Marble Rides the Storm

A tiny speck in the clouds

High inside a rumbling gray storm cloud, a tiny speck of ice named Marble spun quietly in the cold, misty air. She was smaller than a raindrop, round and pale, surrounded by tiny droplets of water so cold they hadn't frozen yet. Marble didn't know it yet, but she was about to go on the wildest ride of her life.

Swept up and coated in ice

Suddenly, a great gust of wind roared up from below and swept Marble higher and higher, into the coldest, frostiest part of the cloud. As she rose, tiny droplets of water brushed against her and froze instantly, wrapping her in a fresh, shining coat of ice. "Ooh!" Marble laughed, tumbling through the icy mist. "I'm growing!"

Drifting back down together

But updrafts don't blow forever. Soon the wind softened, and gravity gently tugged Marble back down through the middle of the cloud. She drifted past dozens of other little ice pellets doing the very same thing, all of them tumbling and growing together in the swirling gray light. "We're like tiny snowballs on a very bumpy sled ride," one of them giggled, and Marble laughed too.

Round and round she grows

Up she went again — and down, and up, and down. Each time the wind carried her higher, she picked up one more shimmering layer of ice, wrapping around the layer before it like the rings inside a great old tree. Marble began to feel wonderfully strong, a little heavier and a little braver with every round trip through the clouds.

A soft landing in the meadow

At last, after so many trips that she'd lost count, Marble had grown so plump and round that even the storm's mightiest gusts couldn't lift her anymore. She felt herself tip and fall — not scared, but proud — tumbling gently down through the rain until she landed with the softest little bounce in a meadow of green grass. All around her, dozens of cloud friends glinted like tiny marbles in the fresh light as the storm rolled on and the sun broke through.