An Invitation for Quiet Guests

‘Seventeen days to go,’ said Flauschi, putting two sheets of paper on the low garden table. ‘Today we’re drawing invitations to our Halloween party.’

Puschel picked up an orange pencil. He drew a pumpkin with a broad smile on his sheet. Beside the table stood the real pumpkin with its pale crescent mark. ‘You’re our party symbol,’ Puschel told it. ‘But on the invitation you don’t have to lie still. You can grin!’ Flauschi drew a friendly pumpkin too. Behind them, the paper ghosts and bats hung on the fence. A gust of wind made the orange bow wobble.

‘What shall we tell our guests?’ asked Puschel. ‘That they’re welcome to come,’ answered Flauschi. ‘And that they can choose whether to join in or just watch.’ She drew a quiet place in one corner of her sheet. ‘Someone can sit here if the party feels too busy for them. They can rest and come back later.’

Puschel studied the corner. ‘Then it needs something soft.’ With a purple pencil, he drew a cushion. He made its edge round, then a little rounder still. The cushion grew three soft bumps. ‘Extra cosy,’ he murmured. Flauschi looked at it. ‘Is that a cloud?’ Puschel stopped with his pencil in the air. ‘A sitting cloud?’ They imagined a guest sitting down and slowly floating over the fence. Puschel laughed. ‘Then our quiet corner would be travelling!’

He added two little cushion corners and a short seam. Now the drawing really looked like a plump cushion. ‘It stays on the ground,’ he said happily. Flauschi added the cushion symbol to her invitation too. Together they checked both pictures. A smiling pumpkin for the party, a soft cushion for a break. ‘The pictures already tell us something,’ said Flauschi. ‘But we’ll explain where and when we’re meeting to our guest in person.’

‘Does a quiet guest have to stay quiet the whole time?’ asked Puschel. ‘No,’ said Flauschi. ‘Perhaps they’ll want to hum along later. Perhaps they’ll keep listening. Both are welcome.’ Puschel nodded. ‘And someone who likes laughing loudly can still take a break.’ He tapped the cushion. ‘It’s there for everyone.’

They placed the finished invitations side by side. The quiet party corner was still just an idea on paper. They would prepare the real place together. Today they put the sheets away safely, ready to show them to someone they knew and trusted later. Puschel gently stroked the paper beside his drawn cushion. ‘What a shame. It isn’t soft yet.’ Flauschi smiled. ‘But the invitation is already friendly.’ And Puschel thought that mattered even more.