The Window-Star Game — Under the muffled hush of falling snow, Junro held a paper star he had folded from gold wrapper scraps. Read the full story →
Under the muffled hush of falling snow, Junro held a paper star he had folded from gold wrapper scraps. He wanted it to reach the child who had written, “I made my first ornament, but it looks lonely.” To find the right room, he invented the Window-Star Game: if he could spot a tree star through a window before the wind counted to ten, that was the place. “One, two, three,” he whispered, and the snow answered with tiny taps on his sleeve.
The porch bell was sealed in ice, so Junro stepped off the easy path and carried his ladder around the house. The wooden rungs were cold through his mittens, and his boot left a buckle in the drift; that was the small price for a quiet delivery. At the open window, warm pine and cinnamon air curled out. Inside, a little handmade angel leaned by itself near the branches.
Junro slipped the folded star from his sack and set it beside the angel. It was not perfect; one point was shorter, and glue shone on the edge. But in the tree light, it looked proudly made. When you find the open window, see if you can guess which star won the Window-Star Game before the wind counted to ten.
