Friends in High Places

Darren trotted back and forth in front of his house—he was waiting impatiently for Nate to come home from school.

I don’t understand why he has to be gone during the best hours of the day! We’re wasting all the time we could be playing outside! Darren thought to himself, panting under the warm rays of the sun. Maybe I should to and visit Nate, see if he can take a break from whatever school is to play with me!

He jumped around in excitement at the idea, and was off. Only stopping to occasionally sniff around, making sure he was going to right direction, he followed the route that he saw Nate walking every morning and afternoon.

“Hey puppy!” He heard to the right of him. “Here boy! Come on.” A high voice beckoned him over. Turn his head, he saw a young girl, about the same size as Nate, sticking her hand between the cracks in her fence. Wiggling her fingers to entice him, she continued cooing to him. “Come play with me,” she begged.

Darren wiggled his tail, A friend! Maybe I’ll take a short break before heading off to find Nate. He ran to the girl, licking her hand as a hello. She giggled and petted his head, “You’re such a pretty puppy! All white, black and gray.”

Hey, I’m not pretty; that’s what people call girls. He barked, trying to set her straight.

“I think I’m going to call you Peggy. You look like a Peggy to me.” She said, continuing to stroke his fur.

Darren froze. I look like a girl to you? he asked her, but she didn’t reply. I don’t know if I can be friends with someone who thinks I look like a girl. He slowly began backing up, I’m sorry, I can’t stay and talk anymore. I need to go find Nate. He barked to her, making up an excuse to leave this crazy girl.

He sniffed the air once, then continued on his way.

“Wait, puppy! Come back!” The girl continued crying, but Darren refused to even turn around and look at her. A girl, he scoffed, shaking his head.

Looking up in the sky, he saw that there was lots of time before Nate usually came home—plenty of time to go find him and get a few hours of playing in.

Darren looked up again—there were clouds above him. Frowning up, he yelped at them to go away—Nate wasn’t allowed to play outside when there were dark clouds like them in the sky. He continued on his way, staring up at them to make sure they disappeared like he told them to.

Eventually all of them were gone except a small portion, which seemed to be straying away from the rest of the clouds. Darren was satisfied with that though—a small cloud wouldn’t stop Nate from playing outside! He continued on his way, wagging his tail in excitement for the fun that was about to come.

He looked back up to make sure the small portion of the cloud was gone, but there it was, right above him. Darren barked at it, Leave me alone! I’m trying to go play with Nate, which I can’t do when you’re in the sky above us! He ran as fast as he could, trying to leave the tiny cloud behind. But whenever he looked up, it followed right above him. Why don’t you leave me alone? Or at least answer me, so I can find out why you’re following me? He whined.

The small cloud began growing at this news. No, wait. It wasn’t growing—it was coming down towards Darren. He whimpered, unsure what the cloud was going to do once it came to where he was standing.

“I’m sorry, I guess you couldn’t hear me talking from high up there in the sky.” A voice happily said to him.

Darren warily looked up, but there was no one around. “Who are you?” he whimpered.

The voice laughed merrily. “I’m the cloud you were yelling at silly! But now that I’m down here you can’t see me. That’s why I stayed in the sky, until I realized you couldn’t hear me.”

“But you could hear everything I said?” He questioned. “Why did you follow me? Now Nate won’t come out and play!”

“Bu-but I wanted to be friends.” The voice said sadly. “If I stay close to the ground, no one will see me. If I do then will you be my friend?” It asked hopefully.

Darren thought about it, “Well as long as no one can see you…” He slowly said. Then beginning to warm up to the idea, he added excitedly, “and now I can hear what you’re saying! This is a great plan! Hey, do you want to come with me looking for Nate? I’m sure he’d be glad to play with you too!”

“Sure! So, does this mean we’re friends?” The voice tentatively questioned.

“Of course, silly! My names Darren.” The puppy said, wiggling his tail in delight. “What’s yours?”

“My name is Clara.” The cloud giggled. “Can we be friends forever?” She said hopefully.

“Yeah, forever!” Darren yipped happily, trotting down the sidewalk with his new friend beside him.