Did you know that sometimes, when the moon shines extra bright, it whispers secrets? Well, tonight, it was whispering to Scarlett.
Scarlett was playing with her toy cat in her room. It was almost bedtime, and the moon outside her window looked like a giant, glowing cookie! Dad peeked in. "Ready for bed, little one?" he asked. Scarlett nodded, but then she heard it – a tiny, whispery voice. "Come play," it said. She looked at Dad, but he didn’t seem to hear anything.
The voice came again. "Come play on the moon!" Scarlett giggled. The moon wanted to play? That sounded like fun! She took her cat toy and, very quietly, climbed out her window.
The moonbeams felt soft under her feet, like walking on clouds. Up, up, up she floated, until she landed with a soft bounce on the moon! It was bright white and covered in craters. She could even see Earth far away, a colorful ball hanging in the darkness.
"Hello?" she called out.
"Over here!" A tiny voice squeaked.
Sitting by a big crater was a fluffy white rabbit! It had long ears and a little pink nose. "Hi," said Scarlett. "Did you ask me to play?"
The rabbit hopped closer. "I did! I'm the Moon Rabbit, and I get lonely up here. But I can’t leave the moon."
Scarlett frowned. She knew how that felt. Sometimes when Dad was busy with his car, she felt lonely too. "I know what that's like," she said. "It's sad to be lonely."
The Moon Rabbit hopped a little closer. "Do you… do you think you could stay and play with me? Just for a little bit?" he asked, his nose twitching.
Scarlett wanted to play, but she also knew Dad would be sad if he couldn't find her. She thought for a moment. Then she had an idea!
"I have an idea!" she exclaimed. She closed her eyes and thought really, really hard about her Dad. She thought about how much he loved her and how much she loved him.
Suddenly, the moonbeams around them started to shimmer and swirl. When the light faded, Dad was standing there, blinking in surprise!
"Scarlett? How… what…?" He looked around at the moon in amazement.
Scarlett beamed. "Dad, this is the Moon Rabbit! He was lonely, and I wanted to play with him. But you were home, and I didn't want you to be lonely too!"
Dad smiled. He knelt down and gave Scarlett a big hug. "That's called empathy, sweetheart," he said. "It means thinking about how other people feel. And you were right, I would have been very lonely without you."
He turned to the Moon Rabbit. "It's nice to meet you," he said. "We'd love to play for a little while.”
Scarlett and Dad spent the rest of the night playing moon games with the Moon Rabbit. They hopped over craters, played tag with the shooting stars, and told each other stories. When it was time to go, the Moon Rabbit gave Scarlett a warm hug. "Thank you," he whispered. "You’re a good friend, Scarlett."
Then, just as quickly as they had arrived, Scarlett and Dad were floating back down to their house, bathed in the soft glow of the moon. As Scarlett drifted off to sleep, she could have sworn she heard the moon whispering again, this time thanking her for her empathy. She smiled, snuggled into her blankets, and dreamed of fluffy rabbits and moonbeams.
