The Note That
Fell From Heaven
A Story for All Ages by
Aaron McEmrys
Not everyone knows this, and some scientists may even be foolish enough to deny it – but the fact is, stars sing. They sing to one another across the vast cold reaches of space so that they do not feel alone.
Sometimes their songs are laughing songs, sometimes bold and brave and other times just as soft as a sigh, a whisper or a tear. Back and forth they go, thousands, millions, billions, gazillions of star songs throughout eternity.
There was once a very old star, pale and dim and grown small with age. Isis was her name. And of all the stars in the sky, none loved to sing more than she did. But now she was almost done singing as her once great body cooled and flickered where once it blazed.
She remembered her long life in the heavens. She remembered all the things she had seen, the planets she had warmed and all the songs she’d ever sung. And now she was tired and ready to sleep.
And so the soft star
But one note, one single note, the last one Isis breathed did not make it through space to the other stars, for her breath was now too weak – and so it fell and fell and fell until it landed ever so softly on a nearby planet.
There was no music on this most unfortunate of planets. No one had ever heard of it. Whenever anyone had something to say they said it in spoken words or in writing, and this worked pretty well most of the time.
But sometimes people had feelings that were much more complicated and powerful than words could express, and these feelings had to be bottled up and forgotten because there was no way to let them out.
The note, which was also named
Finally the note called Isis gave up searching altogether and just hovered forlornly above the weak flames of an old fireplace in a little house by the sea because the fire in the hearth reminded the little note of its lost home among the stars.
A little girl named Jasmine lived in the cabin with her parents, and she was having a hard day.
It was her birthday, you see, and she was so excited she’d barely slept the night before. But that morning when she’d gone to school, nobody said a word – everyone, even Cecily and Jill - acted like it was a normal old day!
Jasmine was crushed. After school she went home and moped over her snack in the kitchen while her father did dishes. But he didn’t say anything either. Then her mom came home from work and kissed Jasmine on the head like always, and she didn’t say “Happy Birthday” either!
She was so sad that even though she kept opening her mouth to speak, to tell them how disappointed she was, she couldn’t think of what to say, she just couldn’t find the right words. So Jasmine just sat there with her mouth opening and closing like a fish with no sound coming out at all.
Little Isis watched the girl sadly; she knew firsthand how Jasmine felt.
“Well,” said Jasmine with a heavy sigh, “I guess I’ll go take a nap…if there’s nothing going on out here…if there’s nothing you want to…say…to me…”
“That’s nice, dear” mumbled her mother absently, and Jasmine went into her room with a sigh and closed the door.
The moment the door was closed, Jasmine’s parents burst into motion: her father whistled a secret signal out the window and all the kids who’d been hiding in the bushes ran in and began decorating like crazy while Jasmine’s mom pulled an enormous birthday cake out of the closet where shed hidden it, and in a matter of moments the whole house hung with colorful streamers and on every head a shiny birthday hat.
“Jasmine, would you come out here please and set the table for dinner?”
“Okay, okay, just a minute.”
The bedroom door creaked open, Jasmine came out, her head hung low and everyone yelled “SURPRISE!”
Jasmine just looked at them, her eyes wide, her mouth open and her heart fairly bursting: such a mix of surprise and excitement and love piled on top of her earlier sadness.
The little lost note, hovering curiously by the fire, gasped with joy – finally it was time!!! The note flew across the room, Jasmine breathed it in and when she next let her breath out what came out was not a word or a sigh or a growl or a squeal, but a song! For the first time in her life Jasmine sang, the little note called Isis helping her say all the things she couldn’t say with words – and the whole house was still in hushed amazement.
And into that hushed amazement the note flew, leaping from one voice to another, to another, to another until music filled the little house to overflowing. Their beautiful song, made of everything they had never been able to say before, rose up into the heavens like a peal of bells and lots of other lost notes (for there are far too many lost notes in this world) raced toward the sound of the music.
And so it was that music came, notes from across the galaxy dancing in and out of a thousand throats as even the distant stars in the heavens stopped for a moment to listen and to smile.