One of my tasks at my current family is to encourage Leeya (age 7) to write in English.  A few times a week we sit down together and just write (separate stories, that is. I’m really just keeping her company.  I don’t really help her with her story until it comes to editing).  Sometimes the stories I write spontaneously are actually interesting and well written without much editing, so I thought I’d post one here.

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Chloe the Cloud

By Melissa

Once upon a time there was a cloud named Chloe.  Yes, Chloe the Cloud was her name!  You probably didn’t know this about clouds, but they have pretty interesting lives.  They like to chase birds, travel around the world, and play with other clouds.  When a bunch of clouds all get together, people call it a rainstorm.  However, up above, the clouds are having a party.

Chloe the Cloud woke up and climbed out of her soft cloud bed one morning and discovered that she was all alone in the sky.  She looked to the left, right, front, and behind, but all she could see was empty blue sky.  However, when she looked down she noticed that she was not alone after all.  Below her in a large field was a boy.  He was carrying a bucket of water in his hands.  She heard him say “I hope that my flowers will grow to be big and beautiful someday.  They will be happy for a drink!”

However, the bucket was too big for him to carry so he sat down beside the road.  Chloe noticed that the boy was very hot and thirsty.  She wanted to help him, so she moved in the sky so that her shadow covered him.  The boy looked up and saw Chloe.  “Hello, little cloud!  Now I am not so hot.  I was worried that I would get so thirsty that I would drink this water in the bucket myself before I could water my flowers.”

The boy got up after a minute, picked up the heavy bucket, and continued walking along the road.  Above him, Chloe moved too so that he was always in the shade.

However, because the bucket was so heavy, the boy walked very slowly.  It was afternoon before Chloe could see his flower garden ahead.  There were no flowers yet, but the plants looked healthy and were covered with small flower buds.  The flowers would bloom soon!  However, Chloe also noticed that the grass beside the garden was yellow and dying.  It seemed that clouds had not been to this place for a long time: it had not rained for many days.  The boy must carry water to his garden like this every day!

The boy was very near the garden now but, oh no!  He tripped on a rock and fell down.  The water spilled out of the bucket all over the ground and his clothes.  The boy began to cry.  “My flowers!  They are so thirsty from being in the hot sunshine today!  I do not have time now to bring them more water before night.  I don’t want to leave my flowers thirsty, but I must go home…”

The boy turned and began to walk sadly home.  Seeing this, Chloe began to cry too.  She wanted to see the flowers bloom and, most of all; she wanted the boy to be happy.  Suddenly, the boy looked up at Chloe.  His head was covered in small rain drops that were Chloe’s tears.  This gave her an idea.  Chloe floated away as fast as she could to find some friends.  She would need a lot of help.

“Let’s go have a party!” she told the first clouds she met.

“What are we celebrating?” they asked.

“My friend’s new flowers!” replied Chloe.

“But I don’t see any flowers here…” said the other clouds when they reached the garden.

“No flowers yet.” said Chloe.

Then the party began.  That night there was a big rain storm over the garden and the land around it.  When the boy woke up the next morning, he was surprised to see that everywhere the ground was wet.  He ran out to his garden.  The blooms had turned into beautiful flowers at last!  It must have rained last night.  He looked up, but the rain was over.  Now there was only one small cloud in the sky.