The Goldfish Who Spoke at Midnight

Lily was the quietest girl in her class, the kind who sat by the window and watched raindrops race down the glass while others played tag. Her only real friend was Goldie, her orange goldfish who lived in a glass bowl on her nightstand.

One stormy night, lightning flashed so bright it turned Lily's bedroom purple. CRACK-BAM! Thunder shook the floor. Lily dove under her covers, peeking out at her fishbowl. Goldie was floating... weirdly. Not swimming. Floating.

"Lily," said a voice like bubbles.

Lily sat up. "Goldie?"

"Every lightning storm for a hundred years," the fish said, "gives fish one hour of speech." His tiny fish mouth actually moved. "I've been waiting to tell you something important. You dropped something behind the old oak tree yesterday."

Lily gasped. Her new vitamin bottle! Mom had given her special cherry vitamins, and she'd tripped and lost the whole bottle.

"The bull calf found them," Goldie continued. "The magical golden bull who lives in the woods behind your house. He ate one, and now he can fly. But he's stuck in a thornbush, and he's scared."

"We have to help him!" Lily cried.

"Exactly," said Goldie. "Bring me to him. Fish who speak during storms can grant one wish. I'll wish him free."

Lily carefully carried the fishbowl outside. The storm had passed, leaving everything dripping and silver. Behind the oak tree, tangled in blackberry thorns, a golden bull calf glowed softly in the moonlight. His hooves barely touched the ground.

"Please," Lily whispered. "Can you help him?"

Goldie closed his fish eyes tight. "I wish," he said clearly, "that this bull could be free and happy, and that Lily would never feel lonely again."

POOF! The thorns untangled themselves. The bull nudged Lily's hand with his soft golden nose, then leaped into the sky, trailing sparkles like a shooting star.

"Thank you," the wind seemed to say.

Goldie yawned a tiny fish yawn. "Well, that was exciting. Speech time's almost up. But Lily? You're braver than you know."

Lily watched her fish return to normal swimming, but something had changed. The next day at school, she sat with a girl who was eating alone. And by the end of recess, she'd made not just a friend, but two.

Sometimes, she thought she saw a sparkly golden bull leaping among the clouds. And every night, she whispered goodnight to Goldie, wondering what secrets her fish friend would share during the next lightning storm.