Sarah and the Glass Castle
Sarah was a simple girl who never asked for much. She lived in a castle made of pure, clear glass, and the castle loomed on the horizon of a lush, green meadow deep in the heart of the Land of Dreams.
Her parents loved her dearly, and gave her everything she asked for.
But Sarah knew that she already had everything she needed, and that the most precious gift of all—the love of her parents—would never go away.
She spent her days and nights locked in her room, dreaming of fantastic adventures and knights in shining armor.
Sarah had everything she wanted—but could she have a little more?
You see, what she wanted was a friend. The glass castle was lovely to live in and her parents were alright, but Sarah did not have anyone her own age to play with.
One day her mother was serving pancakes. “Sarah,” she said. “Why don’t you go down to the brook and play beside the water today?”
Sarah swallowed the buttery pancakes in her mouth. “That sounds like a good idea, Mom.”
So as soon as breakfast was over Sarah put on her coat and headed for the brook.
But this time Sarah decided to go another way.
She looked at the birds in the air and the white, puffy clouds in the sky rolling by as she walked. There was a song in her heart, and a smile on her lips.
She stopped right where she was. “What could this be?” she said out loud.
Right before her she saw a brown walkway, and when she bent down to look at it, she realized it was made of chocolate!
Very fond of chocolate, Sarah decided to follow the trail. It led her up a hill, into a glen, around another hill, and then—
“Oh, my!” Sarah gasped.
It was a castle, all made of chocolate!
“Well, I may as well see who lives inside,” she said.
And so she marched up the chocolate steps straight to the chocolate front door.
She knocked. “Hello?” she called.
And who should come to the door, but a handsome young boy with brown hair and sable-brown eyes?
“Hi!” Sarah exclaimed. “I was just admiring your castle. Is it really made of chocolate?”
“Take a taste,” the boy said.
And so Sarah bent down and broke off a piece of the rich, dark chocolate. It was delicious!
“What’s your name?” the boy asked.
“I am Sarah,” she said.
“And my name in Hershey,” the boy said, extending his hand.
“You have the most marvelous castle!” Sarah said. “You can eat all the chocolate you want!”
“Yes,” said Hershey, looking down sadly. “But there is a problem.”
“Oh?” Sarah said.
“It is now summertime,” he said, “and the sun is getting so hot that it is melting the chocolate!”
“Oh, dear,” Sarah said. “That is a problem.” Then she got an idea. “Hershey,” she said. “I live in a castle on the hill. We have plenty of glass to spare. Suppose we build a shield to put over your castle?”
Sarah went home that day and presented the problem to her parents. She was delighted when they gladly gave her the glass to build a shield.
The next day, they put the glass shield over the chocolate castle. But after a while, Hershey realized it was still melting.
“How can that be?” they wondered.
Sarah looked at the castle and thought. “It must be because the light is still coming through the glass.”
“I think you’re right,” Hershey said. “But what will we do?”
That afternoon they rode on their horses through the meadows.
They traveled places they had never been before, until they came to a spot that was so lovely that they just had to stop.
A bubbling brook flowed over smooth pebbles, and tall, lush trees seemed to guard whatever was behind them.
Together, Sarah and Hershey explored.
And as soon as they walked through a thick gathering of trees, they stopped.
Before them loomed the most beautiful castle they had ever seen.
It seemed to be covered in a soft, luxurious fabric that they had never seen before.
So they walked up to the front and knocked.
A pretty little girl with honey-colored ringlets answered.
“My name is Sarah,” Sarah said, “and this is Hershey. I live in a glass castle and he lives in a chocolate castle.”
The little girl smiled sweetly. “My name is Cindy,” she said. “and this is a velvet castle.”
Sarah suddenly got an idea. “She told Cindy about Hershey’s melting castle and the shield she had made to put over it. “What if we covered the glass shield with velvet?” she said. “Then surely the warmth of the sun would be blocked out!”
Cindy agreed. “We have plenty of velvet, and we would be happy to give you some.”
So they took the velvet and put it over the shield. And, wonder of wonders, the castle stopped melting!
Sarah, Hershey and Cindy stood back and looked at their accomplishment with pride.
“You see what you can do when you have friends?” Hershey said.
Sarah smiled. “You can do anything.”
The End