the gift from the rainbow

THE GIFT FROM THE RAINBOW

There was a unexpected downpour in the evening and it was pattered on the window producing a drumming sound. The power had just gone and it was dark in the room where Andy laid on his bed grumbling at his bad luck. His dad had promised to take him to the park and he was looking forward to it all week.
'I should have gone to Mike's place and played computer games'-He thought
The power came and he sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes till it got adjusted to the bright light. He looked around his room trying to decide what to do for the rest of the evening.
He switched on his T.V. and went down to the kitchen and took out soda pop and returned back sipping it. He lied on his bed watching the T.V till he slept off. He was asleep for 10 minutes when he was woken up by a phone call from Mike.
' Andy? Mike here.....whatcha doin?'
' Nothing in particular. Why?' he asked
' Susan and Ray are here and we are having a rain dance. Coming?'
' OK. I will be there within 5 minutes'- he said and hung up.
' If i cannot go to the park i might as well go and enjoy myself at Mike's place'...he thought
He wore his rain coat and went out into the rain. The cold rain droplets shaved against his face and it felt good.By the time he reached Mike's house the rain was not as strong as it was but they danced in the rain till it stopped.It was great fun and though it was cold, they felt warm, their faces red and Andy's hair, which was longer for a 10 year old was plastered on his forehead.
After they were dry, they went to the balcony sipping the hot chocolate which Mike had brought.
' hey look!'- Ray called out, pointing to the top of the hill. They looked up and saw a rainbow arched across the sky with one of the end falling on the top of the hills.
' Wow! its so beautiful.' exclaimed Susan.
Andy was wonder struck for he had never seen a rainbow in his life.
They stared at it as though they were bewitched.
" I remember my dad told me that where the end of the rainbow met the land, a pot of gold is hidden." said Andy.
" Really? then lets check it out" said Susan excitedly.
" And if find the pot of gold we'll share it among ourselves and with my share i will buy a new computer game, a new baseball bat and lots of cookies!" said Mike and they all ran down the balcony and hit the road.The road was muddy and there were pools of rain water collected in the street. Soon Andy's sneakers were dirty with the mud. They raced on and reached the base of the hill but when they looked up, they found that the rainbow had disappeared.
" Oh no! the rainbow has disappeared. How are we going to find the pot of the gold now?" cried Susan dismally.
" I saw the foot of the rainbow on that tree" said Andy, pointing to the topmost tree on the hill.
" Maybe the pot of gold also disappeared with the rainbow" said Ray.
" No. My Dad told me that the pot of gold will be hidden from everyone except for the children who are good at heart" said Andy.
" Then lets not waste anymore time' said Mike and they ascended up the hill.
It did not take them much time to reach the top of the hill and they stood under the Big tree over which the foot of the rainbow fell.It was still wet with the raindrops.
" Where do we start digging?" asked Mike taking out his penknife from his pocket.
" Here, Looks like someone has buried something here" said Susan pointing to a heap of mud.
they flocked around the site and Mike started digging out the mud. The others pushed the mud away as soon as it was unearthed.
" There's nothing here." cried Ray.
" Maybe someone stole it before we came" cried Susan
" Or maybe there is no pot of gold!" said Mike.
" That couldn't be true. Dad wouldn't tell me a lie.May be its hidden somewhere else" said Andy and started poking through the mud with sticks and the others followed suit. Soon Andy became tired and he sat down on the grass under the tree.That was when he heard a small cackle from somewhere. He looked around and to his surprise saw a little blue bird lying in a tuft of leaves.
" See what i found here!" He called out to the others.
" Wow! a cute little blue bird!" they cried
" Looks like it fell out of its nest " observed Mike
" Oh poor little birdie! Cant we keep him back in his nest?" asked Susan.
" He must have fell out of his nest in the strong wind" said Ray
" Isn't that a nest up there in that branch?" asked Andy pointing to one of the highest branch.
" But it is too tall for anyone of us to climb "
" We cant leave the little bird down here. Some raccoons or cats might eat it and the mother bird will be worried if the baby bird is not there" said Susan.
" I will go up and keep the bird in its nest." declared Andy and he took the bird and kept it in his rain coat pocket and started climbing the tree while his friends held their breath. The branches were damp and slippery but he still managed to reach the nest without loosing his footing.He sat on the branch and looked into the the nest and saw two little blue eggs of the size of the small marbles he played with.
" There are two eggs here!" he called out to them and he reached for his pocket and took out the bird and placed it in the nest next to the eggs.
Then he slowly climbed back down. The descend was not easy as he had thought and he slipped twice but managed to reach the ground without any harm.
" I think we should be moving,its already dark" said Mike
They climbed down the hill and was walking back to their house when Ray remembered that they had forgot about the pot of gold.
" I forgot all about it when i saw the little birdie' said Mike and the others agreed.
" I will ask dad to tell me how to find the pot of gold. Maybe there is some magic word which we will have to say to see it." said Andy.

That night at bed time after his dad had read to him, Andy asked him why they couldn't find the pot of gold.
" Is there some magic word which we have to say to see the pot of gold?" He asked.
" To see the pot of gold from the rainbow, what you need is not magical words or wand, what you need is a magic around you and inside you. Such strong magic is only present in adequate amounts in children. That is why only children can find out the gift from the rainbow. Of course i forgot to tell you that the gift need not be a pot of gold, it could be anything and you never know that.So even if you find it you will not realize that what you found was the ' Pot of gold ' from the rainbow" said his Dad.
" So did we find the gift ? " asked Andy.
" Yes you did, didn't you find the little blue bird?"
" But we left it there in its nest because otherwise the mama bird will be
worried " said Andy.
" And that was a very good thing to do because every parent gets worried when they don't find their baby. And if you had taken the little bird away, it would have felt very sad. So i must say that you did the right thing and I'm proud of you" said his dad and kissed him goodnight.
Andy couldn't sleep because he was very happy and he laid in his bed looking up at the ceiling of his room where his dad had stuck stars in the pattern of the constellations but he was thinking about the little blue bird and how happy would it be to be back home in its nest. He was happy because he knew that not only had they found out the 'gift from the rainbow' but also had realized the meaning of the 'Pot of gold'.