The Small Cloud

There was once a single, solitary little cloud floating high up near the sun in the vast expanse of brilliant blue sky. He floated around lazily and wished secretly that he was part of a huge thundercloud that was about to wreak havoc on all by unleashing a devastating storm. But he was just a lonely little cloud, floating around in the sky, unlikely to ever even shed a drop of water on his own on anybody at all. He felt quite sad and disheartened about this and wondered if he would ever shed any water. But suddenly he felt quite laden with moisture, and he rumbled a bit of thunder. He then unloosed a single bolt of lightning into some nearby bushes and sprinkled a shower of water over a clump of trees below. Some people were having a picnick under the trees, and they got a huge fright shouting; 'There's a storm coming, pack up the things and run for the car!' Soon they had packed all their stuff into the car and were driving down the road, over the hills, away into the distance. Quite to his surprise he frightened some picnick goers and drove them off thinking a big storm was coming. This made him quite happy as he sprinkled his last few drops of rain on the ground. He might someday grow into a big storm still, he smiled to himself. Then he continued floating around happily in the clear blue sky, a single small cloud, high up near the brilliant warm sun. Never say never. Never is a long time.