Elsie and the orange bird lean from the little green train as a bright rainbow arches from the cloud-covered track into the glowing sky.

A PICTURE BOOK

The Little Train Above the Clouds

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The Little Train Above the Clouds

In a dim attic filled with boxes, Elsie kneels beside a tiny green train on curved tracks. Its carriage door is open, and a sign on the roof says, “LAST RIDE BEFORE THE RAINBOW.”

One rainy afternoon, Elsie found a tiny train track in the attic of her apartment building. It curled around old boxes and dusty lamps. At the front waited a green train with one empty carriage.

A paper sign on its roof said, “LAST RIDE BEFORE THE RAINBOW.”

“But the rainbow is outside,” said Elsie.

The little train gave a soft toot. Its carriage door swung open.

Elsie leans from the open door of the little green train among snowy clouds while a small orange bird stands beside the track in the rain.

Elsie climbed in. The train rolled across the attic floor, then up a wooden ramp she had never noticed. Up, up, up it went—through the round window and straight into a great gray cloud.

Inside, the cloud was wet and white. Raindrops plinked on the roof. Elsie could not see a rainbow anywhere.

Then she heard a tiny sniffle. Beside the track sat a little orange bird. Its feathers were wet and flat.

“A gust blew away my brightest feather,” said the bird. “It makes my nest look sunny.”

Elsie steps down from the green train onto soft clouds. An orange bird watches nearby, and an orange feather lies under a clear round raindrop between cloud mounds.

Elsie peered along the cloudy track. Between two puffy cloud hills, a flash of orange showed in a narrow crack.

“I see it!” she cried.

The train could not fit through. Elsie climbed down, holding its silver handrail. The cloud felt firm under her yellow boots, soft as a pillow.

She squeezed between the cloud hills. The orange feather was trapped beneath a clear raindrop, round as a marble.

Elsie pushes a large clear raindrop down a cloud slope. The orange feather is beneath it as the orange bird flutters nearby with its wings spread.

Elsie pushed the raindrop. It would not move. She put both hands against it and pushed again.

Slowly, the raindrop rolled down the cloud slope, carrying the feather with it.

“Catch it!” called Elsie.

The bird fluttered after it. The feather landed right in its beak. The bird shook its wings, sending drops flying. Its feathers puffed up bright and warm.

“Thank you,” chirped the bird. “Now look behind you.”

Elsie turned around. The gray cloud opened like curtains. Across the sky stretched a wide rainbow, with one end right beside the train track.

In the attic, a little green train travels on a rainbow through a round window with Elsie and the orange bird aboard. Below, the train rests on its attic track with a shining orange feather on the open carriage seat.

The little green train tooted again. Elsie and the orange bird climbed aboard and rode along the rainbow until the attic window came close.

Back in the attic, the train was small and still. But on the empty carriage seat lay an orange feather, shining in the dusty light.