The Dream Orchard

At the end of the season the tended patch had grown all the way into a dream orchard, its branches heavy with soft, glowing fruit. Nora, once too shy to believe a single seed would sprout, stood before a whole orchard she had helped grow.

Milo remembered the first small seeds, the ribbons, the fireflies, the coral bells, and every kept promise along the way. Lumi glowed among the branches. Dreams, Lumi said, grow the way this orchard did, slowly, and only when we care for them.

Nora reached up with a confident smile and picked a gentle fruit for each friend. They had grown the orchard, and the orchard had grown them. Believing in a dream, they learned, gets easier each small day you tend it, and the orchard hummed them toward sleep.