by Angie Doria –
Once upon a time, there was a happy cloud family that loved each other very much.
Father cloud was big and billowy with a fluffy mustache. He loved to play catch the lightning bolt and thunder tag with his children.
Mother cloud had long, velvety, fluffy hair and a sweet loving smile. She wore an apron with cotton candy, sour lightning rocks and kwispy cloud puff balls hidden in the pockets.
Sister cloud kept her hair in braids and loved listening to the latest thunder rock tunes.
Brother cloud wore suspenders to hold up his pants.
One day brother put a lightning bolt under sister. Just before it went “BOOM,” sister floated up, and father stepped on it. Whoosh! His mustache went flying right off!
“It will take me a whole month to grow that back,” Father rumbled.
Buddy cloud was the favorite of the family. He was very small and carried his fluffy, fleecy baby blanket under his arm. Buddy loved it when Father threw him high up in the air and let him fall back down.
“Stop it Daddee,” Buddy giggled. “You’re making me drizzle.”
One day Brother hid Buddy’s blanket behind his back. Mother did not think this was funny.
“Blankie,” Buddy cried. “Give me blankie.”
“Buddy can’t sleep without his blankie,” Mother chided.
“Oh fine,” Brother said. He gave Buddy his blanket.
Sister loved reading to Buddy cloud. She read him stories like “Super Cloud,” “Little Red Riding Cloud” and “The Three Little Clouds and the Big Bad Wind.”
“Sisser,” Buddy said, “me ‘fraid of bad wind.”
“Me too,” Sister said, “but remember the good wind always helps in the end.”
Mother cloud sang a soft, soothing lullaby and rocked Buddy to sleep.
The next day, Mother cloud taught her children about the three kinds of rain.
“When you rain tears of sadness, plants will not grow,” Mother said.
“Yeah and when you rain tears of anger, they don’t grow either,” Brother said with a smirk. “Remember when father got mad and flooded that lady’s garden? Those plants were swimming for days,” Brother chuckled.
“AHEM, listen to your mother,” Father thundered.
“When we rain tears of happiness, the plants do best,” Mother said. “Now concentrate hard and rain on those three flower beds down there.”
Brother cloud tried first.
“Think happy thoughts,” Mother said.
“I’ll just think about Father flooding that lady’s garden,” Brother giggled. Brother started to laugh and rain poured out onto the flower bed below. The flowers bent over with the strain of the pelting rain.
“Not funny thoughts dear,” Mother insisted, “happy thoughts.”
“I can do it,” Sister said. “I’ll just think about the day Buddy was born.”
Rain poured gently out of sister onto a bed of colorful roses below. The buds opened beautifully.
“Perfect,” Mother said.
“Me try,” Buddy said.
Buddy tried hard but he couldn’t rain at all.
“It’s alright,” Sister said. “You will learn soon.”
Brother pinched Buddy.
“Ouch,” Buddy said, as he started to cry. His tears fell onto the flower bed. The flowers did not grow.
Mother zapped Brother with a lightning bolt.
“Ouch,” Brother said, “I was just trying to help.”
“Me want to cry happy rain,” Buddy said with a sniffle.
“You will learn Buddy . . . just let warm, happy thoughts fill your heart,” Mother said, giving Brother a scolding look. “We’ll practice again tomorrow.”
The cloud family enjoyed floating along together.
Without warning, a big, billowy, blustery wind rushed in. The wind was very stormy. The wind blew hard.
“Momma,” Buddy yelled, as the wind blew right at him.
“Buddy!” Mother Cloud screamed reaching toward Buddy, but the wind was too strong.
The wind blew Buddy far away from his family.
Buddy made a sail out of his blankie. He tried to steer back to his family. The wind wouldn’t let him go.
Buddy floated for days, until the wind finally stopped over a farm. The plants on the farm were brown and wilting because they needed water. A little boy and his family lived on the farm. They needed food. They prayed for rain.
Buddy missed his family. His tears poured down in great big drops.
“Look, mom and dad,” the little boy said. “It’s raining. That little cloud is saving our farm. Thank you, little cloud. Thank you for the rain.”
But the rain wasn’t a happy rain. Buddy wanted to help the boy, but he missed family very, very much.
“The rain does not seem to be helping,” the farmer told his family. “We need a steady rain or the plants are going to die.”
Buddy knew he had to cry happy tears for the plants to grow but every time he thought about his family, the unhappy rain just poured out.
Buddy drifted in front of the sun. A cool breeze shaded the boy and his father as they worked hard in the field.
“I love the shade,” the boy said.
Buddy felt kind of happy inside knowing he had helped the boy.
Buddy started giving the boy shade every day when he worked.
When the boy tried to fly his kite and it would not stay up, Buddy held it for him.
“Thank you little cloud,” the boy said smiling.
One day, the father was working hard on his tractor. Sweat poured from his red face. Buddy did his best to shade the father from the sun. The boy was working hard in a different part of the field. Buddy could only shade one of them.
“I wish another cloud was here today,” Buddy said. I know, Buddy thought, I can send my blankie over to shade the boy. Buddy blew his blankie over toward the boy.
The boy looked up and smiled, as the little cloud blanket shaded him from the sun.
The day was hot and long. The little cloud blanket started to wear away as it blocked the hot sun for the boy. By the end of the day, the blanket had worn away to almost nothing.
Buddy put the little piece of blankie that was left in his pocket. He had lost his most precious treasure; and yet he felt happy inside after sharing the thing he loved the most. Buddy let the sun shine through. One, little sad tear fell, when he thought about blankie.
Then, a miracle happened. Buddy rained a gentle, flowing rain, as happiness flooded his heart. From that day on, Buddy knew how to cry happy rain. Every time the plants needed water, Buddy rained on them. All the plants thrived.
Soon it was picking time on the farm. Many families arrived to buy food. The farmer had never had such a grand harvest of all kinds of fruits and vegetables: tomatoes as big as cantaloupes, bushels full of juicy peaches, truckloads full of watermelon, sweet corn, green beans, and squash. Everyone was happy.
Buddy Cloud was glad. Yet, seeing all the families reminded him of his own family. After everyone went home, the rain poured out of him.
The next day the farmer’s wife could feel the chill in the fall wind. A strong, good wind blew past the little farm. Several new clouds blew in.
In the distance Buddy could see one of the bigger clouds throw a lightning bolt. It reminded him of the game he played with Father, Brother and Sister, so long ago. Buddy rushed forward and caught the bolt.
“Son, is that you? No, it can’t be Buddy,” the big cloud sighed.
“Pappa!” Buddy cried. “Pappa . . . is that you?”
Mother cloud looked up and shouted, “Buddy . . . my dear, sweet Buddy!!!”
The cloud family surrounded Buddy in a big loving hug.
“Don’t you EVER get lost like that again,” Brother insisted.
“Oh Buddy,” Sister said, “I knew the good wind would help us find you!”
Mama gave Buddy a big kiss and said, “Look at how you’ve grown.”
The good wind started to blow Buddy and his family away from the farm.
“Not so fast,” Buddy said moving out of the path of the wind. “I want to stay and help the boy.”
“Don’t worry,” the good wind promised. “I will blow you and your family back here so you can help in the Spring.”
“Promise,” Buddy said.
“Of course!” the good wind smiled.
“Goodbye,” Buddy waved to the boy.
The boy smiled and waved goodbye.
The cloud family floated away together in a beautiful, colorful sunset.
the end.
Question Time
1. What did Buddy always carry with him?
2. What kind of tears help the plants to grow?
3. How did Buddy get lost?
4. How did Buddy feel when he helped the family on the farm?
5. What brought Buddy’s family to the farm?
