Kathy was 10 years old.
She was also very, very ill.
You see, she had a very aggresive kind of cancer. Some days it hurt a lot, other days it didn't. It left her tired and weak ALL the time. Most days she couldn't even get out of bed.
She had some friends that came to visit her and talk to her about school and stuff. She really liked those visits because they helped her think about fun things, even if she couldn't have the fun herself. But her friends didn't come quite as often anymore.
Kathy understood. She knew that she wasn't all that fun to be with. And she knew that the illness and the medications and whatever else made her room smell a little funny, too. So she was glad when her friends came but she knew why they didn't.
Life wasn't ALL bad, though. Kathy had another friend. At least, she thought of it as a friend. This friend came EVERY day and talked to her EVERY day. The problem was, Kathy couldn't understand what her friend was saying -- she doesn't speak bird.
That's right, her friend was a bird. A beautiful blue bird.
One day it just hopped up on the sill of her open bedroom window and started talking, or chirping, or whatever you call it. It sure SOUNDED like talking the way it went on and on.
Kathy would talk back to the bird, too. She would talk to the bird about everything that was happening to her. She would tell it how she felt about being sick, about how much she liked it when her friends came to visit, about her family and the way they took such good care of her, and even about dying.
Yes, she knew she was dying. Even though her family and friends would never mention it, she just knew. She wasn't really scared of dying, but she didn't quite know what to think or how to feel, either. She would ask the bird what he knew about dying, and the bird would say something in return. But since Kathy couldn't speak or understand bird language, she could only imagine what her little blue friend was saying.
Then, one day, the pain was REALLY bad. The only bright spot of the whole day was when her little blue friend came to talk to her. It stayed and chirped with her all day long. It must have known something was different that day because, for the first time ever, it also sang a beautiful little birdsong to her.
Not just once, either. The bird must have been able to see the smile that its song brought to Kathy's pained expression, because it sang that happy little birdsong over and over.
Later, after the cancer had finally won, Kathy's little Bluebird of Happiness flew away in search of another pure heart that needed cheering up.