Gladly

It had been a grey day, and Gladly could not find anything good in it.

The rain had got in. The shopping had split in the road. Gladly had been looking forward to one thing all week, and the one thing had not happened. And now it was bedtime, which is when Gladly does the Three Thank-Yous, and Gladly sat on the edge of the bed and could not think of one.

That frightened Gladly a bit, if we are honest. Finding the good thing is what Gladly is for.

Sunny put a head round the door. "Are you doing your thank-yous?"

"There aren't any today."

"None at all?"

"It's been a horrible day," said Gladly, and then said the thing that had been sitting underneath all evening. "And I'm not allowed to say that, am I. I'm the grateful one."

Sunny came and sat down, and said a surprising thing for Sunny.

"I hide my grumpy days behind a smile. It doesn't work. It just makes the grumpy days lonely."

They sat there together in the greyness for a bit.

"Try it anyway," said Sunny. "Not a big one. A true small one."

Gladly looked round the room.

"The blanket is warm," said Gladly. "That's true. That's one."

"Good."

"The shopping split, but Handy carried half of it home in his arms and didn't even mention it."

"Two."

Gladly stopped, and something shifted a little.

"And it's over," said Gladly. "The day's over. It was a horrible one and it's finished and tomorrow is a completely new one."

Three.

None of them made the day less grey. The one thing still had not happened, and Gladly still minded. Both things stayed true at once, which is how it works for everybody, all the time.

But Gladly went to sleep holding three small true things instead of nothing at all.