Charlie B. Dinkle's Delightful Adventure

Ch. 8 ~ Singing Raindrops

Chapter 8

   Back up in the sky, Cuddle Crunch Cloud was finally in reach for Charlie and the squiggles. Everybody blew their balloons a bit to the right, and stopped. Soon, a crowd of squiggles and a little girl were floating on top of Cuddle Crunch.

   “Remember!” said Squiggle B. “Don’t let go of your balloons, or else you will sink into the floor. Tie the balloons around your waist, that’s right – good. Now follow me to the mayor!”

   When you were floating with balloons tied to your waist, it wasn’t easy to just ‘follow’ someone. It was OK for the squiggles, since all they had to do was wriggle to move the same way they wriggled in the dirt. Easy as pie.

   Not for Charlie B. Dinkle. After some time of moving her legs uselessly in the air, she realized she kind of needed to swim – except without the water.

   Charlie quickly waddled to catch up with the rest of the squiggles, who were following Squiggle B towards the middle of the cloud town. Everywhere Charlie looked, everything was made out of white or pink fluffy cloudiness. The shops were made of clouds, the houses were made of clouds, the swings in the parks were made of clouds, and even the pets or stray dogs were made of clouds.

   But the most amazing part of the cloud town were the cloud people. They were chubby masses of cloud with a pair of arms sticking out of their side, and another pair of legs helping them walk on the ground that was made of cloud.

   It was quite cloudy, if I do say so myself.

   Occasionally, a cloud person would casually glance at Charlie and smile. Charlie would smile back.

   Squiggle B led the party to a large, white house made of – of course – cloud. Out of the house came a chubby cloud person with a fluffy moustache. This was Mayor Cloudy, mayor of Cuddle Crunch Cloud.

   “Hello!” said the mayor. “Hello, hello! How do you do, squiggles, my friends? Has it really been so long? Oh lovely! To what do I owe this wonderful visit?” Mayor Cloudy was so cloudy and light, that he would bounce instead of walk.

   “Mayor Cloudy,” said Squiggle B in a serious way. “We want to name the land below you. Will you let us?”

   “Oh, of course!” cheered the mayor. “Why ever not? Come along, come along! Exactly whose brilliant idea was this?”

   “It’s mine,” said Charlie B. Dinkle, stepping forward. “I’m Charlie B. Dinkle. Dinkle like Sprinkle.”

   “Why, it’s a pleasure, Miss Dinkle!” gushed the mayor. He took the squiggles and Charlie along a bumpy way, all the way until they reached the very tip of Cuddle Crunch.

   Here, at the edge of the cloud, Charlie could look over and see the entire magical world below her. Grass and hills over there, cottages and villages there, and ponds and rivers over there. Of course, there was much more than that, but Charlie couldn’t see so far.

   “Alright, Squiggle B,” said the mayor. “The cloud is planning to rain any minute, so you better name the land quickly. When it rains, the droplets will be able to sing the new name for everyone to hear.”

   All the squiggles turned to look at Charlie. “Well Charlie?” they said. “What are we going to name it?”

   Charlie B. Dinkle thought for a while. And thought.

   “What about Fun land?” offered one of the squiggles.

   “Nah, that’s silly,” said another. “How about DingleDon?”