Stories for Young Readers
WHAT I WANT TO BE
Colleen Robus
© The School of Truth
Source p. 316, Oct / Nov 2006 - The Path of Truth
Lerato lay on her back in the warm sun staring at the clouds. She was fed-up. Mrs Tladi had given the class an essay for homework. The subject was "What I want to be when I leave school". She knew that she'd be expected to say that she wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or a rocket scientist because of her good marks, but no-one in her family had ever gone past high school or worn a white collar and there was no money for any child to go to "varsity". When she told her mom about her feelings her mom clicked her tongue disapprovingly and said "Nonsense, you can be whatever you want to be - there's always a way." But Lerato had to face facts. She tossed her head at her mom and marched outside to think.
Now, looking upwards, she watched the clouds change into funny shapes - so high, so free! "I would love to be a cloud, forever free, with no-one to bother me" she sighed, letting the warmth of the sun's rays soothe her... Suddenly her wish was granted. Zip-zap, there she was, floating and tumbling on high!
"Wha... what... where am I?" she exclaimed in a small voice. Opening her eyes wide she saw a perfect droplet of water containing the tiniest person she's ever seen, grinning at her. "You are a droplet, silly, in a cloud" said her new-found companion. "But I wanted to be a whole cloud" said Lerato, disappointed. "No such thing" said her droplet friend. "All clouds are made up of lots of us."
"What am I supposed to do?" Lerato asked. "Keep rolling and bouncing till it's time to jump." Lerato looked down in horror. "I can't, I won't." It wasn't long before a booming thunderous voice commanded "Jump, droplets, jump!" Lerato was pushed and shoved and, before she could stop it, she felt herself whizzing down through the air.
"Wheeee!" This was fun. She spotted a beautiful rainbow just beneath her and deftly she landed on it, bouncing softly a few times. She began climbing to the top of the arch. It seemed to take forever but once she reached it she sat down and slid down the other side. Stretching her arms wide she made a wish. "I wish I was... an eagle!"
So it was that she came to be soaring high above craggy cliffs with a real bird's-eye view of her hometown below. She spotted what she was looking for and swooped with tremendous grace towards her prey, an unsuspecting bunny... but suddenly her heart filled with pity for the little creature and she became the bunny, hopping away from the eagle into a safe burrow. Now something silvery caught her eye and she knew it was a spider spinning its delicate thread into a beautiful pattern. Droplets formed on the intricate web and sparkled in the sunlight. She peered into one... Oh no, it was her own face. She was a droplet again! Before she knew what was happening she was lifted higher and higher by the heat of the sun into a cloud... tumbling and tumbling. "I will have to jump again" she thought, and took a huge leap. She sped down, down, down... and landed - plop!
"Whew!" Lerato awoke with a start, wondering where she was. Reality hit her. The essay; look at the time! She jumped up, skipped indoors, grabbed an apple and fetched her school bag.
"You must have had a good rest in the sun" commented Mom. "You look a lot happier." Lerato grinned and replied "That's because I've found out that I can use my imagination and be anything I want to be!"
God has given us the gift to change our world simply by the way we see it.
(Ref. CR 1006)
** If you arrived at this webpage from within The School of Truth website,
please close this window to return to the Table of Contents.
If you arrived here from a search engine or a different website, click to visit The School of Truth.