Tilly and Me, Inc

The little one climbed the last few steps to the top of the staircase. The air was pure, the sky perfectly blue. As the child stepped onto level ground, a shadow was cast across the staircase. A voice was heard, booming out across the garden that was directly in front of the stairs.

"Welcome, little one, I have been watching you on your journey. You are going to love it here. Come, I'll show you around. My name is Jeremiah, and I have been here a long time. You and I are going to be friends."

The child smiled sweetly up at Jeremiah, but no words would come.The little one turned to see the staircase and saw beside it another set of steps, coming from a slightly different direction, but allowing those who were climbing them to come into a large park-like setting next to the garden. At the top of this set of steps was a chair. Jeremiah looked down at the child and sensing the question, he spoke.

"Child, this is my chair. I spend much of my time sitting here, greeting little ones who have climbed this special staircase. It's a little different than the one you climbed, but you'll understand about that some other time. Come, let's go see the garden where you will play."

They turned and walked to the garden where there was a swing, a sandbox and beautiful autumn-colored flowers growing in abundance. The child was in awe of the beauty and quickly learned the purpose of the swings and sand. For a long time the child played alone. However, when some time had passed, sounds came from the park across the hedge from the garden. Curiosity drew the little one to the hedge, on the other side of which were little children running and playing all over the grass. Suddenly, a face popped up directly in the child's view. Startled, the child nearly ran away, but a voice said, "Hi. You are new here. What is your name?"

When no answer came, the voice said, "That's OK, it's not unusual that you don't know. I'm now officially naming you Kelly! You and I are gonna be great friends. My name is Tilly, and this is where I live."

The little one spoke for the first time in a sweet, angelic voice, "Kelly? That's my name? Thank you. It sounds so beautiful. Where are all these kids from?"

It was then that Jeremiah appeared. He said, "Little ones, from my chair I have watched millions of children climb the special staircase that you saw. A long, long time ago in a land far away, I was known as the weeping one. Since I had so much experience, when I arrived they put me in charge here. Every day, I sit in my chair and weep over the little ones who aren't wanted. They arrive here, and I do what I can to welcome them."

Tilly turned to Kelly. "You came up the other stairway. That means you are different than many of us. You were wanted. But, now that you are here, we're all alike. Do you understand?"

After playing together with Tilly for a long time, Kelly began thinking of a plan to help Jeremiah with his job. Kelly spoke to Tilly about it, and when Tilly enthusiastically agreed, they went to Jeremiah. They whispered to him Kelly's plan. A wide grin came over his face, and he agreed to help them with their enterprise. Later that day, at the top of the staircase, a tent was erected by Tilly, Kelly and Jeremiah. A sign proudly proclaimed the name of their company. Printed in bold letters by Jeremiah, it read, "TILLY and ME, INC."

Kelly and Tilly are very busy little ones these days. They are special assistants to Jeremiah, and they personally present hand-made gifts to every new little one that arrives. You may already know what they give to the new arrivals. Each one now receives a hug and a little eighteen-inch square quilt with stair steps on them and the words, "From Tilly and me." Each of them are a specific design and color and have the initials RJB in the lower right corner. Kelly doesn't know where the idea came from, but you do.

LJL 11-10-08

This story is written for and dedicated to my kids, Jason and Regi Baker. It was inspired by Regi's blog entry entitled "Quilt Therapy" and by a comment from Janella on that same entry.