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<v Speaker 1>US studios.

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<v Speaker 2>The bedroom was almost dark. The curtains were drawn, and

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<v Speaker 2>the hallway light had been turned off ten minutes ago,

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<v Speaker 2>but Maya was not sleeping. She lay on her back,

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<v Speaker 2>staring at the ceiling, her blanket pulled up to her chin.

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<v Speaker 2>The house was quiet, except for the hum of the

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<v Speaker 2>air conditioner and the distant sound of crickets through the window.

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<v Speaker 2>Then she heard her father's footsteps in the hallway, soft,

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<v Speaker 2>careful the way he walked. When he knew she was

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<v Speaker 2>still awake, The door opened just enough for a hand

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<v Speaker 2>to slip through, and then he was there, sitting on

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<v Speaker 2>the edge of her bed, a small flashlight in his hand.

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<v Speaker 2>Still up, he whispered. Maya nodded. She did not need

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<v Speaker 2>to say anything. He always knew. He clicked the flashlight

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<v Speaker 2>on and held up, letting the beam hit the wall

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<v Speaker 2>across the room. The light made a bright circle on

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<v Speaker 2>the painted surface, and for a moment it was just

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<v Speaker 2>a circle, just light on wall. Then his other hand

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<v Speaker 2>moved in front of it and a shape appeared. Two

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<v Speaker 2>fingers extended, a thumb out. The shadow on the wall

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<v Speaker 2>was a bird. Maya smiled. She had seen this a

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<v Speaker 2>hundred times, but it never got old. The bird flapped

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<v Speaker 2>its wings, rising and falling, and her father made a

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<v Speaker 2>soft chirping sound with his mouth. Then the bird landed

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<v Speaker 2>on an invisible branch, and the hand shifted, and the

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<v Speaker 2>bird became a dog, trotting across the wall with a

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<v Speaker 2>wagging tail. Where is the dog going, Maya asked, where

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<v Speaker 2>do you think? Her father said, to the river course,

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<v Speaker 2>to the river. Every dog goes to the river. Eventually,

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<v Speaker 2>the dog trotted to the edge of the light circle

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<v Speaker 2>and stopped. Then it sat down, and its ears perked up,

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<v Speaker 2>and something new appeared beside it, a rabbit, small, twitching

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<v Speaker 2>its nose. The rabbit hopped forward, and the dog watched it.

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<v Speaker 2>And for a while the two shadows simply existed together

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<v Speaker 2>on the wall, neither moving, both perfectly still. Maya's breathing slowed.

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<v Speaker 2>She felt the warmth of her father beside her, the

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<v Speaker 2>weight of his hand on the blanket, the steady rhythm

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<v Speaker 2>of his voice as he began to tell a story.

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<v Speaker 2>Once he said, there was a shadow that lived on

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<v Speaker 2>a bedroom wall. It had been there as long as

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<v Speaker 2>any one could remember. It watched the family every day.

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<v Speaker 2>It saw the mother make breakfast. The hand on the

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<v Speaker 2>wall dropped and the shadows vanished. The room was just

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<v Speaker 2>a room again, dark and quiet. Maya held her breath.

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<v Speaker 2>Then the flashlight clicked back on and a new shape appeared.

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<v Speaker 2>This one was different. It was not a person or

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<v Speaker 2>an animal. It was a small, trembling shape, like a

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<v Speaker 2>leaf in wind. This was the shadow. When it was afreed,

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<v Speaker 2>her father said, small shaking, not sured with real Maya

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<v Speaker 2>watched the trembling shape on the wall. It did look afraid.

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<v Speaker 2>It looked like something that might disappear at any moment.

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<v Speaker 2>But then her father said, the shadow noticed something. Every morning,

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<v Speaker 2>when the sun came through the window, it returned. Every evening,

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<v Speaker 2>when someone turned on a lamp, it appeared again. The

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<v Speaker 2>shadow had been disappearing every night for years, and every

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<v Speaker 2>morning it came back. It had never once failed to return.

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<v Speaker 2>The trembling shape on the wall slowly stopped trembling. It

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<v Speaker 2>grew larger, steadier. It became a bird again, and this

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<v Speaker 2>time the bird flew in a wide circle around the room,

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<v Speaker 2>confident and free. The shadow realized that it was not

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<v Speaker 2>made of darkness. Her father said, it was made of light,

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<v Speaker 2>any light, the sun, a lamp, a flashlight. He moved

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<v Speaker 2>the beam, and the bird followed, swooping across the wall.

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<v Speaker 2>As long as there was light, there would be a shadow,

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<v Speaker 2>and light the shadow discovered was everywhere. Maya's eyes were

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<v Speaker 2>heavy now. The bird on the wall drifted to a

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<v Speaker 2>stop and became a sleeping cat, curled into a tight surfa.

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<v Speaker 2>The flashlight beam narrowed, making the cat smaller and smaller,

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<v Speaker 2>until it was just a tiny shape and a pool

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<v Speaker 2>of light. That is my favorite one, Maya murmured, the cat,

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<v Speaker 2>the cat. Her father clicked the flashlight off. The room

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<v Speaker 2>was dark again, but it was not the same darkness

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<v Speaker 2>as before. It was a soft darkness, a familiar darkness,

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<v Speaker 2>the kind that comes when someone you love is sitting

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<v Speaker 2>beside you. Maya felt her father's hand on her forehead,

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<v Speaker 2>gentle and warm, pushing her hair back from her face.

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<v Speaker 2>Good Night, little shadow, he whispered, good night, Papa. She

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<v Speaker 2>heard him stand, she heard the door close, she heard

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<v Speaker 2>his footsteps fade down the hallway, and then she was

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<v Speaker 2>alone in the dark. But she was not afraid. She

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<v Speaker 2>thought about the shadow on the wall, the one that

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<v Speaker 2>had been afraid of disappearing, the one that learned it

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<v Speaker 2>was made of light. She thought about how every night

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<v Speaker 2>the darkness came, and every morning it left. She thought

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<v Speaker 2>about how the flashlight had made a bird and a dog,

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<v Speaker 2>and a rabbit, and a family and a sleeping cat,

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<v Speaker 2>all from the simplest things. A hand and a light

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<v Speaker 2>maya closed her eyes. She breathed in, slowly, held it,

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<v Speaker 2>and let it out. The air conditioner hummed, the cricket sang,

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<v Speaker 2>and somewhere in the house a light was still on,

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<v Speaker 2>casting a thin line of gold under her door, a

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<v Speaker 2>reminder that even in the darkest room, there was always

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<v Speaker 2>something glowing, always something wh