Sally floated around for awhile pondering about what Sun had said. Then a storm began to brew. Lightening was flashing out from the other clouds and a strong wind was blowing Sally around. 'That's it!' cried Sally. 'I can't take this anymore!' and she floated down through the storm past the other clouds whom were too busy creating this bad weather to notice. When she reached the ground, Sally came to an old shed in which she took shelter. She had been a cloud a long time and seen and helped create many storms but she never liked them as they frightened her terribly and particularly this storm as it was quite strong indeed. There was an empty spot in the corner of the shed where Sally rested for the night as strong winds and heavy rain battered the old wooden building.
The next morning, Sally awoke to calm. Birds were singing and sunlight was beaming through the windows and the crack between the planks of wood on the broken door. Deciding to explore, Sally floated outside to be greeted by a scene of pure beauty. A river flowed alongside the shed and was as blue as the sky it reflected. Flowers of every colour decorated the area with such a variety of colours it would make a rainbow jealous. Fly's and Bees buzzed past about their business not having much time to take in their surroundings. 'I like it here very much.' Sally said looking toward Sun and smiled then suddenly everywhere became brighter and sunnier as Sun smiled back.
Along the riverbank, Sally spotted two Hedgehogs. She floated over towards them to say hello but before she could do this, one of the Hedgehogs spotted Sally and shouted 'M...M...M...MONSTER!' and they both hurried off. Slowly of course, as they were Hedgehogs after all! Sally floated on and didn't try to follow them. She found a beautiful spot by the river and stayed there awhile. 'Oh I’m not so sure if my being here was such a good idea. Maybe clouds are just not meant to live on the ground.' Suddenly, she heard some noise behind her. It was an angry crowd of animals. 'Get out of here!' 'We don't want monsters living here.’ Sally was too frightened and upset to explain that she was not a monster and quickly floated on back to the shed where she hid. 'Oh dear, I think it's time to leave. I'm not welcome here.' A tear fell from her eye. It was very rare for a cloud to shed a tear.
As she prepared to leave, Sally got a very bad smell. 'What on earth is that dreadful smell?' she thought to herself. 'Hello' said a voice from outside. 'Who is it?' asked Sally. 'My name is Henry; I don't mean you any harm.' Peeping out the window, Sally saw a small skunk waiting outside to be greeted. 'Come on in then Henry.' 'I saw what happened back there by the river.' Henry told Sally. 'For years I have been the one they get angry at and tell to leave because of my smell. They say I have no right to be here.' 'Oh no!' replied Sally 'you poor creature.' 'I have lived here all my life. It's my home.' ‘Of course Henry.’ I understand.' 'What are you anyway? Henry asked. I have never seen anything like you before.' I'm Sally and I’m a cloud. I came from the sky as I no longer wanted to live up there. Although I think I must return as it was a mistake coming here.' 'Heavens no!' cried Henry. 'For so long I have waited for someone like you to come along and now you are here.' Sally smiled as she realised that she had just made a friend on the ground and she needn't go back to the sky. Sally and Henry talked all day and by the end of the night they felt like they had been friends all of their lives. Then, it occurred to Sally, she could not smell Henry anymore. She had gotten to know him and his kind heart far overshadowed his smell. They became good friends and Henry showed Sally around. They had such fun together and even though the other animals around didn't like them, they were happy, because they had each other.
One day as Henry was helping Sally fix up her shed with some old tools they had found there, they heard a loud bang and screaming nearby. 'My goodness, what could be wrong?' asked Henry as he made his way outside. 'Oh Sally come quickly!' Sally too hurried out and gasped at the sight in front of them both, as some of the other animal’s homes were on fire in the wood. 'We must do something Sally.' 'I know what to do. Quickly Henry, get the bucket in the corner of the shed and follow me to the river.' She noticed that there were dark clouds above the fire and lightening was flashing from it. Lightening must have struck a tree in the wood. She hurried over to the river and dipped herself into the water. This was something which she had never done before and was not sure would even work. She soaked up as much water as she could and asked Henry to fill the bucket with water too. 'Come on Henry!' They went towards the fires and when they got there, Sally floated above one fire and released the water as rain which put the fire out. Then she floated back down to the bucket of water Henry had brought, soaked that up too and put the second and final fire out. The animals looked on in amazement and cheered for the two heroes.
'We are so grateful to you both for saving our homes.' said a teary-eyed rabbit. 'Yes, please forgive us for being so unwelcoming to you both it was wrong of us.' said one little hedgehog as many others nodded their heads in agreement. 'Everybody wait!' shouted a fox sniffing the air. 'Notice, there is no longer a smell from Henry.' 'His kindness has far outshone any smell. He came to help us even after we had been so unkind to him and his friend.' 'Please accept our invitation for a celebratory dance tonight.’ ‘We understand if you didn't want to join us but you will be our special guests of course.' ‘We would love to.' replied Sally and Henry together. From then on, Sally lived very happily on the ground with her friend Henry and their many friends around and whenever Sally looked up to Sun, she would say 'I’m living my dream Sun.' and the day would brighten.
