Most clouds let go of their rain when it was time.
Fill up. Travel. Let go. Drift away light and empty.
That was the cloud way.
But Cumulus held on.
Every raindrop that collected in him, he kept.
Just a little longer.
Just in case.
Just because letting go was hard.
He was the heaviest cloud in the sky.
So heavy he sat lower than all the others.
So heavy the other clouds could see him straining.
“Let go,” they said.
“Not yet,” said Cumulus. ☁️
🌧️ Too Heavy to Move
The light clouds drifted easily.
Over mountains. Over cities. Over the sea.
Cumulus couldn’t follow.
Too heavy.
He sat over the same valley for two weeks.
The valley below was very soggy.
The frogs were extremely happy.
Everyone else had mixed feelings.
“You’re blocking our sun,” said the flowers.
“You’ve been above us for two weeks,” said the farmer.
“You’ve given us four times the water we need,” said the river, overflowing.
Cumulus looked down at the valley he had accidentally waterlogged.
He had been trying to be helpful.
He had been trying to save enough, just in case.
And instead he had just made everything wet.
☁️ What the Wind Said
The west wind came by.
“You’re not going to run out,” said the wind. “You know that?”
“What if I do?” said Cumulus.
“The sea keeps making more water. The water evaporates. It becomes you again. It’s a cycle. You are part of it. You can’t run out.”
Cumulus had known this. In the abstract. In the way you know things that are hard to feel.
“What if I let go and there’s nothing left of me?”
“There will be,” said the wind. “Just lighter. Ready to fill up again.”
💛 Jack Stands in the Rain
Jack had been waiting for weeks for the cloud to move.
And then one afternoon — between one breath and the next — it rained.
Properly. All at once.
A downpour so complete and thorough that Jack was soaked in four seconds flat.
Cumulus let go of everything he had been holding.
Every raindrop. All of it. At once.
Jack stood in it with arms out.
“That’s a lot of rain,” said Jack.
Up above, Cumulus felt himself growing lighter.
And lighter.
And lighter.
Until he was thin and white and fast-moving and free.
Drifting. Over the mountain. Over the sea.
Ready to fill up again.
Lighter was better than he had ever imagined. ☁️