We are Stepan and Nare, cheerful friends who never miss an adventure. We study at the same school, in the 3rd and 5th grades, and our friendship began during an essay competition organized by the Yerevan Municipality, where we were selected among the top three finalists. That experience inspired us to continue our creative journey together.
Soon after, we learned about another literary competition. With the guidance of our mentor, Stepan’s mother, we formed a team and began preparing for a new challenge. To find inspiration, our parents took us to the Charents Museum of Literature and Art of Armenia, where an exhibition dedicated to the life and work of William Saroyan was being held.
From the very first moment, the museum opened a new universe for us. We carefully explored the exhibition hall, studied the artworks, and shared our impressions with each other. When we saw William Saroyan’s bicycle, we instantly felt that it was not just an exhibit, but a symbol. At that moment, we knew it would become one of the main heroes of our story. We gathered around it, took photos, and imagined ourselves riding it through Saroyan’s magical world.
As we walked through the exhibition, we read Saroyan’s thoughts written on the walls and began to understand him not only as a writer, but also as a dreamer and a philosopher. We discovered his universe, the symbolic green life of April 24, the joyful and colorful painting titled “Laziness”, “The First Day of Summer”, his self-portraits, the musical notes of May 24, and many other worlds hidden within his art.
Each painting became a separate galaxy for us. In every image, we saw a new story, a new fairy tale, and a new emotion. We felt that in Saroyan’s world, colors have a soul. Throughout our journey, Saroyan accompanied us on his bicycle, patiently listening to our thoughts and interpretations.
By the time we were still in the museum, the storyline of our short story was already taking shape. Later, at home, each of us wrote our own part of the story. Our mentor made a few spelling and grammatical corrections, after which we typed the text ourselves on the computer. Thanks to our computer literacy classes at school, we were able to prepare the digital version independently.
After completing and formatting the text, we printed it and submitted it to the competition. Thus, our magical journey through the galaxy of Saroyan’s colors turned into a literary work.
We are proud to carry the heritage of a great Armenian whose name is known throughout the world, and through our story we tried to unite our imagination with William Saroyan’s vision.