Sophie was swinging her legs on the porch steps, watching the sky turn the color of warm honey. She closed her eyes and thought of a treehouse village, and when she opened them, there it was. Little wooden houses sat high in the branches, with round windows glowing gold in the evening light. Rope bridges swayed gently between them. It was only a pretend place, the kind you visit when you daydream, and Sophie knew she could hop back home whenever she liked.
"Hello, Sophie!" called a soft voice.
A small orange kitten in a tiny blue apron came padding along a branch. Her name was Pip, and she had a paintbrush tucked behind one ear. "I'm so glad you're here. Today is painting day in the village!"
Sophie clapped her hands. Painting was one of her favorite things.
Pip led her across a wide, steady bridge to a little round house with a wide-open porch. Pots of paint sat in a row. There was sunset orange, leaf green, and the pink of a sleepy cloud. Beside them stood a bicycle with a basket, painted with yellow stars.
"That's the village bike," said Pip. "It's for carrying paint from house to house. Would you like to ride it along the big flat branch path?"
"Yes, please!" said Sophie.
She climbed on. The bell went ring-a-ling, and the wheels hummed softly over the smooth wood. The village slid by in the golden light. Two kittens waved from a window. A fluffy gray one swept her porch and smiled. Sophie rode all the way around, and then back again, feeling happy right down to her toes.
But when she turned in a little too quickly near the porch, her basket bumped the shelf. Plop! A pot of bright blue paint tipped over, and a big splash landed on the porch floor, right beside the bike.
Sophie stopped. Her cheeks felt warm. Nobody had seen. Pip had gone inside to fetch brushes, and the other kittens were far away on their own porches. Sophie could hear her heart going thump, thump.
She thought about quietly rolling the bike over the splash, or tucking a leaf on top of it. But she did not want to do that. She wanted Pip to know.
When Pip came back with an armful of brushes, Sophie took a deep breath.
"Pip, I bumped the shelf with my bike, and the blue paint spilled. It was me. I'm sorry."
Pip looked at the splash. Then she looked at Sophie, and her whiskers lifted into a big smile.
"Oh, thank you for telling me, Sophie! Now I know just what to do." She set down the brushes. "Do you know what blue paint is perfect for?"
Sophie shook her head.
"Skies," said Pip. "We were looking for a bit of blue for the painting wall. Shall we fetch it together?"
So they did. Sophie held the pot steady while Pip scooped up the blue with a wide brush. They carried it to the big painting wall at the end of the village. Soon the kittens came wandering over, one by one, to see. Sophie painted a round yellow sun. Pip painted a soft blue sky around it. The fluffy gray kitten added a little green hill, and the others made tiny birds and clouds.
When the picture was finished, Sophie noticed that the very first splash of blue had landed in just the right spot, and it made the sky look like it was glowing.
"It's the best part," whispered Pip.
The sun slipped lower, and the lanterns in the village flickered on, one by one, like small warm stars. The kittens curled up in a heap on the porch, purring a slow, quiet song. Sophie sat among them with a paintbrush in her lap, and her eyes felt heavy and soft.
"Time to float home," Pip said, very quietly. "Thank you for painting with us."
Sophie yawned a big, slow yawn. The branches rocked, the lanterns blurred, and the purring grew faint and far away.
Then Sophie was in her own cozy bed, tucked under her blanket, with her pillow cool and fluffy beneath her head. The room was quiet and dim. She could still hear the purring, soft as a whisper. She thought of the blue sky, and the yellow sun, and her friends.
She snuggled down deep, her eyes closed, warm and safe, and fell fast asleep.
馃寵 The End 馃寵
This story was written by AI for an example child named Sophie, and it passed the same safety check every Tuck-In Tales story gets before it's sent.