Ali thought hard: "If I'm good and take a nap, you'll be back, right?"
He felt that nap time was already very long.
Mom smiled and gently shook her head.
"If I take the town's carriage from the first stop to the last, you'll be back, right?" Ali remembered the happy trips taking the carriage with Mom.
Mom smiled but still shook her head.
"Then if I'm good and listen to you and tidy up the house, you'll be back, right?" Ali felt this must be a great achievement.
Mom smiled and still shook her head.
"Then when it snows in winter, you'll be back, right? You said you'd make me a new hat every winter." Ali looked out the window as if he could see the snowflakes.
Mom smiled and once again shook her head.
"Then when the sapling I planted grows into a big tree, you'll definitely be back, right?" Ali pointed at the little sapling they had planted together outside the window.
Mom looked into Ali's expectant eyes and still shook her head with a smile.
Ali's voice took on a sob: "Mom, then when will you come back?"
Mom smiled and stroked Ali's head, her fingertips combing through his soft fur: "My silly child..."
"In this world..."
"No matter how long a nap is, there's always a time to wake up..."
"No matter how long a journey is, there's always a time to reach the destination..."
"No matter how cold a winter is, there's always a time for it to pass..."
"No matter how noisy the world is, there's always a time for it to be quiet..."
"But only death—the more you wait, the further away it gets..."
Ali's tears fell like broken beads; he cried very sadly: "Then does that mean little Ali will never see Mom again? I don't want that! I don't want that!"
"No, my little Ali." Mom held Ali and spoke with a smile in her gentlest voice.
"If one day I'm gone, even though you can no longer hear my voice..."
"Even though you can no longer see me..."
"But you will feel that I am quietly accompanying you. When you are chasing butterflies in the back garden, I am quietly watching you from the kitchen window."
[Illustration: Looking out from the kitchen window, little Ali is running in a garden full of Windwheel Asters and Sweet Flower, and there seems to be a faint, gentle figure on the windowsill.]
"When you are secretly trying to get cookies in the kitchen, I am in the bedroom knitting the little scarf you'll wear in winter."
[Illustration: Little Ali is standing on tiptoe to reach the cupboard; in the bedroom, a ball of yarn and a half-knitted scarf lie quietly on the bed, bathed in sunlight.]
"When you fall asleep clutching your little pillow in the bedroom, I am in the living room looking at the family portrait you drew. When you are playing with blocks in the living room, I am in the back garden tending to your favorite patch of Rainbow Roses."
"See, Ali, no matter where you are, near or far, Mom is always with you."
[Illustration: A series of warm little images showing an empty kitchen, bedroom, living room, and garden, but each place bears the traces and atmosphere of Mom and Ali's life together.]
Mom kissed Ali's wet eyes: "My little Ali, you must know that I love you forever."
"This love is like the stars accompanying the moon, like the wind accompanying the clouds; it will never disappear."
"Mom has become the brightest star in the sky, always watching over Ali. Ali knows that as long as he looks up, he can see Mom's love—just like starlight, it will never disappear."
[Illustration: The scene returns to the room. Ali has fallen asleep peacefully in Mom's arms, with a sweet smile on his lips. Mom still holds him gently, the starlight and moonlight from outside the window spilling over them, quiet and eternity. By the pillow lies the new hat Mom finished knitting.]
(The End)
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