The Paper Boat

Kai lived in a small house next to a river. Every afternoon after school, he sat on the wooden pier and watched the water carry leaves, branches and sometimes a lost ball.

“Where does the river go?” he asked his grandmother one day. “To many places,” she said. “Villages, cities and, at the end, the sea.”

That evening, Kai took a sheet of paper and wrote in big letters: “Hello! My name is Kai. Who are you?” Then he folded the paper into a boat, just as his grandmother had taught him.

The next morning, he put the boat on the water. It turned twice, as if it were saying goodbye, and then the current carried it away behind the trees.

Every day, Kai waited on the pier. A week passed, and nothing happened. “A river doesn't flow backwards,” his grandmother said gently. “Answers take other roads.”

Far away, in a village downstream, a girl named Noor found a wet paper boat caught in the reeds. She unfolded it, dried it in the sun and read the message with a big smile.

Noor wrote her answer on the other side and gave it to old Mr. Ruiz, who took his ferry up the river every Saturday. “Please look for a boy called Kai,” she asked.

That Saturday, the ferry stopped next to Kai's pier. Mr. Ruiz held up a wrinkled piece of paper. “Are you Kai? I have a letter for you,” he said.

“Hello, Kai! I'm Noor. I live where the river meets the big bridge,” the letter said. “Send me another boat. I'll be waiting.” From that day on, the river and the old ferry carried their letters every week.