One-sitting stories
Jocomi's Flower in Rain Boots
Jocomi wants to paint a flower just like the real one. But a blue blot spreads into a puddle! With fresh paper ready, why does Jocomi reach for yellow paint?
Original fiction · Ages 7–10 · Read together with a guardian
Scene 01
One Flower, Just Like That
Jocomi, a cream-colored cat in Heart Garden, liked adding tiny details to pictures. A dot between two circles. A thin line in an empty corner. It was fun to see how one little mark could change a picture.
Today, Jocomi and Mimi sat at a low painting table. Beside the paper stood a pot with one pink flower. Jocomi looked from its yellow center to its green leaves.
“Today I'm going to paint this flower just as it is.” Jocomi straightened a white sheet of paper. Mimi looked at the flower too. “It's staying nice and still.” “Yes. A very good model.” They laughed and chose their brushes.
Scene 02
A Little Here, a Little There
Jocomi painted pink petals in the middle of the paper, added a yellow center, and drew a green stem below. One leaf on each side of the stem made a little flower.
Jocomi added a thin line near a leaf's tip. Jocomi's blue eyes moved from the potted flower to the paper, then back again. “This leaf points up a little more.” With each brushstroke, the picture looked a bit more like it.
There was still plenty of white space below the flower. Mimi leaned closer. “It's as if the flower has moved onto your paper.” Jocomi felt pleased. It really did look that way.
Scene 03
A Drop of Blue
“Maybe a little sky?” Jocomi picked up a brush dipped in blue paint. It held more water than expected. As Jocomi went to put it down, a blue drop landed near the bottom of the paper.
The drop did not stay round. It spread sideways beneath the flower's stem. The pink petals and green leaves were still there, but now a blue blot lay below them.
Jocomi looked from the pot to the picture. There was no blue patch like that in the pot. “That's not where the sky goes…” Jocomi put down the brush and stared at the blot.
Scene 04
A Puddle That Grew
Jocomi gently wiped the wet patch with a clean corner of the painting cloth. The blue stretched sideways with it. Jocomi stopped before trying again. The blot was getting wider, not smaller.
“I even liked how the leaves turned out.” Jocomi set the cloth down. Mimi did not rush to say anything. For a moment, the wet paper shone between them.
Jocomi put the brush on its rest and leaned back in the chair. While the paint dried, Jocomi watched the real flower. It was still standing just as before. Only the flower on the paper seemed to be standing in blue water.
Scene 05
New Paper—and This Flower
Mimi pointed to the paper stack. “Would you like to start again? There are more sheets here.” Jocomi took one and laid it alongside the picture. A new painting would not have the blue blot.
But the little leaves in the first picture kept catching Jocomi's eye. “I'd like to keep this flower.” Mimi moved the new sheet over a little, making room for both.
Jocomi looked at the blot again. It was shaped like a puddle left on the path after rain. “Anyone walking through there would get wet feet.” “Do flowers have feet?” asked Mimi. Jocomi looked at the space that was still white. “What if the one in my picture did?”
Scene 06
Two Yellow Rain Boots
Once the blue paint was dry, Jocomi drew two short green lines from the end of the stem. In the white space just above the blot, Jocomi painted a yellow boot at the end of each line. One boot, then another. The flower stood in rain boots at the edge of the puddle.
Mimi looked at the pot, then back at the paper. “This flower's in its pot. That one's ready to go out.” Jocomi made the toes of the boots a little rounder. Adding tiny details was fun again.
“It's going for a walk after the rain,” said Jocomi. The flower in the pot had grown neither feet nor boots. What Jocomi had changed was the picture on the paper.
Scene 07
A Splash Right Here
Jocomi put just a little paint on the blue brush. A few small drops went near the boots, and short ripples went in the puddle. The flower looked as if it had just taken a step.
“Splash!” Mimi said softly. Jocomi pointed to the other boot. “Splash over here too!” They imagined the painted boots walking, one after the other. Outside the picture, the table stayed dry.
It was not the flower Jocomi had meant to paint at first. Still, Jocomi spent a long time looking at the yellow boots and little drops. “I'll leave it just like this—out for a walk.” Jocomi set the brush down without adding more. Now the picture needed to dry.
Scene 08
Once Around the Puddle
When the painting was completely dry, they laid it flat on the table and placed the pot beside it. The real flower had its roots in soil. The paper flower had its yellow boots in a blue puddle.
Mimi leaned toward the picture. “Where are you going today?” Jocomi pretended to answer in the flower's voice. “Once around the puddle! And I've remembered both my boots.” They laughed at the picture together.
The fresh sheet was still beside them. Jocomi looked from it to the pot. Next time, the picture could look just like the real flower—or become a different imaginary one. As for today's flower, those boots would need a little time to dry.
At the end of the story