🔔 The Bell That Granted a Wish

On the night of the third of October, after his birthday party, Fuzz noticed something strange. The little bell on his red collar was glowing, soft and golden, like a tiny lantern.

He shook his head. Jingle. Out floated a twinkle of light that spelled words in the air: "Birthday bell. One wish. Ring twice."

Fuzz's tongue poked out even further than usual. "A wish!" he whispered. He ran to wake Cola. "Look at my bell!" Cola's blue eyes sparkled in the golden light. "What will you wish for?"

Fuzz thought about it. He could wish for a mountain of treats. Or a tower of cardboard boxes as tall as a house. Or ears that could hear all the way to the moon. Well, his ears were already quite big.

Then he looked at Cola. "Tomorrow is your birthday," he said. "I wish we could see the whole sky on your birthday, all the stars, up close."

He shook his head twice. Jingle, jingle. Sparkle! The room filled with golden light, and the two friends floated gently up, out of the window and into the night, as light as dandelion fluff.

They drifted among the stars. Cola touched one with her nose, and it giggled. Fuzz found a star shaped exactly like a fish. "Happy almost-birthday, Cola," he said. Cola fluttered her eyelashes. "It's the best present in the universe."

At midnight, the bell glowed one last time and floated them softly home to their baskets. In the morning, Cola woke up on her birthday, purring, with a tiny speck of stardust still on her nose.