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The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains:

Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.

The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn't wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like 'I wish there wasn't so much litter in the park,' 'I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings', and 'I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.'

If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.


Yasmeen made her way through the festival. They hadn't been able to make it back in a week and a half, and there were a few days left. This time, Yasmeen really wanted to swing past the tree. She'd done so both of the last couple years, ever since she learned how to write. Lights glittered in rainbow hues, reflecting off the starry ornaments decorating its leafy boughs, which also hung heavy with purple blossoms. Paper folded by origami into stars, some stars wrought of shining metal, others molded of plastic or glass. Honestly, it was quite a beautiful sight. The young girl smiled to see it as she approached, accompanied by her mother, who always wrote her wishes for the well-being of the children of Destiny City on paper. Given her role as a substitute teacher and part-time librarian, it wasn't surprising that Thuraya made wishes like that.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a line tonight to reach the table. On their way, they stopped at a booth for Japanese snacks, picking up taiyaki, some konpeito, and another star before joining the line. Yasmeen slipped both star and konpeito into her bag, and took a bite of the piping hot taiyaki. Hot and sweet, like a jam-filled waffle, shaped into a cute-looking fish, but not sweet to the point of sugary.

Thuraya smiled down at Yasmeen. "Do you know what you're wishing for this year?"

The girl swallowed her current bite. "I think so, and I think I want to ask for something ambitious that I think other kids will like, too!" she replied with a grin.

Thuraya smiled. "Excellent." Then her smile faded as she met Yasmeen's eyes. Yasmeen's smile faded, too. Unspoken between them was the knowledge that the wishes they hung on the tree weren't their dearest wishes, which they would save for the park. And this was why Khaz didn't write wishes at all. The first year he stopped, he said it didn't change anything, wishes like that didn't come true. But he'd sounded so sad and hurt when he said it. Khaz sometimes came to write wishes he could hang on the tree, if he thought of something good, but he was more likely to fulfill someone else's wish than to make one himself.

And he never wrote a wish that had to be buried in the park. Not anymore.

Which was where they'd be going after hanging a wish on the Wishing Tree.

Yasmeen squeezed her mother's hand, and Thuraya squeezed her daughter's hand back. There would be enough time for sad thoughts when they went to the park. Now was a time for optimism and hope. And for her Wishing Tree wish, Yasmeen had a pretty good one.

The taiyaki was gone by the time they got to the front of the line, where stacks of colorful paper with a bit of twine looped through the hole rested next to a whole basket of pens, pencils, and crayons. Mother and daughter nodded to each other, and each snagged a couple of pieces of paper before settling to the serious task of writing thoughtful wishes as neatly and concisely as possible.

After a moment of searching through the basket and the stacks, Yasmeen selected a green piece of paper and a pink, as well as a red colored pencil. Pursing her lips a little, she sorted through her words, and then started with the pink one, which would go on the tree. Snagging a metallic gold pencil someone else had finished using, she inscribed the green one, which would be buried in the park.

Yasmeen had just finished when her mother came to check on her. Yasmeen looked up and smiled before depositing her pencils in the basket, scooping up both pieces of paper. The green went immediately into her bag, where her mother slipped a blue one. Together, they approached the tree, and hung up their wishes. Before leaving, they each took a different wish off the tree, Yasmeen selecting a bright yellow, Thuraya a soft purple. As they made their way back to the parking lot, Thuraya asked, "What wish did you hang on the tree?" She didn't ask about the wish being buried, because that one was immutable.

Yasmeen grinned, "I decided to try asking for a better list of rewards for the library's summer reading list. I don't think the city council realizes that most kids don't think pencils and erasers and a photo opportunity with the city mayor is cool, and I know you've complained they haven't changed the prizes in 20 years."

Thuraya laughed. "That's a good wish! I asked for more community gardens to feature fruit trees people can harvest themselves; with how expensive fruit is, despite being healthy, community gardens that put greater emphasis on fruiting plants can help local communities get produce more cheaply. Plus, the trees, once mature, will provide shade, oxygen, and reduce the carbon dioxide humans put into the atmosphere."

"That's such a cool wish! But won't it take a long time to fulfill?"

"Yes, it will, but, sometimes, the best wishes are the ones that take time to fulfill. Plus, if we never work on those wishes today, and sit around waiting for someone else to take the initiative, when will those wishes ever get fulfilled?" Thuraya's smile was bright and warm as she spoke. "What wish did you pull off the tree?" she asked once Yasmeen was buckled into the car.

"Hmmm? Oh," Yasmeen said, taking the blue paper out of her bag and peering at the scrawl, which was in pink crayon. "It says, 'I don't know what to read this summer for the reading list, and neither do my friends.'"

"Oooh. That's a good wish, too, straightforward, and helpful."

"Yeah, but they don't mention a reading level."

"No, they don't, but it sounds like it was written by an elementary schooler. So you can start with elementary school, and if you're feeling really ambitious, I can help you come up with suggestions for middle school and high school. Whatever you come up with, I can ask the other librarians if we can post a copy on the website, and in all the city's libraries."

"Really?!" Yasmeen asked with an excited grin. Technically, since she had written two wishes, but only taken one, only one would probably be granted. But maybe overkill on fulfilling the wish taken off the tree might go toward fulfilling the second wish. Or, at least, such was the theory Yasmeen and Thuraya had been working off; Khaz had done so, too, until he stopped.

Thuraya nodded as they parked in the parking lot for the park where wishes were buried. Both smiles faded as they got out and started walking. Spades were available in a bucket, and they each took one. Kneeling in the dirt, Yasmeen plucked out the green paper with its wish. Clutching it to her chest and squeezing her eyes shut, the little girl reiterated her wish to herself in silence before placing it in the hole she'd dug.

The words that were buried in the soil were as simple as they were heartfelt and filled with longing:

I want Daddy to come home to stay with us, so we can be a family again.