Cloud Jumper
Neil's shirt stuck to his back almost as soon as he stepped out the door. The lifting fog and billowing clouds reminded him of the summer long ago, when he and his brother chased the falling cloud. Most of those days were sticky, hot, and filled with meandering adventures. How different their summer, and now his life, could have been if it hadn't been for his brother's interest in the clouds.
Right before school had let out that year Neil's brother came home excitedly talking about how clouds used to be. Neil was eight years older than him and could barely remember the time when clouds weren't something to be cautious around. For Neil's brother, watching a cloud sink down, and rest on a building was as natural as watching a thunderstorm. They were as dangerous as thunderstorms too. If someone wasn't careful a cloud could crush them. But that was rarer than a lightning strike.
One morning that summer, Neil's brother had woken up much earlier than him. He burst into his room shouting, "A cloud. There's a cloud falling, and it looks like it's gonna land in the big soccer field."
Neil threw some shorts and a hoodie on and the two of them ran out the door. They cut through the neighbor's yards and ran as fast as they could. They weaved through a small grove of trees, their vision blinded for a quick moment, circled around a light pole on the edge of the field, and past a covered pavilion. They tried to keep their heads up in the sky looking for the descending cloud, but while they pushed through the trees it seemed the cloud completely vanished.
"Man," his brother said, "I'm going to get better at finding these clouds."
As they searched the skies above, they didn't notice the fog that had surrounded them.
Once Neil noticed, he scooped his hand through the fog. He watched as it curled around in his hand. He formed a ball and raised it in front of his face. He blew and the haze swirled all around him. His brother laughed and grabbed some. They made them into balls and pushed them at each other. Instead of spreading, the spheres joined into one large object. Neil pushed it easily, but his little brother had to strain to get it to move.
"I've got an idea," Neil said as he pushed down a little on the fog and made a curved edge, until it resembled a seat. Then he picked up his brother and placed him in the makeshift saddle. His brother sat atop the fog with a big smirk on his face.
His little brother hopped off, grabbed some, clumped it together, and made it into a rectangle. Once it was big enough, he pushed it to about knee height and stepped on it.
"Look Neil! I'm standing!" he said with a laugh.
Neil tried to put his body weight on it, but his foot broke through.
As his brother stood there, he made small bounces to test the weight. The two brothers locked eyes, both realizing the implication, and silently began running around scooping up even more fog.
Before long, they had collected about a dozen rectangles.
Neil instructed his brother as they constructed a makeshift pair of fog steps into the sky. He watched his brother climb higher than the pavilion.
He called out, "Only go as high as the light. That's at least fifteen feet."
As his brother neared the top of the lamp Neil saw him start to panic.
"Neil," he shouted. "The fog! It's disappearing."
The first tier of stairs was completely gone. The atmosphere had shifted, and the fog was clearing.
"What do I do?"
Neil looked around frantically for anything to help, but he came up empty. The steps had disappeared even more now. All that was left were two blocks.
"Slowly move the block and come down."
"But what if it disappears while I'm still way up here?"
Neil searched around hoping to find something to jar him into action. He was paralyzed as he watched his brother crouched in the air, and hoped he wouldn't have to see him fall, or be crushed while diving to catch him.
Just above his brother he noticed a cloud that must have drifted near during his journey upward. His first response was terror as he imagined the cloud lowering and smashing into his brother. Then it clicked.
"Use the fog to get to the cloud."
His brother carefully moved the steps, reaching down to grasp the step and inch it closer to the cloud. Once close enough he clambered his way onto the cloud. At first, Neil could only see a faint outline of his little brother, but then he popped his head over the side and waved.
"It feels like the softest pillow in the world," his brother said with a smile in his voice that betrayed the nerves they both had a moment ago.
"Most clouds sink," Neil shouted. "They must be a little different than the fog. Can you try jumping up and down on the cloud?"
He held his breath as he watched him start bouncing on the cloud. There was always the possibility that he would break through, and his brother would careen towards the ground.
The cloud slowly started to lower back down. Both of them whooped and hollered. As it got closer to the pavilion Neil pulled out a picnic table and scrambled up to the top. As the cloud floated just above the pavilion, he dove onto it, next to his brother. He sank down into the cloud, but it held his weight. The two laughed uncontrollably as the cloud sank the rest of the way to the ground.
Neil's shirt began to cling even more to his skin the longer he was outside, as he continued to think back to that first cloud ride. He looked out across the city, as he and his brother stood on a rooftop, waiting for a cloud to draw nearer.
"I know you're thinking about that summer. I told you I'd get better at finding clouds," his brother said with a smirk.
He took off running and jumped onto the cloud that had finally drifted close enough. Neil ran after him, not even waiting to see his brother sink deep into the cloud before joining him.
Topic: Cloud Jumper final draft (formerly scud run) (Read 1948 times)