1. The girl in a rain puddle

A Chapter by E.Ray

We may not have as much sugar candy as we want, but we can eat the clear transparent wind and drink the beautiful pink rays of the morning. Miyazawa Kenji

Even though there aren't any goods of an entire world, the snow is still glittering, while being collected slowly and with patience as the biggest fortune. As rain is confined in the snowflakes, you can't find even the slightest drop to calm your thirst.

Tim sighs while shoveling the road: beneath the snowdrift lie a frozen fortress without a tiniest crack for weeds to hatch. Somewhere underneath this ice has to be some soil, which cannot use stored energy for bringing up its sprouts. If this continues, Tim will never witness spring, he will experience not the adventures of summer, but only indifferent snowy days.

Still Dwarf planets continue to push through the chapped ice in the Kuiper belt, even if they are much smaller and insignificant comparing to the icebergs in the ocean, they keep pushing through without melting. The bigger one among them �" Eris, is also only a white pebble thrown out into the darkness.

Here Merry is shaking down the snow into the bucket, she is going to melt it on the fire, so they could have some drinkable water. Focused she climbs up to the furthest branches, where the fluffiest whiteness is gathering. So huge is girl's resolve that even naughty snow sprites, who stir branches, can't make her waver. She is carrying this bucket to the stove, as her leg gets stuck in snow and all the gatherings are spilled on the ground.

“Oh well,” calms herself down. “Maybe someday, Eris will get warmer and peach colored light will glisten on the water roads in melting ice, and ground will bear unseen fruits, while lakes would be full of fish.”

Once more she is attempting to climb to the treetop, only now she is silently sobbing. It is such a mournful weep, that Tim decides to break a chain of girl's misfortunes.

“There is definitely a planet, somewhere out there in a space, without any bad luck or poverty. Merry, we didn't deserve this, we didn't deserve to eat vegetables grown in fake lights of our greenhouse, grown out of the darkness itself. Say, why must we put up with this? Why must we heat up the snow just for a few sips of hot tea? We should better set off.”

“But, Tim, what are you talking? We've been here all our lives. We have our stove and greenhouse, we have our home. Poverty still hasn't reached our resolve, we could manage till spring.”

“It has never been spring here, it's just a pretty dream,” the boy persuaded her.

Merry felt she must defend Eris without looking defeated, yet Tim was right. There was no spring, not a single bird or mouse. A place like that is uninhabitable.

And Tim arranged his small spaceship called “Bird” to migrate into another planet, where Merry's resolve won't be so vain.

�" �" �"

The children managed to reach space without any trouble. The first object seen from further away was Halley's comet. Its tail was splashing in all directions. Water regained its fluid form to wet eyelashes and hair, soaking into cotton, getting lost in the folds of clothing. As if water was congratulating them on leaving their cold, unfriendly planet. There was something homelike in the rain �" children joyfully raised their hands to meet this miracle, and scant drops were striking skin with a pleasant tingling. The desired water had always been nearby, passing by Eris just in another orbit.

They landed on the body of a comet. The puddle filled grounds were softened by moisture, embracing their feet and making it sink, while the mud seeped through in between the toes. Droplets mischievously dribbled into the tree crowns, bending over the leaves and pouring out all of the water collected in them. The puddles were rippling and everything was glowing in small rainbows.

There is something jolly in the rain, how it pounds into plants, washing away the dust and bees who couldn't survive the heat of this road. Relief descends. That's how Halley's comet is traveling through its orbit, while closer to sun it heats up again. Sometimes water wastes in the universe, not reaching grounds and every drop remain as majestic as the first one. Even though this unexpected encounter brought joy, the misfortunes were still sneaking behind. While the comet heated more and more, the rain decreased, so every drop was expected, but raised a guess, if this one was the last; or maybe a little drizzle would come to touch the surfaces.

Here appeared another small misfortune, Merry got her foot into the wrong puddle.

A thin voice threatened, “Get out of my cosmos or this won't end well for you.”

Merry looked around: the voice came from beneath somewhere at her foot. There was a girl in the middle of a puddle.

“Excuse me, I didn't intend to get into your dwelling,” shyly responded Merry.

“Into my dwelling, you say? Not into my dwelling, you got into my galaxy,” she got angrier, wrapping herself inside the bubble.

Tim who was marching ahead, overheard this conversation and became curious.

“Aren't you cramped in your galaxy, don't you lack anything?”

“Cramped? How so... This whole galaxy is mine: I have all the lights from the skies, even the ripples are glowing. And grass below is very nourishing, gliding is marvelous �" you just lie and give in, so the currents will carry you. What can I lack?”

Merry excused again, but silently whispered to Tim, “Let's not tell her, she is living in a puddle, she is feeling so well here... Let's not tell, she hasn't yet seen all of the cosmos, and this is only a light of a few stars and... Her puddle might dry up.”

“Especially, let's not tell, that her puddle will dry up,” thought Tim to himself and prepared to abandon the comet. The other planets are still waiting for them, the full space, and the whole lot of treasures.

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