This is a children’s story that I’ve been working on for some time. It started as a story that I told to my daughter Gabrielle just before bedtime.
Seriously and soberly, I think it’s publication-worthy and am searching for a publisher … so if you know one or are one, let me know!
It’s written for kids from 2 to 6 or so, and intended to be illustrated (of course).
. . .
. . .
The Wonderful Colorful House
Tullik was an unhappy little boy who lived at the top of the world.
The world is a big ball, you know. The top of the ball, near the North Pole, is very cold. In winter, the sun hardly shines at all.
When you have a place that is cold, you get snow. And ice. And hail. And blizzards. And lots of cold, cold wind.
This was a problem for Tullik.
It was a problem because Tullik hated white. White made him sick. White made his stomach turn, his eyes water, his head sore.
But when Tullik looked outside, he saw white. White snow on the ground. White clouds in the sky. White ice on the ocean.
Everywhere he looked, Tullik saw white. Every time he opened his eyes, he felt sick.
One day, Tullik was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Tullik?” said his mother. “Where is Tullik?” said his father. “Where is Tullik?” said his sister. “And where is Lik?” said his baby brother who couldn’t say Tullik’s full name because he was too little.
Tullik was missing!
Father, mother, sister, and even baby brother looked outside. All white – not a trace of Tullik. They looked at the ground. All white – not a trace of Tullik. Then they started to get worried and looked at the ocean. All white – not a trace of Tullik.
Finally they looked at the sky – and it was NOT all white.
There was a dark speck in the sky – an airplane! And there was a tiny little voice yelling from far away: “Goodbye white ground! Goodbye white sky! Goodbye white ocean! Goodbye … and read the note on the kitchen table!”
Tullik added that last little bit because he remembered that mother, father, sister, and baby brother would be wondering where he was and why he had gone.
Father, mother, sister, and baby brother rushed inside and found the note right on the kitchen table – just as Tullik had said.
“Dear family,
As you know, I hate white.
I am going South so I will not see white anymore.
Goodbye.”
Mother was sad and baby brother cried. Father hugged mother but sister said: “Tullik will be back soon. You just wait!”
When Tullik got off the airplane in the South, he was amazed. Brown! Blue! Red! Pink! Orange! Yellow! Purple! Violet! Indigo!
Tullik saw all the colors and laughed so hard he cried, then laughed again so he cried again, and finally laughed so hard another time that he cried again!
“I will buy a house of my own and paint it all the colors of the rainbow,” said Tullik. And he did.
Tullik found the whitest house he could find, and bought it. Then, before he moved into his new house, he went to the paint shop and bought ALL the paint they had. Finally, he invited his neighbors to come over.
“Will you please come to my paint party?
Your new neighbor,
Tullik.”
As soon as everyone was there, the party started. Tullik picked up the first can of paint. It was a shocking shade of pink. Tullik opened the can, lifted it up high over his head, and threw it right at the side of the house!
Then everyone picked up a can of paint.
Fire-engine pink: splat!
Sunshine brown: splat!
Sky yellow: splat!
Snow orange: splat!
Fire black: splat!
Chocolate blue: splat!
Tullik and his new neighbors picked up cans of every color of paint you’ve ever seen and thirty or forty you haven’t and threw them all at the house, in the house, on the house, under the house, and even around the house.
By the end of the day, the house looked like a rainbow that had called all its friends to a party and exploded.
Tullik was so happy he thought he would explode, too.
That night, he washed in his purple bathroom and went upstairs to his orange bedroom. Slipping into his red bed, he sighed happily, whispered purple prayers, and prepared to go to silver sleep.
But something happened. He didn’t fall sleep. He couldn’t fall asleep! He tried counting blue sheep and green cows. He tried dreaming of sleepy, yawning rainbows. He tried dreaming of yellow eggs and red milk.
But nothing worked.
Finally he understood the problem: he was lonely! Father and mother and sister and baby brother were back in the frozen North … and he was here in his wonderful colorful house, all alone.
The next morning, Tullik knew what he had to do. He had to sell his wonderful colorful house and go back home. Tears dripped from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He loved his wonderful colorful house – but he loved his family more.
Sadly, Tullik went to the airport. Sadly he bought tickets. Sadly he walked to the airplane that would take him home again.
But suddenly he saw the strangest thing he had ever seen in his entire life.
It was a store filled with the strangest glasses he had ever seen!
Some were green and some were blue.
Some were purple and some were orange.
Some were dark and some were light.
Some were peachy and some were polka-dotted.
“What kind of store is this?” he asked.
“Why, it’s a sunglasses store,” he was told.
At that moment, Tullik knew exactly what to do. He bought all the sunglasses in the store – the purple ones and the orange ones. The red ones and the blue ones. The pink ones and the violet ones.
He opened his suitcase. He took out his clothes and tossed them all in the garbage. Then he crammed all of the sunglasses into his suitcase, chuckling to himself.
Once he was back at the top of the world he let mother kiss him 50 times and father hug him 25 times. He let baby brother crawl into his arms and even let sister give him a wet, sticky kiss.
But as soon as he could, Tullik went to bed and slept for a day and a night and another day and another night.
When he finally woke up, it was early in the morning.
Tullik put on his warm clothes, took something from his suitcase, and stepped outside.
Everything was pure white as far as he could see … until he put his Authentic Atomic Red sunglasses on and the whole world turned a gorgeous pink.
“Yes!” Tullik shouted. He was home and it was good.
And every day after, Tullik put on a different pair of sunglasses.
And every day after, Tullik saw the world in a whole new beautiful color.
And every day after, Tullik lived a whole new beautiful day.