(this is a long one, bare with me 😭)
"Mother!" My son, Jabez: bringer of pain, skipped over, "I have a very important question for you!"
"Oh yes? What is the matter little sunny boy?" I said as I set my book down and picked little Jabez up.
"You told me that you know everything about anything, right?"
"Oh I wouldn't say that, but I do know quite a bit."
"How did the sun become the yellow color that it's known for today?"
"Ah! The sun! The wonderful mystery of the sky. Come over here Jabez, I have the perfect story to show you."
I led my wonderful but also terrifying son over to one of the library shelves. From there, I pulled an aged book onto the chair that I read and drink coffee at every night.
"Mother, is that a book from your childhood?"
"Not quite my dear child. It's from your grandmother's childhood. She used to get this read to her all the time, and she read it to me. Now, I'm passing the torch onto you."
"Oh. I figured it was from your childhood since you're so old and all."
"Do you want to know why the sun is golden or not? 'Cause I'm really tempted to not tell you," I asked, irritated since Jabez: Bringer of pain assumed I was actually ancient.
"I do mother! I do!"
"Then shut up and listen for once. Now, Once Upon A Time..."
There were three friends in outer space. Their names were Sun, Moon, and Earth.
"Just like what's actually in space!"
"Yes Jabez, just like that. In Fact, you can infer that really easily if you're not an actual idiot!"
The three of them loved to play around in space all the time, but they eventually grew bored of each other. Sun was always an early bird, and Moon was a night owl. Earth was actually a mix of both, but since he's a judgmental little brat that didn't like that the sun was a solid white, he decided to ditch Sun entirely.
"That's really mean," Said Jabez. "Also I thought the moon was also solid white."
"Don't look too much into it. It's a kids story. Plus, that was about as close to a good friendship you could get back then."
"And by back then, you mean when you were my age right?"
"Continuing on. :/"
One day, Earth and Moon decided that they weren't just gonna pretend to be Sun's friend anymore. They decided to show off the fact that they hate him with pride. They constantly made fun of him; they mocked his shape, his color, the fact that he was actually a star-
"The Sun is a star?"
"Yeah, you'd be surprised by the amount of people that didn't know that. Also, could you stop interrupting me?"
"Sorry mother."
If something existed, Earth and Moon would find some way to use it to Sun's disadvantage.
One time, the two decided they were gonna be serious about making fun of Sun. Not with petty little jokes, but with a massive prank. The two of them ordered a massive bucket and put a ton of yellow paint in it. After setting up the bucket, Earth and Moon each held one line of a rope and hid so Sun wouldn't see them.
"This is in space though. I thought there was nothing in space, so how did they hide?"
"It's a kids book, Jabez."
The time came to trip Sun, but he was nowhere to be seen. Moon and Earth waited and waited for what seemed like forever!
"I don't think he's coming..." Earth said sadly.
"I'm sure he will!" Said Moon, "We just have to wait for the right time!"
"The right time doesn't seem to be arriving any time soon."
"No, I'm sure he'll be here in a bit."
"I've thought about it Moon, and I really don't want to do this prank," Earth said, putting down the rope
"What!" Exclaimed Moon, "You came up with the idea, why don't you want to do it any more?"
"I just feel really bad for Sun. I mean, he's just trying to be a good friend and we are ruining it for him! I wouldn't want to feel that way-"
"Feel what way?"
Out in the distance, Sun stood before them with a new glorious shade of gold.
Sun!" Earth ran over and gave a big hug, "Listen man, I'm really sorry about the way I've been treating you these past few days."
"Huh?" Sun asked, "You've been treating me badly? Wow, I didn't even notice! Anyway, I just came back from getting my color redone! Do you like it?"
"Like it?" Exclaimed Moon, "It's probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen!"
Sun looked down in disappointment, but not for long with what Earth had to say about it.
"I really like it Sun. :)"
"And that was the story that basically made me rethink my entire morality as a child. So, did you like it?" I said, setting the book down.
I gave one final look at Jabez: Bringer of pain, and waited for his response.
Eh. I would have made fun of Sun too. He's kind of an idiot."
"To be honest, I thought you were actually going to learn something from this," I said as I stood up from where I was sitting. "But I don't blame you. I would have too."
