Clara and the Curious Cloud Parade

At 6:01 in Maplewood, Clara the hedgehog awoke to find four giant cotton-candy clouds marching past her window, each humming a different song, but none said where they were going. She grabbed her sparkling blue pebble and called to Benny, her bouncy squirrel friend, who somersaulted from his tree in a flash. The clouds turned onto Curlicue Lane, growing fluffier and brighter with every step, but the pebble shimmering in Clara’s paw didn’t glow-yet. Benny spotted a golden feather drifting down from the first cloud, but before he could grab it, the feather darted away, faster than lightning. With every new street, the clouds sang louder and started spinning, swirling the morning sunbeams into rainbow swirls, but the clouds never looked back. At Jellybean Bridge, the pebble flickered, showing a twinkling picture of a hill with a very twisty tree-where neither Clara nor Benny had ever been. Suddenly, a cloud burst into heart-shaped giggles and dropped a trail of soft, silvery fluff that pointed toward Butterfly Hill. Benny leapt ahead, following the fluff, but the hill kept rolling away, always just out of reach. Clara squeezed her pebble tight, wishing with all her heart to know what the clouds were hiding. When they reached the top of Butterfly Hill, the clouds whirled together, forming a huge archway filled with color and laughter. Just as Clara held up her pebble, the clouds revealed a magical Cloud Playground, swirling with slides, swings, and bouncing raindrop trampolines where all the little creatures could play together, as long as they brought kindness and a friend.