just hold on to my
cape. I'll do enough flying for both of us. But there is something
you could do for me."
"What?"
"You could keep this needle in your pocket in case we need
it again. It's awfully hard to find when I put it in the sack.
It gets lost in all the stars."
Emma still hesitated. "Well, are you coming?" he asked
impatiently. "Hurry up - there's a star falling now!"
Emma put the needle in her pocket, grabbed onto the Starcatcher's
cape, and held on as tightly as she could. He leaped into the
air.
Copyright © 2009 Sigrid Sanders| All Rights Reserved