The Tale of the Cotton Tree

Wandering

And so we sat at a nearby bench, where she started,

"It was a long long time ago. Humans had yet to colonize the earth, and wild animals roamed the plains as they pleased. It was in such a time when a peculiar cloud was born. I suppose you've heard that 'all clouds have a silver lining', right? Well, this one was an oddball. For instead of having a silver lining, she had a black heart.

She was puffy, white and floated like everybody else. She was flat at the bottom and round on top, shaped like the most beautiful of clouds. She was perfectly normal, except for the black round object smack in the middle of her white fluff --- what a misfortune! The black core in the midst of all of her white fluff was a glaring imperfection that unsettled everybody in her vicinity.

Immediately she was greeted with horror from her family. Her weird defect caused great panic. Her twin sister was so terrified she tried to fly away as quickly as she could, but since she was also a newborn and not yet adept in flying, her head flew far and away while her tail stayed put. The sister's body was stretched out to become a long thin wisp --- and so she became the first of all cirrus clouds. You know, the kind of clouds that extend across the sky during fair weather --- they are the descendants of the sister of the strange cloud.

It was rather obvious that the cloud family could not welcome such a black-hearted member. The cloud could do nothing but float away, rejected by its very own family.

Dejected, the cloud wandered all over the world, seeking the home she never had. She crossed land and ocean, but she found nowhere for her to stay. She was shunned by clouds, birds and even the grass on the ground on which she cast her shadow upon. Schools of fish swam away when she and her black core passed above.

On one chancy day, she came across another peculiar cloud. He was very large, and he was totally dark in colour! Glad to see a fellow weirdo, she struck up a conversation with him.

They became fast friends, and had one enjoyable day together. At dusk, they finally brought up the topic of their strangeness. The dark cloud asked, "What is the black thing in your body made up of?" She replied that she had no idea for she couldn't see through her white body clear enough.

The dark cloud, however, was determined to find out. "I think we can have a clearer look if we had better illumination."

But the sun was setting in the west, and its rays were retreating to the horizon. There wasn't simply enough light. "Well I guess I can make some," the dark cloud grinned.

He frowned and focused. Arcs of brilliant light appeared over his eyebrows. A continuous crackling filled the air, and the dark cloud leaned in to get a better view of the black heart. "Not clear enough... Just a bit more light..."

The crackling intensified. And intensified some more. Then some more. The arcs of light glared harshly, projecting their white-blue light on our cloud with the dark heart.

Boom! Suddenly all the arcs of light shot downward and struck the ground. Bam! Some more light raced towards the earth. The crackling had stopped and a ferocious rumbling took its place. The dark cloud reeled back in surprise, while bolts of energy continued to fire down on to the land. Rain soon followed, and the dark cloud was spilling vast amounts of liquid downwards.

Both clouds were too shocked to move. They had no idea what was happening. Then the dark cloud yelled over the commotion, "Get away, friend! I am too dangerous! I have no idea how to stop this! I don't even know what is happening to me!" Tearfully but quickly, the clouds said their goodbyes, and our cloud with the black heart flew away, leaving the grandfather of all thunderstorms wreaking havoc.

"My heart is a curse!" she groaned as she continued her lonely journey around the world. "How can I ever find a place to stay? How can I have family or friends without causing trouble?"