LETTERS FROM HOME: THE LITTLE GIRL CLOUD

The little girl cloud

November 18, 1993

Dear Kim,

I don't know why I've never written you a letter before. Maybe I thought little girls were too busy to sit still for such foolishness as an uncle who plays with words instead of toys. What can I say to compare to the adventures you take on the swing in your backyard, where the only word you care about is "higher?"

But your mother told me you were mad that I got married. You said it couldn't be true because that meant I must not love you anymore.

That's not so, but I know how you feel. Sometimes I'm afraid there won't be enough love for me if I have to share people. Then I get mad trying to figure out how much love to give them back.

I wrote this story to remind 3 1/2-year-old you and so-much-older me that there's plenty of love for all of us:

Once upon a time there was a little girl who looked just like you. She was pretty and her hair was yellow like the sun. She loved the sun and the sun loved her.

But one day she saw that the sun shone on other little girls and boys too, in fact on all the world. That made her mad. She wanted the sun all to herself.

The little girl was so mad she decided to hold her breath. Soon she had so much air in her she turned into a cloud and floated up into the sky.

The longer she held her breath, the purpler and purpler the little girl cloud became. Finally she was so purple and so high up she covered up the sun.

Now she was happy once again because it shone only on her.

But down below the flowers began to wilt they were so sad the sun had gone away, and the leaves dropped from the trees.

And the streams refused to giggle they were so unhappy.

And the farmers stood in their fields wondering how they would grow cabbage and corn and tomatoes in the dark.

And the little girls and boys stayed inside their houses playing Nintendo all day, and their mommies and daddies looked worried.

"What have you done with the sun?" they yelled up to the little girl cloud.

Looking down on the Earth, she was worried too because she loved flowers and trees and streams, and cabbage and corn and tomatoes, and little girls and boys, and mommies and daddies. She was sad to see them so unhappy, so sad she began to cry.

And as her tears fell to the Earth, the flowers began to bloom again and the trees sprouted new leaves, and the streams were so tickled they began to laugh.

And as the little girl cloud cried she became less and less purple.

And more and more of the sun began to shine through again. The farmers soon had enough cabbages and corn and tomatoes for everyone.

And the little girls and boys came out of their houses because they had missed the sun.

And the mommies and daddies hugged and kissed because the world was filled with sunshine again.

By this time the little girl cloud had stopped crying because she saw how happy the Earth was to be kissed by the sun. And she began to laugh and she wanted to play with the other little girls and boys.

"I love you sun" she said as she turned back into a little girl flying through the air on a swing.

And the sun smiled and shone on everyone.

Love, Uncle Sam