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A busy morning

Milo's pinwheel was busy before he reached the grass.
Blue, gold, blue, gold.
He held the wooden handle still.
The paper did all the turning.
'You have started without me,' he told the wind.
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Trying to follow

He tried to watch one blue corner.
It came round, vanished, and came round again.
Milo laughed.
His eyes could not keep up.
He looked at the round middle instead, which stayed where it was.
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At the wall

Beside the brick wall, the turning slowed.
Milo waited for the blue corner.
It went halfway round and stopped.
The wall was warm against his back.
The wind seemed to have gone somewhere else.
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A leaf knew

A dry leaf skittered across the open path.
Milo stepped away from the wall.
The pinwheel trembled.
Then it turned again.
'Oh,' he said. 'You are over here.'
The leaf hurried on without answering.
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Across the grass

He walked where the grass bent.
The breeze brushed one ear, then the other.
Milo turned his whole body.
For a moment the pinwheel spun faster.
It seemed to like the direction he had found.
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A sudden quiet

Then everything settled.
The leaf lay flat.
The grass stood up.
Milo's pinwheel showed four separate corners again.
He could finally follow the blue one.
It was not going anywhere at all.
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Waiting differently

He sat on the low porch step.
Waiting felt longer when he watched the paper.
So he watched the tree instead.
One leaf moved high in the branches.
Then another.
Something was coming through the garden.
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From another side

This breeze touched the back of his neck.
Milo stood and turned toward it.
The gold corner began to travel.
'You changed your mind,' he said.
The wind had no mind to explain, only more places to go.
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A little journey

He followed it as far as the garden corner.
The pinwheel turned quickly, then slowly.
Milo slowed too.
He was not chasing anything now.
He was taking his paper wheel for a walk with the air.
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Blue and gold

At the door, a quieter breeze found him.
The wheel made one last easy turn.
Blue came to the top.
Gold settled beside it.
Milo could see the folds in the paper and the small shadows inside them.
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A place to rest

He put the handle in a heavy little jar.
The pinwheel stood beside the window.
Outside, the tree moved.
Inside, the paper stayed still.
Both seemed quite content with what they were doing.
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Tomorrow's visitor

Milo left it there for morning.
He did not know which way the wind would come.
The blue corner did not know either.
There would be time to turn around when they found out.
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