It was a summer evening and the air was warm like a light blanket. In the garden of Lori's house, fireflies were glowing. Fireflies are small insects that make a yellow light with their bellies, like little flying lanterns.

Lori was running here and there trying to catch them.

"Look at that one!" shouted Alex, jumping toward a particularly bright firefly.

Violet was holding a glass jar with little holes in the lid. "Let's put them in here, so we can make a lamp!"

"But then we'll set them free, right?" asked Ella in a sweet voice, a bit worried about the fireflies.

"Of course!" said Lori, laughing. "They're our friends, not prisoners!"

Frederick, Lori's dad, was watching them from the window. "Be careful not to trip in the dark!" he said, as he always did when he thought something might be dangerous.

Christina, Lori's mom, added: "And don't wander too far, please!"

Right at that moment, the fireflies in the jar started glowing all together, very brightly. And then they heard a sound the children knew well.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

From the back of the garden came a little cloud of colorful steam, and then two bright headlights appeared that looked like kind eyes.

"It's Toby!" shouted Lori, clapping her hands.

Toby the Magic Train stopped in front of them, puffing smoke that smelled like candy. He was a small train, with carriages painted red and gold, and a friendly face on the locomotive.

"Good evening children, what a lovely night! I'll take you where the fruit shines bright! Climb aboard, come with me, to the magic orchard waiting for you three... well, four, that was silly of me!"

Lori laughed. "Toby, you always speak in rhyme!"

The four children climbed into the soft little carriages, and the train took off flying over the houses, over the trees, higher and higher toward the sky.

And what a sky! It was full of shooting stars. Shooting stars are stars that seem to slide down through the darkness, leaving a bright trail behind. They say that when you see one, you can make a wish.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ella, with wide eyes. "They're beautiful!"

After a while, the train began to descend toward an extraordinary place.

It was an orchard, but not a normal orchard. The trees had fruit of every color: blue apples, purple pears, oranges with yellow and green stripes, and peaches that glowed like little moons. The fruits gave off a soft light, illuminating everything like in a dream.

Toby stopped with a gentle whistle, and the children got off.

The air smelled of peach juice and summer.

"What a place!" said Lori, running right away among the trees. She was so fast she seemed to fly.

"Ahem ahem! Ahem ahem ahem!"

The children stopped. Someone was clearing their throat, but they couldn't see anyone.

"Ahem ahem! Yes yes, I'm here, up high, on the branch of the purple pear, no wait, I've moved, now I'm on the blue apple, actually no, I've come down, here I am!"

A cicada as big as a hand jumped down from a branch and landed in front of them. Cicadas are insects that sing all day in summer making a loud sound, like a musical buzzing.

This cicada was special: she had wings that sparkled like colored glass and wore around her neck a small golden object that looked like a tiny fork. It was a tuning fork, an instrument that musicians use to find the right note.

"Hello hello hello!" said the cicada, speaking very fast. "I'm Clementine, the singing cicada of the Magic Orchard, ahem ahem, pleased to meet you, who are you? Wait, let me guess, no no, you tell me, actually no, I'll guess, you're children right? Yes yes, I can tell, you have round cheeks and curious eyes, ahem ahem!"

Violet burst out laughing. "You talk so much!"

"Me? Talk a lot? Oh no, I talk just the right amount, maybe a little more than the right amount, but that's because I have so many things to say, ahem ahem, and so little time!"

"Little time for what?" asked Alex.

Clementine suddenly went quiet. Her wings stopped sparkling and became dull. Her eyes, big as little beads, filled with sadness.

"For the Full Moon Festival," she whispered. "Look up there."

The children raised their heads. Among the shooting stars, the moon was becoming rounder and brighter.

"When the moon is completely full, all the inhabitants of the orchard will gather for the festival," explained Clementine. "And I have to sing the Midnight Melody. But there's a huge, gigantic, terrible problem!"

"What is it?" asked Lori, coming closer.

"I've forgotten the melody! Ahem ahem! I had it in my head, I knew it by heart, but tonight... poof! Gone! And I can't make up a new one. I've tried and tried, but every time it comes out off-key and ugly!"

Clementine sat on a leaf, dejected.

"Without the Midnight Melody, the festival will be ruined. And if the festival is ruined, the magic fruits will lose their light. And if they lose their light..."

"What happens?" asked Ella, with a worried voice.

"The orchard will become a dark and sad place. Forever."

The children looked at each other. They had to help Clementine!

"I can sing!" said Alex. "I can sing the melody!"

"No no, ahem ahem, it has to be a special melody, made with the sounds of the orchard. The magic fruits, when you touch them, make a musical note. But the fruits that make the most beautiful notes grow on the High Branches, and to reach them you have to get past the guardian flamingos."

"Flamingos?" asked Violet.

Clementine pointed to a part of the orchard where the trees were very tall. Among the branches, you could see pink birds with long, thin legs. Flamingos are birds that always stand on one leg, balanced.

"To pick the fruits from the High Branches, you must show respect to the flamingos," explained Clementine. "And to show respect, you must stand on one foot like them, without falling, while you reach for the fruit."

"Easy!" said Lori, who was always confident.

They ran toward the tall trees. The flamingos watched them with their small, stern eyes.

"Whoever wants our fruits," said the largest flamingo, with a solemn voice, "must stand on one leg, still and balanced, while reaching their hand toward the branch."

Lori stepped forward. "I'll do it!"

She raised one foot and stood on one leg. For a second it seemed to be going well, but then... she wobbled, swayed, waved her arms and... THUMP! She fell on the soft grass.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed.

She tried again. And fell again.

And again.

Violet tried too. She held on longer, with her determined face and focused blue eyes. But when she reached her hand toward the fruit... she lost her balance and fell.

Alex jumped on one foot, but he was too lively. His body wanted to move, run, jump. He couldn't stay still.

Ella, with her calmness, managed to stay balanced for quite a while. But she was too short to reach the fruit, and when she stretched too far, she slipped.

Time was passing. The moon was getting rounder and rounder.

"We'll never make it!" said Clementine, desperate. "We need lots of fruits for a whole melody! It's impossible!"

Lori sat on the ground, sweaty and defeated. She who was so fast, couldn't do something as simple as standing still.

But then Violet spoke, with her decisive voice: "Wait. Maybe we don't need lots of fruits."

Everyone looked at her.

"My mom Martha always says that even one drop at a time can fill a bucket. Maybe we don't need a long melody. Maybe just a few notes are enough, but the right ones."

Clementine stopped complaining. "Ahem ahem... a few notes?"

"Yes!" said Lori, getting back up. "Each of us picks ONE fruit. Just one. We can do it!"

It was a simple idea, but perfect.

Lori tried again. This time she wasn't in a hurry. She breathed, concentrated, raised one foot. She wobbled, but didn't fall. She quickly reached out her hand and grabbed a blue apple. Then she fell, but the fruit was already in her hand!

The apple went: "DIIING!"

"I did it!" shouted Lori.

One by one, the others succeeded too.

Violet picked a purple pear that went: "DAAANG!"

Alex grabbed a striped orange that went: "DOONG!"

Ella, with patience, picked a glowing peach that went: "DUUNG!"

Four fruits. Four notes.

Clementine looked at the fruits, then looked at the children. She touched her golden tuning fork and began to combine the notes.

"DIIING... DAAANG... DOONG... DUUNG..."

She played them slowly, then faster, then in a different order.

And suddenly, something magical happened.

The four notes, put together, created a beautiful melody. Simple, but perfect. Like the sound of rain on the roof, or wind through the leaves.

The moon became completely full right at that moment.

From all over the orchard came magical creatures: glowing butterflies, giant ladybugs, crickets with little hats, and many others. They gathered in a big circle.

Clementine flew to the center, clearing her throat one last time: "Ahem ahem!"

And she sang the Midnight Melody.

It was short, but when it ended, everyone applauded. The fruits on the trees glowed even brighter. The shooting stars seemed to dance in the sky.

"We did it," whispered Lori, looking at her friends.

"Drop by drop," said Violet, smiling.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

Toby the Magic Train arrived, ready to take them home.

Before leaving, Clementine hugged them all. "Thank you thank you thank you! Ahem ahem! I'll never forget what you've done. And you know what? I'm going to call this melody the Melody of the Four Friends!"

The children climbed onto the train, tired but very happy.

Toby puffed and said: "With patience and friendship true, you've lit up the night through and through! Even small steps together make wonders, isn't that right, I wonder?"

The train flew away, through the sky full of shooting stars.

When they arrived in Lori's garden, the parents were waiting for them.

"So, did you catch lots of fireflies?" asked Christina.

The children looked at each other and smiled. The fireflies in the jar were still glowing, but now they seemed to be making a melody: DIIING... DAAANG... DOONG... DUUNG...

Ella yawned and leaned against her dad Andrew, who had come to pick her up. "I'm sleepy," she murmured.

"I believe it, little one," said Andrew laughing. "Who knows what you've been up to!"

That night, as she fell asleep, Lori thought about her adventure. She had learned something important.

**The moral of this story is:** you don't have to do everything at once. Even one drop at a time can fill a bucket. If something seems too hard, try doing it one little piece at a time. And if you have friends to help you, every little piece becomes even easier. Together, even small things become big.

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