It takes time for winter to transform into spring. The sun is still a little shaky and doesn’t give enough warmth to keep everyone warm. Grass isn’t green yet; it’s still covered by the remnants of snow.
In some places, it’s even covered by frost. When the first rays of sun appear, a lot of children want to run outside only in their sweatshirts and pants. They leave their coats and hats at home because they hope and trust that those weak rays will warm them up. But that’s not really how it goes.
Even though the sun is shining a little bit, it’s still very chilly outside. And that’s why children who run outside without proper warm clothes usually catch a chill and get sick. That’s exactly what happened to Johnny and Tony.
They were two energetic boys who loved to spend their time outside. They played soccer together, built bunkers, and played catch. They always had something to do. But now they were sick and had to stay at home in their beds. It was so boring! They couldn’t be together, couldn’t make new plans, couldn’t do fun things outside. They just blew their noses and coughed.
Tony’s father noticed his son’s misery and how sorry he was that he couldn’t be doing anything with his friend, and he got an idea. “Tony, what if you and Johnny created a post line?” his father asked. Tony cheered, so excited that he had a coughing fit. “But how, daddy?” he asked. His father started to explain: “When I was your age, my friend and I stretched a string between our windows. We attached it so that we could move it along, and that’s it. At home, I’d write my message, attach it to the string with a laundry pin, and move the string along until the message reached my friend. He would read it in his home and then write back. Then he would send his message the same way. Yours and Johnny’s windows are close to each other. I’ll connect your two windows with a string and then you can write to each other while staying nice and warm at home. And better yet, you’ll be practicing your reading and writing!”
Tony was excited about the idea. While his father was extending the string between their windows and arranging everything with Johnny, Tony was already writing missives to his friend in his bed. Once everything was ready, the string between the windows never stopped moving. The boys were constantly writing and sending something. And at the same time, they could rest and recover. For Tony and Johnny, this was the best home recovery that they ever had to endure. They laughed a lot while writing and sending their messages and had so much fun.
In the evening, when Tony was saying good night to his father, he confessed: “Well, daddy, I have to admit something. Even though you are grown and old, you do have good ideas sometimes. Thank you. I’m so glad to have you.” His father smiled. He thought it was funny that Tony had called him old. But he was glad that even though Tony was sick, this simple idea had cheered him up. Next time his father was sick, it would be Tony’s turn to lift his mood.
