Dampers Story

         “If I told you that a long time ago the entire world rested in the hands of one very unruly child, you probably wouldn’t believe me. So that is why I don’t tell stories to people that often. I can't really, because not everyone is willing to believe a cloud is talking to them. Some are just too unimaginative to believe it,”

        “I believe you, sir,” Came a small voice. Sitting in the puffy white hands of the age-old cloud, a child with a pair of yellow pajamas, curly red hair, and big eyes perched happily.

        “Oh, Piper. I know that it is easy for you to believe in me. You are but a girl. Someday you will forget, when you are all grown up.” He looked up to the stars that lit the night sky and twinkled playfully to the sleeping earth below them.

        “I guess I won’t ever grow up then,” She smiled widely and lay her head gently on his marshmallow chest.

        “How do you suppose to do that?” He chuckled, blinking at her with moonlit eyes.

        “I won’t eat my vegetables,” She announced happily. She formed a bit of cloud to create a soft white lump. Then the patted it down with her small hands.

        “Now, now sweetheart. You must eat your vegetables. It is very important that you grow,”

        “So I can have more little Pipers for to keep you company?” She asked. He reached a puff of cloud and patted her curly red head. A smile creased on his lush white lips.

        “Time to go, little miss,” He murmured.

        “But you didn’t finish the story of the unruly child,” She whined, tears sliding down her rosy cheeks.

        “Fine, fine,” He laughed, “I did forget, didn’t I? Well, sit now and listen…and no interruptions…”

          Once upon a long, long time ago, there lived a boy by the name of Nathaniel. He was not a bad boy, but not a good boy either. He liked to kick the younger children and say nasty things. He bit his teachers and put them in chokeholds when he didn’t want to obey. One day when a storm arrived at his doorstep, he wanted little else than to go and see the eye of the storm…the deadly center.

His mother told him to stay inside, but he did not listen. So he found himself picked up by the twisting cloud and brought up into the sky. He was scared, of course, like all humans would be. He was lifted and twisted and turned and toppled. Water splashed in his face and shot through his mouth.

By the time the storm subsided, Nathaniel had found himself at the top of the clouds. Oh was it a sight to see! Rainbows were painted across the sky in long curved arches. Baby clouds kicked puffy white soccer balls across the stuffing-white fields. A huddled mass of frosting-fluffed grandfather clouds discussed the boy worriedly. They looked at him, and then went back to talking. They looked at him again and then talked some more.

He glanced around, sticking his finger up his nose and wiping it back off on a puff of cloud. He got on his knees and stuck his head through the clouds. Beneath the white canopy, he could see an ocean. Orcas soared out of the water just to fall back again. He could see the fish swimming with the current. A shark fin found its way to the surface. Nathaniel gasped in delight, his confusion over the entire situation diminished.

“Um, child,” Came a rough voice of an adolescent cloud. “There is a lot we need to explain to you. Do come up,” He lifted his head to see the face of the young cloud. “I am Damper. We used to have a little girl named Lucy, do you know her?” Nathaniel shook his head solemnly, “Well, she decided to have a little dance, you see…and of course, when a child dances on the clouds, it rains. She got bored of dancing, so she sang. And of course, when a child sings, it thunders. After that she grew bored of both, so she decided to kick around a ball with the youngsters. And of course, when a child kicks things, it rains and storms all at once. If she does it for too long, she may fall through the clouds and be lost. Right as we lost her, we got you,”

“Can I go back to watching the sharks again?” Nathaniel asked impatiently.

“No, sir, I mean, um…What is your name?”

“Nathaniel Ratbag,” He said, “Can I see the sharks again.”

“Well, Nathaniel, we have to have a child here to guide our winds. Lucy is gone…we lost her in the last storm. You must lead us now,”

“How do I do that?” He asked.

“Just be yourself!” Damper replied, “And things will always turn out fine,”

“What happens next?” Piper asked, “Are you Damper?”

“Yes, my dear, I am,” He answered. He looked up worriedly at the light peeking into the sky. She needed to be heading home soon, so he must finish the story. “Now, let me continue,”

For many days nothing happened. The clouds sat lazily in the sky, and Nathaniel just watched the sharks. Eventually, he grew bored of this and complained to Damper.

“I don’t want to sit here any longer. When can we actually go somewhere? Besides, I’m hungry for something other than these cakes and cookies. I’m simply bored of them,”

“We cannot tell you how to lead,” Damper answered.

“I don’t want to lead,” Nathaniel yelled. All of the clouds looked at him. The rainbows disappeared and the general glimmer of the sky disappeared. “I don’t want to!” He stomped his foot to the ground. Rain poured down to the sea below them. A gust of wind blew across the clouds and they were pushed to a big city where they rained and poured on top of everything.

“Do not do that!” Called Damper over the sound of the storm, “You may cause a storm that destroys all of humanity!”

“Do I care?” Nathaniel stomped again, “When I get back home, I’m telling mother I was abducted.”

“You can't go home if it isn’t there anymore,” Damper reasoned. Nathaniel stopped, throwing a terrible look in the poor cloud. He stomped again, and this time, Damper caused the clouds to part and allow him to break free of its blanketing grasp. Nathaniel stood atop him, stomping and crashing this way and that. “You are going to kill me!” Damper wailed. “Please! That hurts!”

“I don’t care,” Nathaniel said. But he did care because he had a feeling that this cloud was taking him home. So he stopped. 
Once on the ground, he ran straight to a police station to tell them what had happened. When he was reunited with his mother, he became a pretty good boy. He was never fantastic, for all children sin…but he was fairly good. When he grew up he married a delightful girl named Lucy and had a sweet little baby…you!

“Oh Damper, what a fantastic story!” Piper exclaimed, “But Papa would never do a thing like that.” She laughed, “I do not believe that is him,”

“Oh, but it is true!” Damper laughed as he took her back to her dainty little window. She climbed into her room and smiled as he tucked her into bed.

“Who replaced Nathaniel?” She asked.

“We did. We found out that we could guide ourselves, and so can you. It is okay to be dependent on someone to help you…but sometimes you just need to guide yourself,”

“That sounds wonderful,” Piper yawned.

“I know it does.” He whispered as he floated away, “Magical things are absolutely terrific. And it is real, and I am real, and some day, Miss Piper, you will dance on the backs of the clouds. Sweet dreams,”