The love of a child

Once upon a time,

in a land full of down feathers and wild dreams. In a country full of bright fantasies and dark gray abysses.
It was very soft there. As soft, as a child can possible have it, that is sitting in a train towards the icebergs. Or maybe it flies straight across the atlantic. Perhaps it is experiencing a safari in the wild savannah of Africa or it is enjoying a beach holiday with the family followed by a hunt for criminals across the country.
It was quiet in this place. Every night when Nala was asleep, Brummi watched her. Brummi, that's how Nala had named him. A small, littlebit chubby, red clothed bear with a cap and cute button eyes.
Every evening at 8 am, he watched her dreaming and imagined, what little Nala was going to experience.
Every night at 8 o'clock, her parents said good night to her. "Dream well, Nala, boa Noite," her mother always said.
"Boa noite." The last words the girl in the red, heart-printed piyama heard, before falling asleep peacefully, only to jump in the next adventure a few moments later. After the parents left and the door closed behind them, calm returned to their room. Sometimes, however, a small beam of light fell through the blind.
A last bird was heard, singing its evening song before it too crawled into its nest and listened to the quiet, rhythmic breath of the night.
Brummi would also like to give her a good night kiss sometimes. Exactly there, where this small but unmistakable, golden beam of light crawled over the bedspread, over the pillow and up to her cheek.
Exactly there he wanted to kiss her very gently on many evenings and also say: "Boa Noite, Nala" to her.
But of course he couldn't, because then she would wake up.
But there were evenings when he really thought about doing it, no matter if she woke up. In fact, he would have been just fine if she had to leave the sweet dreamland because of his kiss. He was sometimes so jealous of what she could experience then. Because, dear reader, stuffed bears cannot dream.
They are always awake, day and night. And can never leave, where they are. Of course, they can also move if they can be sure that nobody sees them. But of an adventure like Nala could experience every night, well ... he couldn't even dream of it!
So he relied on the stories she told him about her dreams the next morning. Mostly they were beautiful things, exciting things. Sometimes she also talked about less beautiful things. A friend had pushed her or she hadn't been able to find something.
However, Nala did not have to tell him about the bad dreams. Brummi knew immediately that she had a nightmare, when she left into her parents' room with blankets and pillows at night and sneaked next to her mother.

Fortunately, however, Brummi was never alone on these evenings. Next to him sat Felix, an old friend with long rabbit ears, a giraffe, his best friend, his sister Lucy, also a little bear, and lots of other stuffed animals, all of which had their permanent place in Nala's bed.
Most of them had come to the group on birthdays and holidays. Again and again, there were suddenly new faces.
But he was the one she waned. She had chosen him and grouched in the shop, when her mother wouldn't let her keep him. Altough nala never cries to become what she wants.
This story Brummi heard over and over again by Nala's mother, mostly when she covered Nala with a blanket and put Brummi on her chest to say good night. He was very proud of this story. He had been chosen and he belonged to Nala, everyone knew that. There was no night, when he wasn't the one sleeping by her side. To do so he even tolerated that she sometimes rolled over him in her sleep. Nala was a terrible exhausting sleeper.
But he didn't care. Because the love that this girl gives, outweighed everything else. The love he felt, every night when her parents gave her the last kiss before bed. This love, that she then passed on to him. And the love with which she gave each of them a good night kiss before going to bed.
That was the reason why Brummi was so happy to sleep by her side. Because he also loved her, even if he could never tell her. They went through so much together. They had painted together, made tea parties with the others, cried together and laughed about friends and those who were no longer. He had even met some of them when they were visiting.
Back in kindergarten, he was with Nala every day. She would never have left without him, she had promised. When the teacher thought it was better to leave him at home. She said "We don't want him to be stolen?" ... As if he had ever let go of her ... Then she had to leave him in a wooden locker. But at every break she came to visit him just to smile at him and tell about her day. Sometimes she would also bring Felix with him so that he had company in the dark, small room.