Floating On The Clouds

• Emma Martin, Grade 6, Bayside Christian College
• Short Story
• 2018

Finalist in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

"You see up there in the sky, the clouds big, white, soft and warm. When things get hard; your life starts to fall apart, look at the clouds. If you look hard enough there is always one there."
"But Nana, will I ever get to float on the clouds."
"Ivy, you can do anything you want."
Ivy and her daughter Apel were lying on the grass staring up at the sky.
"Me and Nana used to look up at the clouds. She would talk about her life and what mine would be like. She talked about the secrets the clouds had told her. I am quite sure she is laying on one right now like she and I always dreamed of doing.”
"Mummy have you touched the clouds?" Apel asked.
"No not yet, but I will."
"When?"
"When the sky has no clouds, even when you look there is no white to be seen. Then Apel, I will be floating on the clouds."
"Was Gram Gram nice?"
"She was the best woman to walk the Earth. She would take me on trips to the craziest places like the car park. We would lie on the top of the car and stare deep into the blue till we found a cloud. We would lie there for hours on end, it was wonderful. We would drive back and she would talk about the day she got lost in Rome and she followed this one cloud to her hotel, or the time she was staring at the clouds and Grandpa kissed her for the first time. She said that the clouds looked after her when no one else did. That the clouds would make her smile even when she did not want to.
If you look at the clouds Apel, they will look at you and help you too."
"Mummy, will I ever get to float on the clouds?"
"Apel, you can do anything you want."
“Let me tell you a story Apel, about a time when the clouds spoke to Nana.
She heard her mum call, "Daisy, it is going to rain." She didn't believe her, the clouds had told Nana they were feeling happy and had no reason to cry.
Soon the doorbell rang and a scruffy teenage boy stood looking back at Nana. He said his mum had sent over some cookies for them. Nana invited him in. She sat in her room looking out her window staring at the clouds, it still had not rained. The boy came to her door and said he was leaving and wanted to say goodbye. Nana invited him in to sit with her. She remembered they sat in silence. Then he leaned in and kissed her. Nana said that it felt as if the clouds had spoken to him too.
Now Apel, time for lunch, let's go inside."
Daisy, Ivy and Apel now float on clouds as they always dreamed.