Violet wore blue pyjamas with tiny moons. Under her arm was Pipkin, her cuddly unicorn, soft as a sigh and rather floppy.
Every night she pressed her nose to his pink woolly mane. “I wish you could come with me,” she whispered. “Just once.”
Little wish, soft and bright, wake my unicorn for tonight.
Pipkin’s horn went blink, blink, blink. His button eyes shone. Then his little cloth legs gave a tiny kickety-kick.
“Oh!” said Violet, sitting up so fast her blanket slid. Pipkin shook himself, and his bells went tinkle-tinkle. “Good evening,” he said. “I am a bit creased.”
⁂
The bedroom rug puffed up like an enormous cloud. It lifted Violet and Pipkin gently, whoosh, through the window and into the soft night air.
They floated over the garden path. Violet held Pipkin’s mane with both hands, and her toes curled inside her slippers.
Below them, the paddling pool had become a sparkling moon pond. Pipkin landed beside it with a plip, and Violet’s slipper went squelch in the damp grass.
“Oh dear,” said Pipkin, looking at the sky. “The bedtime star is missing. Without it, dreams may bump into cupboards.”
“Then we must find it,” said Violet. She patted his neck. “Softly, though. Everyone is sleeping.”
⁂
They searched under the rose bush. Rustle-rustle. They peeped behind the watering can. Clonk-clonk. They looked inside Violet’s slipper. Squelch again!
Then Pipkin sneezed, “Ah-choo!” and something glowing rolled down his fluffy tail. It was the bedtime star, stuck there like a shiny burr.
“Wow!” Violet giggled into her hands. “You were carrying it all along!”
Pipkin blinked. “That explains the tickle.”
Together they nudged the star up, up, up. It settled beside the moon with a soft ding, and silver light spilled over the roofs.
⁂
The rug-cloud carried them home, slow as sleepy breathing. Back in bed, Violet tucked Pipkin under her chin.
His legs were floppy again. His horn was only soft cloth. But one button eye gave the tiniest wink.
“Goodnight, Pipkin,” murmured Violet. Outside, the bedtime star shone steady and small, and the dreams found every pillow.
