A Christmas story

The Queen of the Stars

Peter Kopa, Prague, December 24, 2025

Breaking with the protocol of this think tank, I think it would be nice to share a story I wrote some time ago. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and readers in various countries a Merry Christmas.

Decades ago, there was once a very happy family in a village in northern Spain called Suances. One of the daughters was named Maria, or Mari, as her five brothers and parents affectionately called her. She was eight years old, with eyes as clear as the sea, very beautiful, cheerful and lively, full of life and energy. She was one of those girls who could win anyone over with her gaze, conveying joy.

The family lived on the edge of the village, on a hill that allowed them to enjoy the view of the Cantabrian Sea, which delighted them every day with an incredible play of light and color, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the scents of orange blossoms, lilacs, and honeysuckle from the garden invaded everything, stunning them with their fragrance.

The house was made of brick and wood, so it resembled a living being, because its creaks gave warning of every step and movement. Its walls exuded the aroma of the centuries-old oak trees that provided the wood for the construction of the house, which was very spacious, with a living room dominated by a fireplace, where pine and fir trees crackled in the cold of winter, providing warmth for the daily gatherings after dinner.

The father, Don Juan, was at the age when a Spanish gentleman becomes a patriarch, both because of his numerous offspring and because of the esteem in which he was held not only in the village but throughout the surrounding region. He devoted himself to nothing less than breeding fighting bulls, Arabian horses, and agriculture. His wife, Dona Isabel, unlike her husband, was pure nerve and heart, living for her family and taking care of her home all day long.

Mari, along with her younger siblings, used to go to bed early, but not before going outside to gaze at the sparkle of the sea and listen to the gentle murmur of the waves breaking some fifty meters below. Mari’s bed was next to a large window, and when she went to bed, she used to look out at the horizon. One day, her mother had read them a story about the stars and how each one was the guardian angel of someone. Deeply impressed by this story, Mari, tucked into bed, stared at the stars, which to her were like lights on the great blue mantle of the sky, like the lanterns of angels.

Suddenly, she saw one of them wink at her, which made her jump out of bed and lean on the edge of her window to get a better look: the star continued to wink at her affectionately, as if calling her to come out and play. She began to laugh to herself, in an intimate dialogue with her angel, thinking that she loved her very much. She covered her eyes with both hands, as if to hide, and then parted her fingers, feeling the star getting closer and closer… to give her a kiss. Lost in these thoughts, she fell into a deep sleep.

She saw her star approaching her until it took her hand, saying:

• Hello Mari, you’ve finally noticed me. I’ve been waiting for you all your life.
• Well, I’m just a little girl. What’s your name?
• First, I must tell you that I am your guardian angel, and that I have known you since you were born eight years ago, which for me has passed very quickly. Our Father created us, and for him, every angel is different, but he did not give us all names, so you can call me Hugo.

Mari was petrified with a mixture of fear and admiration, because Hugo, although he looked like a boy her age, emanated a strange glow, a heavenly fragrance, a humble grandeur, and a great attraction. Hugo, seeing her like this, said:

• Mari, don’t be afraid of me, we’re friends. Look, I took the form of a person for you. Give me your hand and we’ll go for a walk wherever you want.

Mari managed to overcome her fear, with the little strength of an eight-year-old girl:

• I’d like to visit the stars, the other angels.
• Great, hold my hand and we’ll go to another dimension, where everything is very close.
• What do you mean, another dimension? Don’t you mean fun?
• It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand.

• Let me guide you, that’s my job, even though I’m acting a little out of the ordinary today.
• What are you saying? I don’t understand anything.
• Mari, you have to know that men are not aware of everything they don’t know. What they know is only a drop in the immense sea. So don’t worry about not knowing. You’ll go further if you believe and love.

Suddenly Mari found herself floating in the immensity of outer space, knowing and understanding nothing about dimensions or anything else, feeling overwhelmed with infinite joy. The stars passed by at breakneck speed, and they even dove into suns and looked closely at stars and more stars, and planets, and even the dark throat of black holes. Then Mari shouted:

• Hugo, which star are you?
• But can’t you see that I’m with you? I am that star. By the way, I have permission from our Father God to name you queen of the stars.
• Hugo, thank you. Why are you so good to me?
• Not me, I’m just following orders. Well, that’s enough for today. See you tomorrow, if you want…

With that, Mari heard the shrill ring of the alarm clock. Seeing before her the wonders she had experienced, she felt that her real world was much less beautiful. Very happy, she went as quickly as possible to the hubbub of breakfast. Unable to contain herself, Mari exclaimed:

• Mom, during the night my angel’s star came to see me and we went out for a long time to look at the stars!
• Mari, dear, you’ve had another one of your dreams, which are more like movies.
• No, no, look: my angel’s name is Hugo, he took me by the hand to another dimension, he told me that men don’t know everything they don’t know, that what they know is like a drop in the ocean.

Don Juan, her father, became very thoughtful, glancing at his wife, who exclaimed:

• Mari, who told you that, or did you get it from a book to make yourself seem important? Girls your age don’t talk like that.
• Yes, I’m serious, during the night I went to another fun place, no, no, dimension. We bathed in suns without getting burned, and we visited a bunch of stars, which up close are huge balls of fire.

Anyway, after breakfast, the whole tribe walked to school, because the town was small. The parents soon forgot about it, happy to have such a lively and imaginative girl. It had been a very sunny day, without clouds, in the middle of spring, which filled the whole garden with its fragrances, where there were hundred-year-old oak trees, olive trees, orange trees, and a meadow to play in. On their way back from school, Javier, Carlos, and Doli (Dolores) went down to the sea, along with Mari and the younger girls. Don Juan accompanied them, armed with his fishing rod, as the sea was calm.

That night, Mari didn’t need to be asked twice to go to bed, because she was hoping that her angel would return to her. She looked up again at the star that kept winking at her, and soon fell into the arms of sleep. Hugo greets her:

• Hi Mari, how are you today?
• Hi Hugo, nice to see you.
• I had a lot of fun watching you play with the waves on the beach. I know your brothers and parents well, and also each of my colleagues who care for them just as I care for you.
• So why don’t they come and see them like you come and see me?
• They do talk to them, without them realizing it. Each one has their own way of caring for them.

That night, after dinner, Don Juan had put on the movie “Back to the Future” because there was no school the next day since it was Saturday. With the images from the movie in her mind, Mari asks him:

• Hugo, do you know how to travel through time?
• That’s the least of it: what do you want to see?
• I want to see how my parents met.
• All right, take my hand, I’ll give you a pleasant surprise.

Once again, they began to fly, like Peter Pan, through the immensity of the skies. Below, Mari saw how the world changed as they went back in history, until they descended and approached the cave in Bethlehem, two thousand years ago. Hugo became a shepherd and gave Mari a fur coat because it was cold. On foot, they approached the site, surrounded by shepherds with their sheep. Mari began to cry with emotion, resting her head on Hugo’s shoulder. She was going to see Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Hugo and Mari made their way through the shepherds and kings until they stood in front of the manger. When she saw her, the Blessed Virgin Mary said,

• Mari, I was waiting for you. Come and give him a hug.

Mari couldn’t say a word; she was trembling with emotion, but her gaze said it all. It was not the time to speak. When she felt Jesus in her arms, she fell into ecstasy for a moment. Hugo said to her:

• Mari, we have to go!
• But Hugo, leave me here and go back to your star alone.
• No, that can’t be. Remember that I just wanted to give you a moment of joy, and a short one at that, because your dream only lasts eight hours. We have to go and see how your parents met: you wanted it!
• Well, sorry, but let me close my eyes so I don’t have to see myself moving away from Jesus.
• Okay, fine, take my hand.

Shortly afterwards, they arrived in April 1992, at Santander Cathedral, where Mari could see the moment when a charming girl of about seventeen, leaving mass with some friends, tripped and fell to the ground. At that very moment, a slightly older student came over and offered her his hand to help her up. She immediately recognized them as her parents. She was wearing a red plaid skirt and her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing a blue Sunday jacket and holding a cigarette between his fingers. Faced with this charming scene, Mari froze, covering her face with both hands, unable to understand how such a trivial coincidence could be the beginning of her family. Hugo remained respectfully silent for a few minutes and then said to her:

• Mari, queen of the stars, we have to go back.
• But Hugo, let me stay a little longer. Look how Dad is inviting her for a drink on the terrace of the bar opposite.
• Mari, we could see much more, but that’s enough for today, I’m sorry.

So they go back in time, and shortly afterwards Mari wakes up with the feeling of having been in another world, cherishing both scenes, that of Bethlehem and that of her parents. During breakfast she exclaimed:

• Mom, during the night, my angel took me on a journey through time, just like in yesterday’s movie. He showed me Jesus in the manger, and then I asked to see how you met Dad: when you left mass, in front of the cathedral in Santander, you tripped and fell, so an older boy came right away to give you his hand to help you up.
• Mari, when did Grandma tell you that story?
• No, I’m telling you, my angel…
• Mari, that’s enough, keep dreaming. Maybe one day you’ll tell us the winning lottery numbers!

At this, everyone at the table burst out laughing, so Mari realized she had to defend herself so they wouldn’t think she was a silly dreamer:

• Yes, I saw you, you had your hair tied back in a ponytail and you were wearing a red plaid skirt, and Dad had a blue jacket and a cigarette between his fingers!

Besides, he invited you for a soda at the bar across from the church. Don Juan’s smile faded and Doña Isabel frowned, frozen for a few moments.

The six children around the table immediately noticed, stopping their laughter and turning their gaze to Mari, who realized that her counterattack had had the desired effect. Since it was Sunday, there was no rush, as the mass they usually attended was not until ten in the morning. Isabel asked her husband to speak to her alone in the living room.

• Juan, how could Mari have found out about those details?
• Well, the grandparents.
• No, because that red skirt, along with the things I brought from my parents’ house after we got married, I put in that trunk in the attic, which is locked.

They immediately went up to the attic, opened the trunk, and sure enough, there was the red skirt, almost at the bottom. They looked at each other with concern. Doña Isabel said:

• Could Mari have a psychic spirit or some kind of connection with the devil?
• Don’t exaggerate, calm down. We can go see the priest, what do you think?

After calling the priest, they left for the parish. Don Juan told him what had happened, and Don Carlos, the parish priest, reacted with a reassuring smile:

• But how can you think such a barbaric thing? I think I can say that Mari is very close to God, and since she is pure energy and imagination, I am not surprised that she dreams that way. The devil cannot come near her, I am sure!
• And what about the skirt?
• Are you sure that no one could have told her about it, like her grandparents or a family friend, or that she couldn’t have stolen the key?

Isabe is quick to answer:

• I’m absolutely sure. Besides, Mari told us that Juan was wearing a blue jacket and had a cigarette between his fingers when we met him, and it’s all true. She even told us that Juan then invited me for a drink at the bar opposite the church. She was spot on about that too.
• Well, well, look: let’s give it some time and see how this develops. You know that in the Bible there are many scenes in which God or an angel speaks to men, such as Saint Joseph or the Virgin Mary. The thing is, when this happens to your own daughter, it becomes dramatic and unbelievable.

Don Juan and Doña Isabel returned home in silence, each mulling over their impressions. They were overjoyed to have a daughter like Mari, and at the same time, they saw that God was taking an interest in her for something very big…

In the days that followed, Mari suffered because, as she fell asleep looking at her star, Hugo no longer came to see her. She therefore thought that she had to deal with it in the prayer she said every day for a few minutes, and that he would surely like her to pray the Holy Rosary better with her parents and older siblings. As the weeks, months, and years passed, she became convinced that God himself would show her the meaning of all those moments spent with Hugo, so as she grew older, those memories became more and more like an intimate treasure hidden in the depths of her soul.

At eighteen, she left her parents’ home to attend university in Santander. She stayed in a residence for female students, where she found the ideal environment for her inner profile and character. There she was surrounded by many friends and loved student life. On weekends she returned to her home in Suances.

Once, as she was leaving Santander Cathedral with her friends—wearing a red plaid skirt and her hair tied back—she tripped and fell to the ground. Immediately, a student of about 22 years old came to her aid and gave her his hand to help her up. He was wearing a blue jacket and had a cigarette between his fingers. When she looked up, Mari was stunned because the young gentleman in front of her was none other than Hugo, her beloved angel, so she couldn’t contain a cry that came out unintentionally from the bottom of her soul:

• Hugo, it’s been so long!

And with that, she threw herself at him to give him a welcome hug after ten years.

The young man, however, looked astonished, as if he did not understand at all why she was greeting him. Seeing the expression on his face, Mari immediately realized that he was someone else, not Hugo, so she blushed with embarrassment, like a tomato, and covering her face, she said to the young man:

• I’m sorry, I mistook you for Hugo, my angel.

She immediately started to run away, but the young man only then realized that she was the one he had once seen in his dreams, so he followed her, shouting:

• “Hey, my queen of the stars…”

Hearing this, Mari stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned her gaze to the young man, staring at him. As she drew the memory of Hugo from the depths of her soul, she now understood that he had identified her by calling her queen of the stars. They both stared at each other in astonishment for a long moment, their eyes glazed over, each realizing the overwhelming magic of that moment. At that moment, Mari realizes that she is wearing the same skirt her mother wore 28 years ago and that the handsome young man who looks at her with infinite affection also has the blue jacket and cigarette between his fingers like her father. Overcoming her feelings, Mari asks him, addressing him informally as a sign of trust in him:

• But why did you tell me I am the queen of the stars?
• Because years ago I had a dream that I didn’t tell anyone about, because no one would believe me: I dreamed of an angel holding the hand of a beautiful girl, and he told me that she was the queen of the stars. This was burned into my heart, and I finally found you: it’s you, my queen of the stars. My name is Hugo, I’m 22 years old, and I study economics.

Mari couldn’t say anything and agreed to have a drink with him at the bar across the street. When Hugo took her hand, she realized that he was doing the same thing as the other Hugo, her angel, ten years ago.