Followed by Frost

by Charlie N. Holmberg

The story was about a boy who had everything—a big house, clothes in every color, enough food to last a lifetime, toys, family, everything—but he wasn’t happy, and he didn’t know why. To cheer him up, his mother bought him a wooden doll that separated in the middle to reveal a smaller doll, which separated to reveal a smaller and a smaller. When Garen opened the last doll, a genie appeared before him and offered him one wish. But Garen didn’t use the wish right away. He wanted to know the “wish of his heart”: the one thing that would make him happy. However, because his heart could not speak, Garen could not hear what it wanted. After days of tribulation, he went to the genie and asked to know the wish of his heart. This was a risk, for if the one thing Garen needed to be happy was unattainable by ordinary means, he would never have it, for he would have already used his one wish. Still, it was a risk he was willing to take. The genie obliged, and Garen learned the wish of his heart: to be unburdened. Garen thought hard on this, and in the end, he gave away all his clothes, fine food, and toys until he was very poor, but because of the joy his generosity brought the community, he made lifetime friends and found happiness. I stared at the last page, to a passage highlighted with smeared charcoal. For happiness has wings, and when burdened by the things a man should want, Garen could not reach it.