Colorful Skies

Too attached to this short story, its hard to let go.

But its the raket season and Bentusi's assignment requires writing for very young children.  I hope the new revision is more apt for grade one pupils. 

Apologies for not publishing the Golden Gays final installment. Babawi ako pagkatapos ng mga raket. 

Once there was a mother tree who stood on top of a small hill. As the tree grew leaves, she became aware of her surroundings. One day, the tree looked up at the sky as new leaves appeared on her branches.

“Do you see how the sky changes colors?” the mother tree said to a young leaf.

The other shoots also saw how the sky changes colors.  Sometimes it’s blue, sometimes it’s red. Very rare it becomes purple or gold.  Before rains fall down and nourish the mother tree, the sky turns dark and scary. Sometimes, lighting strikes a branch snapping it from its trunk.  The leaves shed tears.  When rains disappear and the days turn cold, the blue sky stays grey the whole day.

“Tell us what is happening mother tree.” The shoots asked.

“Let’s wait for tomorrow so you can see well.” The leaves closed their eyes as the owl hoots the passing of the night.

When daybreak came, the shoots opened their eyes and saw the sun peeking behind the clouds. The sky turns from black to dark blue and then to orange. As it climbs up, the sky becomes blue. Huge fluffy clouds sometimes block the sunlight, but the sky stays blue.

Hours passed while the young leaves played under the sun. Suddenly the sun was low again, except now it is behind the mountains, in the other direction. The sky turns from blue to bright orange and then to black. The stars appeared and began twinkling. Its night time again and the leaves finally knew the answer.

Things have been the same ever since. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The sky stays blue for most of the days, especially when it’s high in the sky. Storms sometimes appear and blow some of the leaves from the mother tree. As the wind lashes the tree's surroundings, an angry sky turns dark grey.

“It must be the big clouds,” some of the maturing leaves say.

A year has passed and by now it’s almost winter. The old leaves begin to dry as the sky glows bright orange. The setting sun was about to hide behind the mountains when one of the sprouting leaves ask.

“Why does the sky change color?”

“It is because of the sun and the clouds little brother,” the elder leaf answered.