# Wobble Finds the Lost Sparkle
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You know Wobble, don't you? That round, bouncy friend with the biggest smile and the giggliest laugh? Well, today—*right now*, actually—Wobble is waking up in the most magical garden you've ever seen.
BOING!
Wobble bounces out of their cosy daisy bed. The petals are still warm and squishy, like a thousand tiny hugs. Sunlight pours through the garden like liquid honey, making everything glow soft and golden.
Can you see it? Wobble can!
But wait. Something's different today.
Wobble does a little spin—wobble-wobble-PLONK—and sits down right in the middle of the garden path.
You see, every morning, the sparkle trails *always* appear. They shimmer. They twinkle. They look like someone's sprinkled diamonds across the grass.
But today?
Nothing.
No sparkles. No shimmer. No twinkling magic dust floating through the air.
Wobble's smile goes down. Down, down, down.
"Oh no," whispers Wobble, looking all around. "Where did the sparkles go?"
And that's when Wobble hears it.
A sound. So quiet. A sniffley-snuffle sound coming from somewhere deep in the garden. From under the biggest, most enormous flower you've ever seen.
It's a peony—bigger than your whole house!—with petals the colour of strawberry cream.
Sniffley. Snuffle. Sniffley-snuffle.
"Hello?" calls Wobble, bouncing closer. "Are you under there?"
The sniffley-snuffle gets quieter. Smaller.
Someone is hiding.
Wobble wobbles forward. "I'm coming to find you!"
WOBBLE-WOBBLE-BOUNCE!
The garden is big. So, so big. Wobble toddles past the laughing fountain.
SPLISH-SPLASH! GIGGLE-GIGGLE!
Past the dandelion clock with all the seeds dancing.
WHOOOOSH!
Past the friendly beetles who wave their shiny wings.
CLICK-CLICK! WING-WING!
Everything is beautiful. But nothing is sparkly.
PLONK!
Wobble sits down. Their legs are getting wibbly. Their tummy feels all tight and squeezy.
But then—*ting-a-ling!*—Wobble remembers something wonderful.
In their pocket, tucked beside a button and a crumb of banana, is a tiny jingly bell on a string. It's the colour of sunshine.
Wobble pulls it out.
TING-A-LING-A-LING!
The sound bounces through the garden like a celebration.
"Hello!" shouts Wobble, shaking the bell. "Hello! Hello!"
TING-A-LING!
The sniffley-snuffle sound stops.
Then it starts again. Slowly. Carefully.
Wobble wiggles with excitement and shakes the bell again.
TING-A-LING!
"Follow the jingles!" calls Wobble. "Follow the sound!"
There's a rustling. A tiny, hesitant rustling from beneath the enormous strawberry-cream peony.
RUSTLE-RUSTLE.
Something is moving.
Something is coming out.
And out comes...
A hedgehog! The tiniest hedgehog you've ever seen. Their spines are soft like velvet. Their eyes are big and teary and worried.
"Hi," whispers the little hedgehog. "I'm Prickle."
"I'm Wobble!" says Wobble, stopping their wobble completely.
Prickle looks down at their little feet. "I've been hiding under this flower for so long. I hid and hid and hid. And now... now the sparkles are all gone."
Wobble looks around the garden. It's true. No sparkles. No shimmer.
"The sparkles are hiding too," says Wobble softly. "Because you're hiding."
Prickle's eyes get wetter. A tear rolls down their tiny nose.
Drip.
Wobble sees the tear fall. Wobble's own eyes get wet too.
Drip. Drip.
But then Wobble does something special. Wobble doesn't bounce. Wobble doesn't giggle. Wobble simply sits down—plonk—right next to Prickle. Very, very gently, Wobble puts their round, wobbly arm around Prickle's spiny back.
Warm.
Close.
There.
For a whole minute, they just sit together. Not moving. Not talking. Just breathing. Just being together in the quiet garden.
Then Wobble does something wonderful.
Wobble starts to hum.
It's a tiny hum. A gentle hum. A warm-blanket hum.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
And as Wobble hums, something *magical* starts to happen.
A single sparkle appears.
Just one. Floating down from somewhere above like a star that's decided to visit the garden.
TWINKLE.
Prickle gasps. "What is that?"
"That's the sparkle coming back," says Wobble. "Because you came out. Because you're not hiding anymore."
More sparkles start to fall.
One. Then three. Then a dozen.
TWINKLE-TWINKLE-TWINKLE!
They shimmer and swirl around Wobble and Prickle like tiny celebrations. The jingle bell in Wobble's paw starts to glow soft and golden.
TING-A-LING-A-LING!
"You brought back the sparkles!" says Prickle, their eyes wide and shiny.
"We brought them back," says Wobble. "Together."
Prickle's mouth makes a little smile. Then a bigger smile.
SMILE-SMILE!
And Wobble does a little wobbly dance.
WOBBLE-WOBBLE-BOUNCE!
Prickle does the tiniest, prickliest little dance.
PRICKLE-PRICKLE-SKIP!
Around and around the garden they go.
The sparkles follow them.
TWINKLE-TWINKLE!
The fountain laughs louder.
SPLISH-SPLASH-GIGGLE-GIGGLE!
The beetles do loop-de-loops through the glitter.
CLICK-CLICK-WHOOOOSH!
By the time the sun starts to set—all orange and rosy-pink—the whole garden is absolutely *shimmering*.
Sparkle trails light up the paths like twinkling highways.
TWINKLE-TWINKLE-TWINKLE!
And there, right in the middle of it all, are Wobble and Prickle.
Wobble is shaking their jingle bell.
TING-A-LING!
Prickle is spinning and spinning.
SPIN-SPIN-SPIN!
They're both laughing.
GIGGLE-GIGGLE!
The kind of laugh that comes from knowing you're not alone anymore.
The kind of laugh that comes from knowing someone cared enough to find you.
"Will you stay with me?" asks Prickle, their voice all warm and hopeful now.
"Always," says Wobble.
And Wobble gives Prickle the biggest, wobbliest, most careful hug. A warm hug. A tight hug. A hug that says, "You're my friend now."
The garden glows brighter.
GLOW-GLOW-GLOW!
And somewhere, in every corner, the sparkles dance and twinkle and celebrate.
TWINKLE-TWINKLE-TWINKLE!
Because that's what happens when someone who was hiding comes out to play.
That's what happens when two friends find each other.
The magic comes back.
The sparkles come back.
And everything shines.
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*And that's the thing about Wobble, you see. Wobble looked for the lonely one. Wobble sat still and listened. Wobble was there. Warm and close.*
*And when Wobble was there, everything changed.*
*The sparkles came back.*
*Prickle came out.*
*And they became friends.*
