The Widest Ride in the Sky

“We’ll never catch the rainbow!” Ellis cried, as Nimbus drifted past the same pink cloud for the third time.

Ellis was no bigger than a raindrop. One moment, Ellis had been curled beneath a quilt, listening to rain patter on the roof. The next, a silvery raindrop had rolled across the windowsill, and—pop!—Ellis stood in a dreamland sky with the whole world suddenly enormous.

A little cloud bobbed nearby. He had a round, thoughtful face and a curl of cloud tucked over one eye.

“I’m Nimbus,” he said. “I’m taking you to the rainbow bridge.”

“Wonderful!” said Ellis. The bridge arched between two faraway cloud islands, bright with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Six bright bands curved from one cloud island to the other. “Let’s hurry!”

“I am hurrying,” Nimbus replied.

He moved at the speed of a sleepy bubble in a bowl of oatmeal.

Ellis hopped aboard. They floated past a pink cloud shaped like a teapot. Then they floated past it again. On the third pass, a tiny cloud puffed out a little cloud of steam.

“Are we lost?” Ellis asked.

“Not exactly,” said Nimbus. “I’m considering our direction.”

“You can consider while we go!” Ellis pointed toward the rainbow. “That way!”

Nimbus turned. A gust of wind swooped between the clouds and gave them a playful shove. Ellis grabbed a curl on Nimbus’s side. They spun around, bobbed over a cloud island, and landed facing the wrong way.

“Now we’re considering the other direction,” Nimbus said.

The rainbow had begun to lose its brightest colors at the far end. Ellis’s toes curled against the cloud.

“We have to get there before it disappears!”

Nimbus looked toward the bridge, then down at the little cloud islands scattered below. “Perhaps,” he said slowly, “we need more than speed.”

Ellis peered at the islands. Small clouds were sitting on them, watching the rainbow fade. One had a lumpy hat. Another was shaped like a pear.

“What if they came with us?” Ellis asked.

Nimbus’s eyes brightened. “That is a thoughtful idea.”

“Then let’s ask them—quickly!” Ellis called, and Nimbus began his slow, careful turn toward the nearest island.

Nimbus floated down to the first cloud island. A little cloud with a lumpy hat was waiting there, along with a pear-shaped cloud and a cloud no bigger than a marshmallow.

“Would you like a ride to the rainbow bridge?” Ellis asked. “We can all go together.”

The little clouds looked at one another.

“Will there be room?” asked the lumpy-hat cloud.

“Plenty,” said Nimbus. “If everyone settles gently.”

They climbed aboard. Nimbus grew wider, but not taller. His sides stretched into a broad, fluffy platform. Ellis had thought Nimbus was only a small cloud with a slow pace. Now Ellis saw he was becoming a whole cloud boat.

“Next island!” Ellis called, pointing. “But stay close to the ground of the sky. The gusts are stronger up high.”

Nimbus made a careful turn. Ellis watched the wisps of air ruffling the pink clouds. “Go around that one,” Ellis said, pointing to a long, twisting gust. “It’s curling toward us.”

Nimbus followed Ellis’s directions. They slid behind a low cloud island, where the gust swished overhead without catching them.

At the next island, more little clouds joined. One was as round as a dumpling. Another had a tail like a comma. They all settled aboard, leaving space between them. Nimbus widened again, steady as a floating meadow.

“Look at us!” Ellis said. “We’re a whole sky parade!”

The parade headed for the rainbow. A gust curled around the island ahead and nudged the broad cloud boat sideways. The bridge’s violet end was growing faint.

“Hold on to each other!” Ellis called. “Nimbus, turn with the gust, then follow it around the island!”

Nimbus moved slowly, but every little cloud stayed aboard. Together they curved around the gust, then sailed into a quiet lane between two pink clouds.

“There’s the bridge!” cried the pear-shaped cloud.

Nimbus carried them the last stretch. His wide, steady ride touched the rainbow’s lowest stripe just as its colors began to dim.

Ellis stepped onto the bridge. It glowed beneath their feet, and a warm breeze wrapped around Ellis like a scarf. Ellis grew back to their usual size. The clouds cheered, and Nimbus gave a pleased little bob.

“We made it because we went together,” Ellis said.

“And because you noticed the way,” Nimbus replied.

The rainbow bridge hummed beneath Ellis’s feet, as if it were pleased to have company. Its colors were still there, though they had grown quiet and pale, like crayons after a long day of drawing.

Ellis sat down beside Nimbus. The little clouds settled around them in a soft, lopsided row. The dumpling-shaped cloud made a tiny snore, then opened one eye.

“I wasn’t snoring,” it said.

“No,” Ellis whispered. “You were practicing a very small trumpet sound.”

The cloud shut its eye again. “Good.”

Nimbus rested at the edge of the bridge. His wide shape held all the little clouds, and he carried everyone as smoothly as a quiet pond carries fallen leaves.

Ellis looked back along the path they had traveled. The teapot-shaped pink cloud was far away now. A curl of steam rose from its top. Ellis waved, and the teapot cloud waved back with its little puff.

“Do you always take your time?” Ellis asked.

“I try to,” said Nimbus. “The sky is full of things worth noticing.”

Ellis thought of the gusts, the little islands, and the clouds who had been waiting for a way to join the journey. “I’m glad we slowed down enough to find them.”

“So am I,” said Nimbus. “Though I may have been slow before you arrived.”

“That’s all right,” Ellis said. “You had the widest ride.”

Nimbus’s curl wiggled with pride. The rainbow faded to a quiet band of color behind them. No one hurried to leave it. They sat together while the first sleepy star appeared above the clouds, small and steady in the deepening sky.

Then Nimbus began to float toward it, carrying Ellis and the little clouds along. The islands passed below like pillows made for giants. The wind was calm now, and the clouds barely needed to hold on.

Ellis leaned against Nimbus’s side and listened to the tiny clouds murmur and yawn. The star waited ahead, and the sky made room for their slow ride.

As they neared the edge of the dreamland, Ellis’s eyelids began to droop. Nimbus carried the little traveler home, as carefully as a raindrop resting on a leaf. Ellis curled beneath the quilt again, with the rainbow’s colors tucked into the corners of the dream.