It was a beautiful summer day and Kayley was outside playing in the backyard. She looked up and saw some fluffy white clouds floating across the sky. But over towards the mountains she saw a dark black cloud heading toward her. Soon it covered the sun and shade fell across her yard. Then she felt little rain drops coming down. She stood under a tree to stay dry as she felt this brief summer shower would not last very long. She felt a big rain drop land right on her nose. She shook her head quickly to knock it off. The rain drop landed on her arm and then rolled down onto the back of her hand. Kayley was about to brush it off when all of a sudden she noticed that the rain drop appeared to have a face. It said, “Hi, my name is Dripley, who are you?”

Kayley was completely shocked but said, “I’m Kayley. I didn’t know rain drops could talk.” Dripley said, “Well not all of us can, I guess I am one of the lucky ones.” Soon it stopped raining and the dark cloud moved away. The sun came out again and it became quite hot. Kayley and Dripley sat down on the cool grass under the tree.

She became very interested in her new found friend and asked, “What is it like being a rain drop?” Dripley replied, “Well it is always an adventure and there is lots of travel involved.” Kayley asked, “Do you have time to tell me about some of your adventures?” Dripley looked up to the sky and the hot sun that was shining down and replied, “Well sure, I have a few minutes before I will be heading back up to the sky to become a cloud again.

You see, when we are white fluffy clouds, that means nice weather and there are not too many of us rain drops in the cloud. But when you see dark clouds, that means we are overcrowded with rain drops and we have to drop some of us off. That is how I got here.” Kayley rolled Dripley off her hand and onto a big leaf and moved it under the tree so he would be more comfortable there.

Dripley then began, “Well all my adventures basically start out the same way. Usually I am in an ocean, lake, river or other large body of water. When the sun comes out and heats up the water, I begin to get lighter and then float up into the sky. Lots of my friends and relatives do the same thing. We all meet high up in the sky and get together for a visit.” He continued, “When you are on the ground and look up at the sky, we all appear as clouds. Then the wind blows us around and we really never know where we will end up. Once in awhile our clouds begin to rain and we fall down to the ground, like I did today. It all depends where we land as to the extent of our adventure.”

Then he said, “There was this one time I landed in a city water reservoir and got sucked into the city water supply. Actually that happens quite a bit. Anyway, I went through this maze of pipes, all in the dark, and I came blasting out of a tap in someone’s bathroom! There was this guy brushing his teeth using me and some tooth paste. Yuk! His breath smelled like onions, garlic and skunk cabbage. After he finished brushing, he washed his face and dried it on a towel. As it turned out, he left me on his towel as he threw it in the clothes hamper.

The towel was wet with me and a few friends still on it. It was ok, but the hamper was full of stinky socks and underwear. Yuk!” “A couple of days later someone came and took all the laundry and we got stuffed into a washing machine. That was nice. It was like having a hot tub party with all my buddies.”

“Soon after we were taken outside and put on a clothes line under the bright warm sun. Then about an hour later I felt lighter and began to float up to the sky and formed a cloud with my friends. Most of us were all back together again.” “Wow,” said Kayley, “What other kind of adventures have you had?”

“Well there was this other time I landed in the City water supply again. I got into the pipes and came out at a ladies house,” Dripley recalled. “She was making ice cubes and popsicles for her children. I came out of the kitchen tap and got poured into an ice cube tray and put in the fridge. Boy, was it ever cold! Some of my other friends got made into popsicles and we sat in the fridge together wondering what would happen next.” Kayley suddenly interrupted, “Hey! I remember my Mom and I were making ice cubes a little while ago. Hmm! I wonder if maybe you or one of your friends were in the tray of ice we made?”

Dripley thought for a second and then continued, “Anyway, one day the freezer door opened and someone took me and the tray of ice cubes out. I got dumped into a glass, had some water poured on me and then I got poked with a straw. I looked up and saw that a little girl was holding the glass as she was walking outside. It was quite hot out and after she had a few sips of the cool water she put me down on a table so she could play with her dog.

Then she walked over and picked up her glass and poured me and the remaining water into her dog’s water dish! Yikes! I thought, I don’t want to become a yellow memory on the side of a fire hydrant.” He continued, “I melted quickly and became cool water. Then I saw this huge dog come running to his dish with slime, boogers and froth hanging from his mouth. He attacked the water dish as if there was no tomorrow! He was bashing, licking, smacking and gulping until all his water was gone. Lucky for me, in all that splashing I got washed out of dish and onto the grass.

The little girl called to her dog and they continued to play. The sun heated me up and I floated back up into the sky and formed a cloud again. I never did hear from my friends who became a Popsicle,” said Dripley. “You were lucky that dog never drank you,” replied Kayley.

“There was this other time when my friends and I were still in the cloud and we got blown way up high into the mountains,” he remembered. “It was winter. When it is cold enough, instead of falling from the sky as rain we fall as snowflakes. Anyway, this one winter night I came down as a snowflake in a little town just north of here. I landed gently on the roof of a house. It was so nice and peaceful. Suddenly, around midnight a huge sleigh and a bunch of reindeers landed on top of me, squishing me down. I glanced up and saw a big man dressed in red with a big white beard. He appeared to be carrying a large sack of presents. A short time later the sleigh flew off and out of sight. I never did see where that man went with all the presents.

Anyway, as a result of the sleigh taking off so fast, I got knocked off the roof and into the back yard.” He continued, “Later that day a bunch of kids came over and started rolling the snow into big balls. They piled the balls on top of each other making a snowman. I was made into the head part so that was not too bad. At least I didn’t have the weight of other snow on top of me.

Soon a Mother called for the kids to come inside the house and I was left alone out in the backyard. I lived there as a snowman for a few weeks until it warmed up.

Then one warm sunny day I felt myself getting lighter and then began to float up towards the sky. Then I joined my other friends in a nice big white fluffy cloud that was being gently blown across the sky.” “That was a great adventure story Dripley,” said Kayley. “Do you have time for one more story before you have to leave?” Dripley peered out from under the tree and gazed up into the bright blue sky.

He said, “Ok, I am starting to feel warm now but I should have time to tell you one more adventure story before I float back up to the sky.” “Ok, well there was this one time I got dropped out of the sky and landed again in the city reservoir system. It was a long unknown journey through the piping system,” he explained. “Finally I ended up at a recreational building that consisted of a swimming pool, skating rink and basketball court. As I was being flushed through the pipes, I tried to guide myself to the swimming pool. I thought the skating rink would be too cold and at the basketball court I would probably end up in the water fountain. So, yes, I managed to end up in the swimming pool.

Well now that I got there it was not all that great. The water was warm but it was noisy and loud. Kids were coming down water slides smashing into me, others were kicking their feet on me and still more kids ran and jumped into the pool, landing right on top of me.” Dripley said, “I was beginning to think how nice and peaceful it would be back on that big white fluffy cloud just floating slowly across the sky. The lifeguard continued to blow her loud screeching whistle at kids who would not obey the rules of the pool.

Soon I began to get a headache. I thought to myself, I have to get out of here. I saw a young girl start walking to the ladder in the pool to get out. I caught a bit of a wave and made my way to her and clung to her leg as she got out. She dried herself off with her towel and went to the change room. I stayed on her towel. She got changed, threw her stuff and me into a change bag and left.

Once she arrived home she put all her wet stuff on the outside drying rack. I felt relieved knowing that soon I will be back home in the sky. About an hour later I got warm, left the towel and floated back up into the sky and into my nice white fluffy cloud.”

“Great story Dripley,” said Kayley. “Well Kayley, it was wonderful meeting you but now I am getting quite hot and feeling pretty light. Would you please move me into the sun and out from under this tree?” Kayley said, “Sure, it was great meeting you too Dripley. I have never met a raindrop before and had no idea how many adventures and risks that you face each day.” Kayley gave Dripley a little pat on the head and said, “Good Bye and Good Luck!”

Then she watched as Dripley faded into the air and floated up to a big white fluffy cloud high in the sky. Just then Kayley’s Mom yelled, “Kayley, time for dinner.” Kayley walked back towards the house but just before going inside she looked up and saw the big white cloud slowly move across the sky. She tried to imagine what it would be like to be inside the cloud with all the water droplets. The view would be awesome and the ride would be like floating on marshmallows.

Then Kayley saw her Mom standing by the kitchen sink running the water. “How about a nice big glass of cool water right out of tap? I will even put a few ice cubes in it,” said Kayley’s Mom.

Kayley, thought for a few seconds about Dripley and his friends and then said, “No water please, I think I’ll have a glass of milk instead”