Jack and the Cloud of Wonders

Jack had a worry that followed him around all day like a small grey cloud, though he couldn't quite say what it was about. It sat heavy on his shoulders at breakfast, trailed behind him at playtime, and hovered stubbornly over his head all through the afternoon.

By the time his granny came round for tea, Jack was quiet and fidgety, poking at his food instead of eating it. She noticed at once, the way grannies always seem to, and sat down beside him with a knowing smile.

"Worries are funny things," she told him, wrapping a warm arm around his shoulders. "They're just clouds passing through. They always move on, if you let them."

Jack wasn't sure he believed her, but that evening, he climbed up onto his windowsill anyway, tucking his knees up to his chest, and watched his little grey worry-cloud drift slowly across the darkening sky above the rooftops. It seemed almost silly, sitting up there all by itself.

As he watched, the cloud began to shift and change shape — first into something wobbly and uncertain, not unlike the worry itself, then slowly into the soft, round shape of a fluffy rabbit, ears flopping gently in an invisible breeze. Jack found himself smiling despite himself.

The rabbit-cloud drifted further, stretching and curling until it became a puffy, good-natured dragon, breathing little puffs of nothing much at all into the evening air. Jack laughed out loud, the heavy feeling in his chest loosening just a little with every new shape.

By the time the sky turned pink with sunset, streaked with gold along the horizon, his worry-cloud had drifted so far it barely looked like anything at all anymore — just a wisp, thinning and fading until it disappeared completely, leaving clear, calm sky behind.

Jack sat very still for a moment, waiting to feel the heavy worry return, but it didn't. He felt lighter instead, like he'd set something heavy down without even noticing he was carrying it. His granny's words made a little more sense now.

He climbed down from the windowsill and hugged his granny tightly before bed, the last of the day's worry completely gone. He climbed into bed that night with nothing but calm, quiet sky in his mind, and slept more soundly than he had in days.