Story 4: Tears

Nyla’s puppy ran away. Nyla had never been so sad.

She yelled, “Come back! Come back!” But the puppy kept going until he disappeared in the distance.

Nyla cried.

And cried.

And cried some more.

She was so sad that she could not stop crying, no matter how hard she tried.

Robert said, “It’s okay, Nyla. You don’t need to cry anymore.”

But she did need to.

Callie said, “Please stop crying, Nyla. You’ll tire yourself out.”

But Nyla wanted to feel tired.

Sam said, “Crying won’t make your puppy come back.”

But Nyla wasn’t crying to make him come back. She was crying because she needed to feel sad.

Sad is what she was. So she cried.

In the afternoon, when she was walking through the garden, her tears dripped off her nose and onto the flowers. She watched her tears make the flowers grow right before her eyes.

Nyla was glad about the flowers and sad about her puppy. She held both of these feelings at the same time.

The next day, when she was walking through the park, children ran through the sprinkler of tears flying from her eyes. She watched them play and splash in the fountain of her teardrops.

Nyla was glad about the children playing and sad about her puppy. She held both of these feelings at the same time.

The day after that, when she was walking down the sidewalk, she saw a little boy had dropped his toy boat into a deep hole. Nyla cried into the hole so it filled and filled and filled, until the boat floated all the way into the boy’s hands.

Nyla was glad the boy had his boat again and sad about her puppy. She held both of these feelings at the same time.

Nyla was glad and sad. Sad and glad. 

She could see now that, in a way, her sadness held good things. 

Slowly, the slightest sliver of a smile started to appear on her face, even as little tears flooded down.

The smile began to grow.

And grow.

And grow some more. 

And soon the smile was so big that Nyla realized, somehow, she wasn’t crying anymore.

It was just then that she heard a sound. A bark. Paws on the ground outside. 

Nyla ran to the door and there he was. Her puppy had returned.

Nyla ran to her puppy and hugged him. She burst into tears again.

This time, they were all happy tears.

Her puppy licked the tears off her face, which only made her cry harder.

Later, when Nyla had stopped crying, a boy came to her with tears in his eyes and said, “My puppy ran away and I’m so sad.”

At once, Nyla was filled with a sadness and a gladness. “I’m sorry you’re feeling sad,” she said. “I will be sad with you.” And she was very glad to do it.