Everything Is
Rubbish

When Leo opened his eyes that morning, he could already hear it.

Rain.

It drummed against the window and ran down the glass in little streams. Outside, the sky hung grey and heavy over the rooftops.

Leo pulled the duvet back up to his nose.

Today of all days.

He was going to meet Mika after school. The new ice cream shop around the corner had opened, and today there would be special offers they really wanted to try.

With all this rain, they could probably forget about that.

The day had barely begun, and Leo was already fed up.

At breakfast, things carried on just the same.

Leo knocked his glass with his elbow. Cocoa splashed across the table, ran down his sleeve and dripped onto the floor.

“Oh, great.”

While Leo pushed up his wet sleeve, Mum wiped the table and put his lunchbox in his schoolbag.

Of course, the cocoa had landed on his favourite jumper.

So Leo had to change his clothes again.

What a morning.

When Leo came into the hallway a little later, WuselMo was already by the front door. Every time the rain pattered especially loudly, his big ears twitched a little, until they began to droop lower and lower.

Leo pulled up his hood and set off.

Just two houses along, Mika was waiting for him under a big umbrella.

“Come on,” he said, moving over.

From there, the rest of the walk to school could have been quite dry.

Could have been.

Because just a few steps later, Leo stepped right into a puddle.

Cold water seeped through his shoe, and his sock clung unpleasantly to his foot.

Of course.

At school, things carried on in exactly the same way.

When Leo opened his pencil case, the pencil he liked writing with best was missing.

He rummaged among his rubber, ruler and coloured pencils.

Nothing.

“Just my luck,” he muttered.

Ben had noticed him searching. He took one of his freshly sharpened pencils and slid it over to Leo.

“Here, take this one.”

Leo thanked him and began to write.

At break time, the rain was still drumming against the windows.

Leo and Mika could probably forget about visiting the new ice cream shop.

When Leo opened his lunchbox, everything inside had slid about too. His sandwich had fallen apart, the filling was lying beside it, and a piece of cucumber was stuck to the lid.

Leo stared into the box.

Of course.

Now he had to put it all back together before he could eat.

After school, Leo and Mika walked home together, trying to avoid the puddles.

But Mika accidentally stepped right into a particularly big one.

Splash!

Water splashed all over Leo’s trousers.

Mika burst out laughing – and Leo joined in.

Then Leo noticed the splashes on his trousers.

“Oh no!”

Beside him, WuselMo shook out his wet fur and trudged on. Somehow, he looked bigger than usual today. His fur hung heavily from his body, and even his usually lively tail almost dragged along the ground.

When Leo got home, Mum was just coming in with the shopping.

Leo told her they probably wouldn’t be going to the ice cream shop after all.

While he took off his wet clothes, Mum put the shopping away. She slipped a tub of ice cream into the freezer.

Leo was already busy with his wet trousers again.

By now, he was sure of one thing:

Today was simply not a good day.

Leo sank down onto the rug.

WuselMo settled beside him – and Leo looked over in amazement.

At some point during the day, WuselMo must have grown enormously.

His shaggy fur spread heavily across the rug, his belly had become huge, and his big ears drooped tiredly. Even his usually bright colours looked darker and duller.

Leo leaned against him.

Today, everything really was rubbish.

For a while, the two of them just sat there.

Then a warm breeze drifted through the room, and a moment later Philo floated in.

He settled near Leo and listened.

Leo told him about his rubbish day.

When he finished, Philo didn’t disagree.

After all, those things really had happened.

For a moment, everything was quiet. Then Philo’s leafy feelers began to glow softly.

“And what else?”

Leo looked at him, puzzled.

A little light floated away from Philo’s feelers.

Plipp!

Suddenly, Leo found himself thinking about the morning again.

While he had been upset about the cocoa, Mum had packed his lunchbox.

Later, at break time, he had discovered that she had packed his favourite sandwich.

It had tasted really good.

He had barely given it a thought.

That had happened today too.

And there was more.

On the way to school, Mika had shared his umbrella with him and moved over especially to make room for Leo.

As he did, Mika’s own shoulder had slowly got wet.

Leo had only noticed his own wet sock.

Now he realised what he had missed:

Mika had got wet himself so that Leo could fit under the umbrella.

And Ben?

He had simply slid a freshly sharpened pencil over to him.

Just like that.

Leo hadn’t even had to ask.

Ben had seen that he was missing something and helped him.

In the middle of that rubbish morning, someone had made things a little easier for him.

And Leo had almost missed it.

Beside Leo, WuselMo’s enormous belly had now grown a little smaller.

Now the memories came all by themselves.

Leo thought about Mika stepping into the puddle, and how they had both laughed.

Then he remembered the tub of ice cream in the freezer.

Their trip to the ice cream shop had been washed out.

But there would still be ice cream today.

Mum knew exactly which ice cream Leo liked best.

Leo looked at Philo.

“There were lots of lovely things today too,” he said softly.

“I just didn’t see them straight away.”

Philo smiled and nodded.

Beside them, WuselMo sat up. His ears stood tall again, his colours shone more brightly, and hardly anything remained of that huge, heavy mountain of fur.

Leo went to the window.

WuselMo padded after him. He was back to his usual small size and had to stretch a little to see outside.

Philo joined them too.

It was still raining outside. Drops ran down the glass and gathered on the leaves.

For a while, Leo simply looked out.

“The rain is still rubbish,” he said.

At the edge of the garden stood a little flower. That morning, its leaves had been drooping.

Now it was slowly lifting itself up again.

Sometimes a day seems full of rubbish things. And yet, tucked in between them are little lovely moments that deserve to be noticed too.

Because sometimes the good things are already there.

We just have to spot them among everything else.