The Blue Blanket

The Blue Blanket

         On a warm, summer day, a baby was born. He had dark hair and blue eyes, and he felt very cold in the hard, white room. He shivered constantly during his few minutes of life until finally, a woman in white made this discomfort vanish. She tightly wrapped the baby boy in a soft, blue blanket. When the baby felt this warm embrace, he never wanted it to end.
         The baby boy grew into a toddler, just learning how to walk. He practiced his new way of travel often, and the blue blanket always followed: it followed him across the carpet, along the linoleum, over the grass, and through the dirt. And at night, when his busy day was over, the toddler would fall asleep with his blue friend draped over him, keeping him safe.
         The boy awoke for his first day of school, sleepy but excited. He got dressed, slipped on his backpack, and went to school, without ever putting his blue blanket down. His old friend had worn down over the years. It was a little dirty, and it seemed slightly smaller in the boy’s hands, but he still loved it as much as he always has.
         When he arrived at the school, he was amazed at the hundreds of children his age, playing outside on the playground. He became even more excited as he walked around this new place, thinking about the experiences that he would have, but he didn’t realize that he was holding a big mistake.
         The first insult was thrown by a kid a few feet away, and it hit the boy in the nose, causing his eyes to water. The next one hit him in the chin, then another in the back, then several were thrown at once from all directions. Soon, he was surrounded by children, all of them hurling insults at him and his innocent, blue blanket. The boy began to cry, and the children began to laugh. Their mocking grew harsher and harsher until he couldn’t take it anymore, so he pushed his way through the crowd, and ran away. He ran until he reached the fence, where it was far away from their laughter. He sat in the grass, and his only friend mopped the tears away. He spent every recess on that spot.
         The boy grew into adolescence. And as he grew, his blue blanket shrank from years of wear: it was now the size of a handkerchief. Like his blanket, his childhood memories also shrank. He stopped weeping about them, and instead he learned from them. He learned to keep his friend a secret. He would be going to a different school, a high school, and he would be able to start anew. His plan was to keep it in his pocket until he could spend time with it in private. No one would find out. There would be no more mocking, and no more solitude. He would go to school, make friends, and finally have a normal life. But, he would still keep his closest friend near by.
         The next day, he woke up, got dressed, put on his backpack, gently folded the blue blanket, carefully placed it in his pocket, and went to his new school. He felt uneasy as he walked through the halls, once again surrounded by his peers. He felt as though everyone somehow knew that the blanket was in his pocket and that they would laugh at any second. They never did. He made several friends that day alone. But, there was one in particular that he liked the most: she had long, golden curls, and beautiful blue eyes. They came to know each other very well, and took long walks together, talking, laughing, and sharing. She became his closest friend.
         During one of their walks, they stopped to look at the sunset. The boy looked at the girl, and thought she looked so elegant in the orange glow. He looked deeply into her blue eyes, and their lips came slowly closer together until they pressed into their first kiss. The boy felt warmer than he ever had in his life. They continued their walk, hand-in-hand, and when the girl rested her head on his shoulder, the boy pulled the blue blanket out of his pocket and through it into the air and the wind carried it away. And in that moment, the boy had become a man.