The Cloud Reader

Back Again

Brian spent three days in his room getting rid of his old books as promised. Each one made him groan in agony and finally mom and I made him shut his door so we could have some relief from his misery. Mom was trying real hard to keep up a strong front but I knew she was totally stressed over dad and when I finally got the chance, I spoke to her about Hector Nublado and what he had taught me about the clouds and that some of the people at school said he could read the future in them.

She listened patiently and then informed me that nobody could read the future because if it hadn't happened there was nothing to read and if there was something, then life was all planned out in advance and nothing we did could change anything anyway. At least she didn't get mad; I think she was just too worn out to care.

I thought about that for a long while as we did the supper dishes and then I asked mom if she would mind if I asked Hector anyway. Hadn't I already been grounded for going out to his house? She didn't want me at any strange man's house and that was that, and I was to drop the foolish notions that anyone could read the future.

My next move was just as unpopular because I asked about dad. Mom started to cry before she could answer and I really felt bad. We sat together at the kitchen table until Brian slumped in with an armload of tattered comics.

"Do I hafta, mom?" I answered yes, with a warning frown, pointing to mom and Brian left, shoulders sagging.

"What did the doctor say?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Honey." Mom looked at me with the saddest eyes in the world. "They just don't know. Your dad is sick and he's losing weight but the tests don't show anything." She wiped her face and began fussing with things on the table. "He- he- he doesn't want us to be afraid or worry. He wants us to think that he just." Mom started to cry again and I put my arm on her back and patted it gently.

"He'll get better, mom, I know he will."

Brian came back in and wanted to know what was wrong, mom was still crying it seemed to him and he was getting frightened. I pushed him out of the kitchen and steered him upstairs to his bedroom. I told him that mom was worried because dad was sick and that they didn't know why and that we had to be very good and helpful, no whining and no misbehaving. Brian nodded solemnly.

*****

Saturday morning I got out my bike and headed off to the store to get some things mom needed before going to see dad that night. All week the news had been the same and mom was getting more and more upset. At least Brian was behaving and I had given him some easy chores to do to keep him out of mom's way while I was out.

As I rode down the block and across the parkette at the corner, large raindrops began splatting down and in an instant there was a wall of rain that turned everything to a blurry mist. I ran my bike into the bus shelter and stood watching as the water coursed down the gutters with a raging force that carried all kinds of debris with it into the catch basins.

The noise on the plastic roof of the shelter was deafening and I was not just a little worried. Suddenly, it stopped as quickly as it had started and almost immediately a hot sun drove down relentlessly onto the pavement, raising clouds of steam from its surface. September was almost over and the weather was still quite warm. I steered my bike out of the shelter and climbed on, riding carefully around the huge puddles.

Through the tree branches I could see altocumulus beginning to form and the realization that I remembered the type actually surprised me and I grinned as I raced down the wet street. The formations were very mixed and it occurred to me that if Hector really could read clouds, these would be just bursting with information. Gritting my teeth against my own rule about being good for mom, I steered around the next corner and made straight for Larkpoint and Hector's house.