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The Loomploy

Story by Cheryl Pearson - Illustrated by Lea McAndrews

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 The loomploy population was divided into the able and the unable.

 The able could care for themselves in the darkness of the land. The cold did not freeze them for they were able to work hard and make warm coats.
 The unable were sad creatures who could not help themselves. They depended upon the able to make coats for them to keep warm. This worked out fine for the able were eager to please God who had commanded:

"THOU SHALT MAKE COATS!!!!"
 It was said that heaven was a beautifully warm place filled with light. There, everything was perfect. In order to find a very tip top place in heaven one had only to make loads and loads of coats to keep the unables warm! Every able had his own visions of his wonderful place in heaven... just reward for his many coats. Except Tibley.
 Tibley didn't like to make coats. He just couldn't help himself. Everyone thought secretly that maybe Tibley really was an unable but they didn't say so out loud. Once Tibley told the head loomploy about his problem, but it didn't help much. Tibley had said, "I just don't feel like making coats". The head loomploy had looked at him sternly. "You don't have to feel anything! Sometimes I feel like making coats and sometimes I don't! If I just did things when I felt like it... nothing would get done! No coats would be made and no one would get into heaven!"
 Tibley sighed. "Oh well", he thought, but he knew that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't make himself do something if he didn't feel like it.
 So often he would console himself and go sit amongst the unables. Of course the able loomploys thought this just punishment. One of the unables would cuddle near him. Although it could not speak, it would gently touch him now and then. Time went by and Tibley looked forward to being with the unables and his special little friend. Then one day Tibley noticed his little friend was extra quiet and no longer reached to touch him. His little friend was sick. Tibley noticed the little unable's coat had holes in it from long wear and he knew that warmth was the only thing that could bring his little friend back. So Tibley after many years became a true able. He sat down and sewed the most beautiful coat the loomploy world had ever seen. Hurriedly he put it on his little friend but nothing happened. A tear came to his eye and a great ache within him but the little friend did not move.
 Now everyone knows that when judgment day comes that the ables will go to their just reward because of their many good coats but that the unables will never get to heaven but dwell forever in the cold.
 The day came that Tibley should go to heaven. He wasn't sure if they would let him in because he had only sewed one coat his whole life. But nothing was said at the door because Kooble Loomploy who had sewed 3,000 coats in his lifetime was arguing with the Lord. "I don't understand", said Kooble Loomploy, "why everyone else gets to enjoy the same amount of sunshine as me, when I sewed so many more coats! Why look at Tibley over there!! His whole 800 years he only sewed 1 coat. What kind of justice is that?" The Lord smiled at Kooble Loomploy with sadness in his eyes. "My Son", he said, "All that I have is yours!" Kooble Loomploy was not consoled by this, but no matter, for he rushed off into the sunshine with everyone else. They danced and played and drank in the warmth and light. They were in heaven!!!
 Except Tibley. He really didn't belong here... after all... he only sewed one coat. It was for his poor little friend unable. He wondered how he was and longed to be by his side. Heaven was warm and glorious on the outside but it didn't fill the ache and loneliness he felt inside. So with much trepidation one day he approached the Lord. "Lord", he said, in a tiny little voice. "I think that this truly is a beautiful place and truly is heaven for everyone but forgive me because I'm not happy in heaven." Tibley gulped. There he was again not feeling the way he was supposed to and not doing what he was supposed to do. Would the Lord banish him forever from the heaven of warmth and light? The kindest eyes that Tibley had ever seen smiled at him and gently a voice whispered. "And why are you unhappy Tibley?" Tibley gazed back and felt suddenly lost in an ocean of warmth. "Why...Why...I miss my little unable... He needs me. I need him. I want to go back. The Lord again smiled. "Tibley... you can be where you want to be. You have found the truth. Heaven is not a place. It is a state of being, a state of feeling. Never be afraid to love for within you is the true light, the true warmth." And suddenly Tibley did not see the same heaven that everyone else saw. He felt a deep, deep peace and warmth where the ache had been. And beside him instantly the warmth of the touch of his little friend "the unable"... who had been healed.