Yara

 Yara

a story for Ava

by Joshua Coffman

 

 There once was a girl named Yara. She was a very kind and gentle girl. She lived in a small home with a tiny window that looked out into the small yard. She had no brother or sister. She lived alone with her mother and father.

Yara was very happy with her little family.

One day her mother gave Yara a very delicate necklace. It was a beautiful necklace with a golden heart pendant that shimmered when the sunlight hit it. Yara promised her mother that she would keep it very safe.

For a very long time, Yara kept that necklace safe. She would hang it up every night by her bed and remember the kindness and gentleness of her mother. When she woke up and got dressed, she would put it on with a smile and purpose to have a shining heart that day.

There was one little girl that Yara loved to play with. Her name was Chrissy. Chrissy was a very smart girl, she could spell words and read impressive books. She was fun to play with because she always shared her things with Yara.

One day, Chrissy got a brand new book. It was full of beautiful words. The outside of the book was decorated with dainty flowers and letters that looked as if a master artist had drawn them. Chrissy was excited to show her new book to Yara and called on her at the front door of Yara's little home.

Yara and Chrissy ran upstairs to her little room with the tiny window and they began to read the beautiful words of Chrissy's new book. It took them to far away lands filled with spices and funny looking people. Stories of mountain flowers and stories of streams in the desert. The book drew them in until barely a glimmer of light came through the tiny window in Yara's room.

Yara's father walked them to Chrissy's house. Yara said good night to Chrissy. As they walked home in the darkness, Yara asked her father about the far away places she had read of in the book. She wondered if they were real.

Yara's father had been to those places. He had smelled the spices and had seen the mountain flowers. He told her that someday, she too, would see those places. If only she kept her golden heart.

As she lay in her bed that night, looking out her tiny window, Yara thought about her golden heart. She had never thought about what would happen if she lost it. She saw the stars twinkling in the distance and was reminded of the little shining light from her golden heart.

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Years passed and Yara never forgot that book that Chrissy showed her, nor her father's words. Every day, she was kind and gentle and kept her little heart golden. She travelled the world with her golden heart and sent letters back home to her friend Chrissy, sharing her adventures and telling her of how true all the stories were.