It was a beautiful sunny morning in the Garden of the Green Whispers, the garden behind Dash's house. There, the leaves always seemed to whisper, and the tall grass hid little pathways waiting to be found.

Dash was lying on the grass with his friends Ziggy, Lily, and Skye. All four of them looked up at the sky with their mouths wide open.

"That cloud is a bunny!" said Ziggy, pointing his finger.

"No, it's a huge cat!" said Lily, sure as always.

Skye smiled softly. "To me it looks like an elephant yawning."

Dash sprang up as fast as a hare. "And that one over there? That's a whale with a mustache!"

The children laughed out loud. They pretended to be bunnies and cats, hopping and meowing in the garden. Above them, the white clouds slowly changed shape, as if they too were playing.

All of a sudden, Dash stopped. He had heard a tiny strange sound. It came from the sweet-smelling lavender bush at the back of the garden.

"Do you hear it too?" asked Dash, cupping his hand behind his ear.

The other three came closer on tiptoes. Between the purple stems, something red was barely moving. Dash pushed a leaf aside... and there it was!

It was a red balloon, caught by a thin golden string. The string was slim and shiny, like a strand of sunshine.

"Hello..." whispered the balloon, with a voice as thin as a blade of grass.

All four of them jumped back in surprise.

"Did it talk?" asked Lily, eyes wide.

The balloon swayed in slow circles, like a sleepy butterfly, and floated up close to Dash's ear. It smelled like ripe little strawberries.

"You have a careful ear, you do," whispered the balloon. "Come, I want you to hear something."

Dash stood still, curious like when you find a shiny pebble. "What do you want to tell us?"

For a moment the balloon turned a deeper red, as if its secret were heavy to carry.

"Somewhere," it whispered, "there is someone who feels cold. And nobody has noticed yet."

Skye clasped her hands. "Who feels cold? Where?"

"You must come with me," said the balloon. "But we need a very special ride to get there."

Just then, from behind the hedge, came a familiar sound.

CHUFF CHUFF!

It was Toby the Magic Train, popping out from among the flowers with his little yellow light and puffs of smoke shaped like rings. The children knew him well, and they ran to greet him.

Toby stopped right in front of them, gave two little puffs, and spoke in his rhyming voice:

"Hop on, dear friends, the sky is wide,
today we soar where wonders hide!
A little den waits in the trees,
where someone shivers — help them, please!"

The children looked at each other. A den? A friendly call? What was there to discover?

The red balloon swayed happily and tied itself with its golden string to the train's handle.

"All aboard!" shouted Dash, and hopped onto the little wagon first.

CHUFF CHUFF! Toby was off. The Garden of the Green Whispers disappeared in a flash. The little train raced across the sky, gliding through clouds as soft as cotton candy, and dove down toward a great big forest.

When the children's feet touched the ground, they could not catch their breath.

The sky had changed! It was no longer day, and it wasn't quite night. Above their heads, ribbons of light, purple and green, danced as if someone were blowing inside a magical veil.

"What is it?" asked Ziggy, with big eyes.

"It's the colorful aurora," whispered the balloon. "You can only see it in places where nature keeps her secrets."

The four children walked through the forest with their noses pointed up. The leaves under their feet were soft, and the trees had roots as thick as giant arms. Dash, always the fastest, ran ahead and then came back, laughing.

"This way!" whispered the balloon, darting upward. When it moved like that, it meant something important was nearby.

Everyone followed the balloon to a great big oak tree. Between its roots, hidden like a secret pocket, there was a little cave. It was covered with green moss all around, and it was as small as a cat's bed.

The children stopped. From inside the cave, tiny sounds could be heard. They were small shivers going: "brrr, brrr, brrr."

A tear rolled down Lily's cheek. "Someone really is cold in there," she said, with her sure voice.

Dash crept up to the opening of the cave. His little heart was beating hard. What if there was a monster inside? What if they were in danger?

But then he looked at the balloon, who was swaying calmly and smiling at him (because yes, even a balloon can smile, if you know how to look).

Dash took courage and bent down.

Inside the cave there were three little animals, snuggled close together.

The first was a tiny hedgehog, with all his spines puffed up because of the cold. Spines are those little needles that hedgehogs have on their backs to keep them safe.

The second was a mole with her eyes closed. Moles live underground and they can't see, because their eyes are not needed in the dark. But they can hear very well!

The third was a little mouse with a long tail, whose tiny teeth were chattering: "tick, tick, tick."

"Oh, you poor things," whispered Skye. She knelt down in front of the cave.

"Why are you so cold?" asked Ziggy.

The little mouse lifted his nose. "This morning someone played in here," he squeaked. "They tossed everything around. And now our things are not in the right place."

Dash leaned in a little more. He looked at the cave with so much curiosity, like when you try to figure out a tricky drawing.

Outside the cave, on the grass in front of the entrance, there was a pile of soft leaves. Lots of yellow and brown leaves, fluffy like little feathers.

And inside the cave, right where the little animals were huddled, there was... a pile of hard pebbles. Smooth, cold stones, not at all comfy to cuddle.

"Wait!" said Dash, and a little light sparkled in his eyes.

He turned to his friends. "The leaves are outside. The stones are inside. It's all the wrong way around!"

Lily clapped her hands. "The leaves are for the bed! They have to be inside!"

"And the stones," added Skye in her sweet voice, "belong outside. To make a little wall against the wind!"

Ziggy was already rolling up his sleeves. "Then we will fix it!"

Without losing a moment, the four children got to work.

Dash, quick as a lightning bolt, scooped up the soft leaves in handfuls and carried them into the cave. He arranged them carefully, one on top of the other, until he made a big, fluffy cushion.

Lily, never giving up, pulled the stones out of the cave. They were a little heavy, but she never stopped. "Phew!" she puffed. "Come here, stone!"

Skye, calm and careful, took every stone that Lily handed her and placed it in front of the entrance, one next to the other, to form a little low wall.

Ziggy hopped back and forth, laughing, and brought any fallen leaves to Dash, so that not a single feather of the new bed would be lost.

While they worked, the colorful aurora above them shone even brighter. It seemed like the sky was watching them, very happy.

In just a few minutes, everything was in its place.

Inside the cave there was a bed of soft leaves, smelling like the forest. Outside there was a little wall of stones, blocking the cold wind.

The three little animals looked at each other. The hedgehog lowered his spines, because he wasn't afraid of the cold anymore. The mole smiled, even though she couldn't see, because she could feel the warmth coming. The little mouse stopped chattering his teeth.

"Thank you!" all three squeaked together.

They curled up on the bed of leaves and in a moment they fell asleep, happy as three full little puppies.

The four children moved very softly so they wouldn't wake them. They walked back on tiptoes, smiling.

The red balloon floated down next to Dash's ear. For a moment it turned a little darker, and whispered:

"You listened well, you did. Little things, only those who really want to hear them can hear."

Dash smiled. He felt something warm in his chest. He was happy, but with a quiet kind of happy, the kind that stays inside.

CHUFF CHUFF!

Toby was back. He puffed round little clouds and waited for his friends. Everyone climbed onto the train, and Toby began to speak again, in his rhyming voice:

"A careful ear hears tiny things,
the quiet song a small heart sings.
The curious find a path that's new,
and warm a friend when winds blow through!"

The children laughed. Ziggy repeated the last words: "Blow through, blow through!" because he liked them so much.

The little train set off for home. The clouds turned white again, the sun came back warm, and the Garden of the Green Whispers was right there waiting for them.

When the children jumped down, the red balloon was gone. But on the lavender bush there was still a golden string, twisted around a little branch. A keepsake, for whenever they wanted to think back on their adventure.

Skye lay down on the grass and looked at the clouds again.

"That one looks like a hedgehog," she said, smiling.

And Dash, next to her, listened to the wind for a moment. He had learned something precious: that the curious one, who knows how to stop and listen, always discovers something beautiful.

Even the little things. Even the hidden things.

Even a red balloon, that whispers secrets among the flowers.