Elsie kneels in a flower-filled meadow and looks up as the happy cloud sends a light rain over the pond. Two lizards and a frog enjoy the wet meadow.

A PICTURE BOOK

Elsie and the Gentle Cloud

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Elsie and the Gentle Cloud

Elsie, a brown-skinned child in an orange shirt and blue shorts, reaches toward a worried lavender-gray cloud floating above a sunny wildflower meadow and small pond between green hills.

On a warm afternoon, Elsie walked through a sunny meadow. Yellow and purple wildflowers grew beside a small pond, where little lizards rested on warm rocks.

Above the meadow hovered a small gray cloud. It was round and calm, but its bottom was dark and heavy.

“Hello, Cloud,” Elsie called. “Are you holding rain?”

“Yes,” rumbled the cloud softly. “I am full of rain, but I am scared to let it fall. A big downpour might flatten the wildflowers.”

Elsie crouches among yellow and purple wildflowers as a tiny drop lands on a yellow flower and another glistens on a leaf. The gentle cloud watches from overhead.

Elsie looked closely at the flowers. A breeze bent their thin stems, and then they stood tall again.

One tiny drop slipped from the cloud. Plip! It landed on a leaf. Another fell on a yellow buttercup. Tap! The flower bobbed, then lifted its bright face.

“Listen,” said Elsie. “The flowers like soft drops on their leaves.”

Elsie holds up her hand beneath the low gray cloud while five separate raindrops fall toward her open palm in the sunny meadow.

The cloud floated lower. “What if I make too much rain?”

“We can practise,” said Elsie. She held up one hand. “Try five tiny drops, then pause. We’ll listen together.”

The cloud made one small drop. Plip. Then two, three, four, five. Plip, plip, plip, plip, plip.

Elsie crouches beside the smiling cloud and looks at broad green leaves covered with shining raindrops, surrounded by yellow and purple flowers near the pond.

Elsie and the cloud became very quiet. The leaves answered with soft taps. The flowers nodded, but none fell over.

Elsie smiled. “That was gentle.”

The cloud puffed up proudly. It tried five tiny drops and a pause again. Soon it found a light, even sprinkle that danced across the meadow.

The wildflowers drank the rain. Little lizards lifted their heads and blinked at the cool drops. Rings spread over the pond, and a frog gave a happy croak.

Elsie tipped her face up to the soft patter. “This rain feels nice.”

“It does,” whispered the cloud. “I can be careful and rainy at the same time.”

Elsie waves from a sunny meadow beside a shining pond as the small smiling cloud drifts away in a wide blue sky.

For a while, Elsie and the cloud listened to the leaves tapping softly. When the meadow was fresh and shining, the cloud floated onward across the blue sky.

Elsie waved goodbye. Below, the wildflowers gleamed with tiny drops.