Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuaryby Brandon Mull

I like the Fablehaven series and this fourth installment is a good addition to the set, which (according to the back of the fourth book) will conclude in a fifth book due out sometime next year. “Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary” lacks the full emotional involvement that could catapult Mulls writing into the realm of the classics and suffers from some minor philosophical contradictions, but it is nevertheless an exciting and fresh story with unique characters and an unexpected conclusion.

Mull doesn’t fully develop the emotion of his stories, and this ends up hindering both the story and the speech of some of his characters. For example, in “Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary” chapter 3 should be read before chapter 2. The 3rd chapter of the book (along with pieces of chapter 5) weaves an immensely emotion story that tears at your hopes and bolsters your fears, and makes you anxious to read on for a resolution, desperately hoping that Mull has a way to undo everything that he has done. At least, that’s how you would feel if you hadn’t spoiled it by reading chapter 2, pre-empting the emotional investment you could have made and the wonderful sense of unexpected relief that chapter 2 could have given you (by the way, there is a very similar situation in Book Two: “Rise of the Evening Star”; Chapter 13 should be read before chapter 12). Seth and Kendra’s grandparents also suffer emotionally in the story, often sounding very detached and business-like when they speak to Seth or Kendra, rather than sounding like a grandparent that truly loves and adores their grandchild and therefore can’t help but let that adoration make their communication more intimate. This lack of emotion doesn’t ruin the story by any means, but it is one of the things that keep the books of this series from being books that you are anxious to read again.

The books of the Fablehaven series also suffer from a few contradictions, and this fourth book is no exception. For example, Fairy’s are presented as not being able to be good or bad because they don’t really choose to do good things, and yet some of the fairies make choices that separate them as clearly being more trustworthy and friendly than other fairies. Another contradiction is how deception is treated in the “Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary”. Betrayal and deception are the cornerstone of the evils of the book, and yet the “good” caretakers employ similar deceptive tactics in betraying the trust of some of the creatures on their reserve, justifying the deception and betrayal because of their need and the difficulty of dealing truthfully with the creatures. Honesty and integrity are the most important tenets of the “good” heroes I want to believe in, and if a hero must deceive I anxiously await the moment when all is revealed. A hero willing to permanently deceive others for sake of convenience is not the hero I want to stand behind, and these types of heroes should be presented as characters whose integrity needs to mature. Once again, however, these contradictions are minor annoyances, and don’t detract much from the story.

What makes this book worth reading is the story, and the rich array of characters and creatures that are a part of its world of magic. The creatures are exciting to learn about; some of the dragons introduced in this installment being especially interesting. The ending twist caught me completely off-guard, which hasn’t happened in even some of my favorite books. If anything, my criticisms described in the previous two paragraphs are the result of my love for the story of the Fablehaven series, and the rich magical world in which Mull immerses the reader. The contrast and collaborative possibilities presented in “Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary” that result from the special magical abilities that have been granted to Seth and Kendra are possibly some of my favorites in any book that I’ve read. I am hoping strongly that the conclusion of the series in book five, “Keys to the Demon Prison,” will be inextricably dependent upon some great power that can only be wielded by these two young heroes.

The fourth installment of the Fablehaven series, “Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary” is a book worth reading (after the first, second and third books, naturally). I wish that the stories were a little more refined to my taste, but they are still wonderful stories that are well written. Brandon Mull is an author that I will keep on the list of those whose books I am interested in reading.

All-American Girl

In 1948 the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was in its sixth year and looked as though it would continue to draw crowds long into the future. The war that had conceived the girls league in 1943 had ended, but the league continued to draw huge crowds to their games. The AAGPBL was doing well enough that it easily supported ten teams.

The Rockford Peaches had a new player that year whose name was Riian, and she was destined to be the star of the team. Early in the year she had a batting average of .324 with only Audrey Wagner anywhere near her in the standings. In runs batted in only Dorothy Shroeder was near Riian’s numbers that year. She and Alice Haylett were the top pitchers of the league, both with almost perfect records and earned run averages under one. Everyone, from the bum on the street to the Wall Street executives, agreed that Riian was the best player in all the AAGPBL.

Even though Riian was excelling, the Rockford Peaches were struggling. Early in the season, with only ten wins and a disheartening sixteen losses, they had fallen to the lowest ranks of the league (well behind the Springfield Sallies) and Coach Allington didn’t know what was to be done. Riian was a clear stand out, but the other girls struggled in hitting, pitching and fielding, so it became very difficult to win games when Riian wasn’t on the mound.

Riian loved being the best at what she did. She worked very hard in batting practice so that she could not only hit the ball well, but also gain a lot of control over where the ball would go when she hit it. She’d spent years working on her pitching, so that now it felt like she just had to think and the ball would do what she wanted. Knowing that she had become the best player in the league gave her a wonderful feeling, but she was also very frustrated that her team kept struggling to win games.

It was in the 22nd game of the Rockford Peaches’ season that Riian began to watch the other girls on her team to see if she could determine ways they might be able to improve as a team. After all, these girls were all good ball players; it didn’t make sense that their team would lose so consistently. They were playing the Peoria Redwings on a warm and humid day in the early part of June. Riian watched as the other girls batted, and she noted that her teammate Jenna “Dottie” Kamenshek was doing well, and just needed to swing a little more level and she’d be able to start batting with much more power, accuracy and consistency. Riian got very excited and after the game (which, unfortunately, they lost) she told Jenna what she had seen.

“Could you help me level out my swing?” Jenna asked after Riian had explained her observation, “I would love to start hitting better!”

“Definitely,” Riian promised, and at the very next practice Riian helped Jenna learn the different techniques that would help. Soon, some of the other girls came over and Riian was able to watch each of them and help them improve their batting as well. The whole team became very excited at what they were learning, and Riian found she was really enjoying helping her teammates improve.

The Rockford Peaches won the next five games.

The team was ecstatic! They still struggled when Riian wasn’t pitching, but they were now much better as a team when it came to batting averages and runs batted in. Everyone was thrilled.

Everyone, that is, except Riian. She had been happy to help the other girls get better and winning the games was great, but Jenna had just passed her batting average and RBIs for the season. For the first time that year Riian wasn’t the best batter on the team. In the next few games Riian’s frustration grew as she fell into a slump and didn’t get on base for several games, games which her team lost.

During this time, Riian began to watch some of the other pitchers on the team, and she noticed that Carly “Eleanor” Callow looked very adept at hurling. All she needed was to improve her balance during her windup and perhaps try throwing a couple of new pitches, and Carly could easily be the best pitcher on the team. After the Peaches fourth loss in a row, Riian approached Carly and explained her thoughts in regards to Carly’s pitching.

“Can you show me how to do that?” Carly questioned after Riian had expounded, “I really want to become a better pitcher.”

At the Rockford Peaches’ next practice Riian and Carly began working on pitching techniques, including how to throw curveballs and knuckleballs. Soon the other pitchers on the team were asking Riian to help them as well, and they were all improving.

Once again, the efforts had a tremendous effect on the team’s performance, and they started winning a lot of their games. Throughout the season, their games became some of the most interesting to watch, and members of the crowd were often heard to call the Rockford Peaches the “most talented team in the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.” They did so well, in fact, that they ended the season with the third-best record in the league, having won seventy-four games and lost forty-nine.

Riian, again, was happy but frustrated. She loved that her team was doing so well, but the end of the season had come and she was no longer the best at batting and pitching on her team. Jenna had ended the season with a batting average of .311 and 98 RBIs while Riian had come in second with an average of .310 and with 92 RBIs. Carly had finished the season with a win-loss record of 23-7 and an earned run average of .81, whereas Riian had struggled at the end of the season and had ended with a record of 22-8 and an earned run average of .85. With the playoffs approaching, Riian resolved that she would do everything she could to improve her batting and pitching so that she could have statistics that were better than those of Carly and Jenna.

Riian worked hard. In the post season games, she batted and pitched better than she ever had before. Jenna and Carly watched her improve and sought to improve along with her. The Rockford Peaches dominated the post season as these teammates competed with each other and helped each other refine their skills. They rallied against the Grand Rapids Chicks in the final games and won the league championship!

After the game, Coach Allington helped lead a celebration in honor of the girls’ achievements. Near the end of the festivities, it became time to announce the team’s Most Valuable Player.

“The recipient of this award has been difficult to single out, since we have had several top performers this season.” Coach Allington began.

Riian’s hopes began to rise. She felt certain that she had done the best she possibly could in the post season, and she desperately hoped it would be enough for the award.

“First we considered Carly, who ends the year as our number one pitcher!” At this the girls erupted in applause and cheering. The coach continued, “Her contribution was a major part of our ability to earn this championship, but she is not the one who earns our MVP award tonight!”

The cheers were replaced by a soft, interested whisper among the teammates. Riian, whose heart had sunk slightly at the news that Carly had finished as the top hurler, glanced at Carly and was surprised to see that Carly was looking at her and smiling warmly.

“Next, we considered our best batter of the season, Jenna!” Again the girls applauded joyfully. “But once again she was not the one who we chose.”

The murmur from the girls was much louder this time. Riian was a mix of joy and sorrow now, being happy that Jenna had done so well, but having realized that she was not going to be the best at anything this season. Looking up at Jenna with a fleeting tear of disappointment in her eye, Riian noticed that Jenna, too, was smiling at her. Her eyes widened as her hope rose again. The coach continued.

“Our MVP, however, did much more than have the best stats for our team. Our MVP recognized that she could help her teammates become better, and then dedicated herself to finding ways for them to improve. Our MVP also became one of the very best pitchers and hitters in the league, and without her we would never have reached this championship. Because of her, we are this year’s champions. Our MVP is…”

Coach Allington paused for effect, and the girls were unable to contain their cheers. All eyes were on Riian now, and Riian’s eyes filled with a few more tears that helped clear away their disappointed predecessors.

“RIIAN!”

The cheers were deafening now. Jenna and Carly came over to give Riian a big hug. “I knew he was going to pick you,” confided Jenna, “I just knew it!” “Me, too,” agreed Carly, “I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than you.”

…

Riian stayed on with the Rockford Peaches for two more incredible seasons before giving up the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League before the 1951 season to raise a family in her hometown. She later taught math and coached the girls’ softball team at the local high school for thirty-one years, and helped lead them to nineteen championship games, of which they won twelve.

Her family always remembers her as being very helpful, and very happy.

The End

The Chanseite Wall

There was once a man in the kingdom of Yantha, long, long ago, whose name was Cole. Cole served the king of Yantha and was one of the king’s best servants. When the king would ask Cole to clean the stable; Cole would clean the stable AND feed the horses. When the king would ask Cole to help plow a field so that it could be planted; Cole would not only plow the field, but also teach the younger men and women to plow the field so that they could help. Cole loved working for the king and he and the king became good friends. In fact, just like Joseph of Egypt, Nehemiah and Daniel, Cole was made the king’s second in command.

One day the king came to Cole with a job for him to do. “Cole,” said the king, “I need you to go and protect the city of Chanseth. This city keeps getting attacked by the Maislebessians.”

“Yes, my king.” said Cole, “I will gather the men I need and go to the city today.”

Cole immediately called upon two hundred of the best workers in the kingdom and together they made their way to the city of Chanseth.

Chanseth was built inside a wide, horseshoe shaped mountain range on the edge of the kingdom of Yantha. The mountains rose tall all around with small hills in front; these hills dotted with the houses of those who farmed the fruitful potato fields and houses of those who tended the cattle. The fields and pastures lay in the wide valley, and the city was centered near the mouth of the mountains. The wide opening at the end of the horseshoe valley made it very easy to pass to and from the city, but also made the city very vulnerable to the attacks of the neighboring kingdom.

This neighboring kingdom, named Maislebessia, could grow corn and other grains very well, but could never seem to have a successful potato crop. Since Chanseth produced the best potatoes in all the land, the Maislebessians would attack the town and raid their potato stores.

Cole quickly determined that he wanted to build a wall across the opening of the horseshoe valley, so that the Chanseites could more easily defend themselves from attack. With his two hundred men he began to lay the foundation of the wall. The stones had to be very large to be able to offer the protection that was needed, and two men were needed to carry every stone and put it into place.

A single Maislebessian approached one day, after Cole and his men had been working for about a month. By this time, the wall spanned the entire mouth of the valley and went up to a man’s waist. The Maislebessian, seeing the wall, shouted, “What are you doing! How dare you build such a wall!” Cole, hearing the man, went out speak with him, saying, “We are building this wall to protect ourselves from your attacks. Go and tell your king that should he attack this city again he will not prevail.” The Maislebessian replied in anger, “How DARE you say such a thing to our king! I will go get him now and he will send his army against you!” At this, the unfriendly Maislebessian ran away.

Cole asked his men to focus on continuing to build the wall, and he chose two of the men to help him watch over the building of the wall and help the men continue to construct. He then went to the city of Chanseth and asked the people to begin to prepare weapons of war.

After about another month, a small group of almost a dozen Maislebessians approach the men at the wall. Having had another month’s worth of effort applied to the construction of the wall had allowed it to grow to the height of a man’s eyes, and the work of building the wall was much more strenuous now. The small group of Maislebessians began to taunt the men building the wall, and would occasionally throw rocks at the builders. Cole’s men, however, had by now grown very strong from lifting the rocks for the wall, and rarely noticed the taunting or the rocks that would glance off of their arms and legs. Cole, however, would not stand for his men being treated this way. “Stop!” he cried to the pestering group, “be done this instant. We would prefer not to be taunted and abused in this way. Go and tell your king that this behavior will NOT be tolerated!”

“Ha ha ha ha!” the Maislebessians laughed, “You would not prefer this treatment! Such weak words will be easily met by our kings’ army!” This said, these rude men went their way.

Another month passed. The wall was now taller than a man, and the labor to build the great wall continued to strengthen the two hundred men who were working on it.

In the distance, a slow moving, thin cloud of dust showed the army of the Maislebessians approaching. Cole consulted with the leaders he had appointed and together they determined what they felt to be the best course of action. Each man was given a weapon and stood upon the wall. As the attacking army drew near, Cole and his leaders rode out to meet with the king to try to discuss options that would not need to include warfare.

The Maislebessian king brought two of his most fearsome servants to meet with Cole. Cole spoke first, “Oh king, we would prefer not to battle you today. Please leave us in peace.”

“Ha ha ha!” the king laughed darkly, “You should have never built your wall! We have come to tear your wall down, stone by stone, and to kill any man who will stand in the way! I have fifteen hundred men with me today; your two hundred will be no match!”

“King of Maislebessia,” Cole replied, “again let me say that we do NOT want to fight you and your army today, but WE WILL if you should attack.”

The king gave another dark chuckle and said, “You and your men will be attacked, and your wall will be torn down. I have nothing more to say to you.” At this the king began to turn to join the ranks of his army.

Cole called out, “King, let me say just one more thing.” The king stopped and Cole continued, “I believe you have not clearly grasped the situation. Look at our wall. The stones are large and expertly fit, and will not be easy to tear down into rubble. Also, my men have worked steadfastly with these boulders for three months and have become extremely strong. If you look at them you will see that each of them has the strength to exceed ten of your men. If you should attack us today, you will be met with our strength and your army will fail.”

The Maislebessian king swore in his anger at being so addressed, but he took a moment to assess the words which had been spoken. The wall was indeed finely built, with seams so tight between the hewn rocks that a man’s finger would be too large to find leverage. He then glanced at the men standing on the wall, each with a weapon in his hand. They appeared to be at least as strong as Cole had said, and possibly quite a bit stronger. Suddenly, the king did not feel that he had an advantage.

“I’m afraid it appears you are right.” said the king, “it is clear we will not likely prevail against you today.” At this the king was suddenly at a loss for words, fearing lest Cole and his men attack the king’s army.

Cole broke the silence, “King of Maislebessia, you will no longer attack this city! Should you try again, we will destroy your army. However, today I offer you a chance for peace. If you will promise never to attack any city in our kingdom again, we will build gates into our wall and allow you to bring your corn to sell to us. In return, we will bring our potatoes to your lands and sell to you.”

The Maislebessian king was quite surprised at this offer. The Maislebessians had been fighting with the people of Yantha for centuries and never had there been talk of the two kingdoms selling produce to each other. After talking with the men of his army, the Maislebessian king consented to promising never to attack any city in Yantha again.

Cole and his appointed leaders redesigned the walls to widen the gates to allow for trade, and (after several months of encouragement) Maislebessian corn was made available all through the kingdom of Yantha. At the same time, Yanthite potatoes began to grace many a Maislebessian stew. After many more years, the boys and girls of the two kingdoms began to marry, and the kingdoms found themselves tied together in bonds of family as well as commerce and friendship.

The king of Yantha was extremely proud of Cole for not only finding a way to protect the city of Chanseth, but also for using the strength of his men and the wall as a tool for befriending the nation that had, for so long, been unkind to the Yanthites. Cole had taken an enemy nation and made it a close friend and ally.

Even to this day, Chanseth holds a yearly celebration remembering the strength, change and friendship that came from the building of the Chanseite wall.

The End

The 360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell

I have to admit that I haven’t read a lot of leadership books, and so my take on “The 360 Degree Leader” by John C. Maxwell may be a little naïve, but I liked this book and think it is worth reading. I would highly recommend it to anyone who desires to be a leader in any organization.




One of my favorite books on leadership is “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” by Steven R. Covey. This book, published in 1989, has many ideas that are so engrained into business now that they have become cliché (e.g. being proactive & synergy) , but one idea that especially struck me was that of the abundance mentality. This idea is that you, a person in a business, a family or other cooperative organization, do not have to take from others in your organization in order to advance, but rather everyone in your organization can advance if they are willing to continue to add value to themselves and to each other.

“The 360 Degree Leader” expands on the abundance mentality by presenting ideas on how a “middle management” leader can support those who lead him, learn and grow alongside his peers and teach & help develop those whom he leads. The principles that John C. Maxwell teaches and evangelizes persuade that by doing everything you can to help others in your organization, while doing your own job well, you will not only improve your organization, but also improve your own influence, leadership skills and eventually your own financial compensation.

The book is written in a very easy to read style that helped it avoid the dry-textbook style I was fearing when I first decided to read it. Maxwell has filled his book with personal, historical and biblical stories that help to support his principles as he presents them, and which make it easy to continue reading.

One of my favorite stories he presents is the account of Nehemiah as a “middle management” leader who is allowed by the ruler to rebuild Jerusalem. This story lead me to think of many biblical accounts, such as Joseph (of Egypt), Daniel, David, Esther and others who had great influence as “middle management” and helped me understand just how important those who lead in the middle can be.

The principle that made the highest impact on me in this book was the idea that a leader should see everyone whom he leads as a “10”. I have a tendency to try and determine the limitations of those I lead and then try to do the best with what is left, instead of embracing the idea that they not only CAN do better, but also WANT to be better than they are. If I’m not willing to believe they can be one of the best producers and leaders in my organization, why on earth would they trust me enough to let me influence their growth? Changing this part of my leadership mentality will probably be the biggest initial growth that this book inspires in sme.

My only real issue with the book is that it feels like John C. Maxwell is not fully focused on what he is trying to teach, and therefore the book doesn’t seem to be as important to him as other things might be. The simple fact that this is one of over 40 books that he has written on many topics, and that his focus seems to be torn between his organizations, his public speaking and the production of his books, makes it seem as though there could be a much more concise and focused version of what he is teaching if he would spend more time and energy distilling and researching the ideas. This isn’t a major problem for the book, just a nagging personal feeling. I’m much more likely to trust insights if they represent a heavy investment of the author, rather than just one of a few dozen concepts that have been fleshed out into a 300+ page book.
However, as I have mentioned above, the principles taught in this book are sound and worth adopting. I think anyone who invests their time in reading this book will easily reap sufficient benefits to make the time worthwhile if they are willing to continue to change themselves and put into practice at least a subset of the principles taught.

Newborn Tragedy

A quick disclaimer: I didn't actually make this story up for my kids. I needed a monologue for an acting class last year and wanted to try and write one, this being the result. It was supposed to take 5 minutes, but ended up taking about 10.

We brought Emily home 3 days after she was born. I offered to take the nights. It’s not like I was going to get any sleep anyway. That first night Emily cried and I barely heard her. I didn’t talk to her, I didn’t rock her, I didn’t sing to her. I just fed her and changed her, and went back to not sleeping.

Amy and I met when we were in high school. We were paired up as dance partners, and both of us wanted to dance with someone else in the class. But, Amy was too tall for the boy she wanted and I was too tall for the girl I wanted, so we had to dance together. We were dance partners for 7 years, and it took us 3 years before we realized our crushes were ignoring us. At that point, it seemed pretty natural to start dating each other.

The second night with Emily I was angry, and I wanted her to stop crying. I fed her and changed her and yelled at her. I almost shook her I was so mad. But instead I put her down and let Amy’s mom deal with her, while I went back to not sleeping.

I gave Amy the tiniest little diamond ring. It was such a small little thing, but it was real and she loved it. We were just a breath past 21 when we were married in a friend of her family’s backyard. It was a wonderful ceremony, with just some close friends and family there. Later that night our friends threw us a party since we couldn’t afford a reception, and it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had; eating, drinking and dancing. We were pretty good at dancing together by then.

The third night I cried and prayed. Somewhere I new I couldn’t change things, but I was ready to make a deal with heaven or hell if things could go back to the way they were. It was no good. I finally talked to Emily that night; and I fed her and changed her, and went back to not sleeping.

After 3 years of trying, it was pretty obvious that maybe we weren’t going to have children. Amy tried to convince me we were just unlucky at first, but nobody is that unlucky. The anger and depression followed and seemed to hit each of us differently, but once we finally accepted that we weren’t going to have kids we decided we were going to try to take our minds off of it with missionary work. So, off we went with our church’s youth group to Mexico, neither of us speaking a lick of Spanish, to teach bible school. There was one little girl who came that we just fell in love with. She’d sit on Amy’s lap as we tried our best to read our pamphlets, and she would just talk and talk to us. We couldn’t speak much more that “Christo Vienne” by the end of those 2 weeks, but we loved that little girl. It was really hard on Amy after we left. Really hard. We didn’t do any more mission trips after that.

The fourth night I heard Emily, but I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. I wanted to die. Amy’s mom got up with her, fed her and changed her. I was in my room with the baby monitor off…not sleeping.

All Amy ever wanted to be was a mom. She had friends that were going to be doctors and veterinarians, but she was always going to be a mom. So after 8 years of trying and not succeeding, we were not being very patient with the little plastic stick that was going to tell us whether Amy really was late for a reason. It seemed like forever, but finally there it was…a little plus sign telling us that we were going to have a baby. Amy was finally going to be a mom.

We buried Amy yesterday. In the delivery room Amy got to hold Emily for a few minutes before the pain started. They took Emily to the other side of the room, and there I was, my brand new baby girl crying on one side of me, my wife bleeding to death on the other side. Amy finally just fell asleep and didn’t wake up.

Last night it finally hit me that the only way Emily was ever going to know about her mom was if I told her stories. I fed her, changed her, sang to her, rocked her and told her stories about her mom all night long.

This morning I fell asleep, and I dreamed I was dancing with Amy.

The End

Cloud Flyers

In a little town out west an amazing thing happened. A family had four children who all had super powers. OK, so this really wasn’t all that amazing all by itself; lots of families had children who all had super powers. Usually, however, the kids’ super powers were things like being able to grow your fingernails really fast, or being able to sprout a four inch hair in the middle of your forehead. What made this family amazing was that all four children could fly, and everyone agreed that (since flying was definitely the coolest superpower they’d ever heard of) this was a special group of siblings.

These brothers and sisters loved to fly on hot summer days when clouds would lazily cross the sky. There was nothing like a good cloud to cool you off, and the air was always cooler at cloud level. One thing that they always wanted to do was to fly through the big, fluffy clouds, but their dad had told them that it was a bad idea.

“Trust me,” he’d say, “it just isn’t safe to fly through the big, fluffy clouds. Try to stick to the flat and wispy ones and you’ll be fine.”

Their Dad’s super power, by the way, was that he could make his voice get very loud. This was handy, because no matter where the kids would fly off to they would always hear him call them home for dinner. In fact, pretty much everyone in the state would come home for dinner at the same time, thinking that maybe their father was calling them home, too.

One especially hot day, the children were looking at the sky hoping to find a nice cloud, but the only cloud that they could see was a big, fluffy and inviting cloud on the horizon. It was probably the biggest, fluffiest and most inviting cloud that they’d ever seen.

They went to their father to beg for permission.

“Dad, can we please fly through that cloud today?” said Cole, the oldest of the four, “It’s such a hot day and that cloud looks so nice!”

“Yeah, dad,” said Riian, who was second oldest and arguably one of the top 7 sisters in the world, “Please?”

“No, you guys,” their Dad said tiredly, “I’ve told you, it’s not safe to fly through the big clouds.”

“Aw, dad,” Jack whined, “it isn’t fair! That’s the only cloud in the sky. You have to let us fly through it!”

Izzy, who was the youngest and who was often a bit bossy when she spoke to her father, agreed, “Dad! You let us fly through that cloud!”

“Watch your tone, young lady,” said their dad, “and my answer is still no. You guys know better than this; please don’t ask me again.”

“ I need to go help your mother get through some doors.” Their mother’s super power was that she could hold an unlimited amount of things in her hands at one time. Unfortunately, when her hands were packed with everything she wanted to pick up, she very often would have problems with doorknobs and handles. “Why don’t you guys fly over to the pool or something?”

As soon as their dad was out of sight, Izzy turned to them defiantly and said, “I’M flying through the cloud.” Whoosh! Before the other three could respond she was off, and they quickly took off after her to try to catch her.

Izzy, though very small and awkward when walking on the ground, was almost as fast as the other three when it came to flying, so catching her when she had a head start was not going to be an easy task. Cole, Riian and Jack flew as fast as they could and slowly, slowly closed the gap between them and Izzy, with the cloud looming ever closer. Just as they grasped her feet, they passed into the cloud.

All four children stopped and hovered in the midst of the water vapor. It felt very good to be out of the sun and in the dampness of the mist. Cole was a bit confused. “This doesn’t seem very dangerous,” he said, “and it feels SO good.” Jack agreed, “I don’t think this cloud is dangerous at all.” Riian had a thought, “Maybe we should hold hands and fly around in the cloud for a little bit just to see what it’s like?” “Sounds good to me!” said Izzy, and they all began to drift slowly through the cloud.

After the heat of the day, nothing could have felt as good as the cool, moist breeze that greeted them as they wandered further into the fog. Every inch of skin that was exposed was bathed in the mist and it felt like every tiny spec of vapor was trying to kiss away the tiniest fraction of the heat that had made the day miserable. They continued to drift, and each one began to think that they just might stay in the cloud as long as they possible…

WHOOSH!

“Whoa, what was that?” said Cole, “Did you guys see something?”

“No, I felt something.” Izzy corrected, “it was right behind me.”

“Maybe we should try to find a way out,” Riian said a bit warily, “before…”

WHOOSH!

“There it was again,” exclaimed Jack, “What is that?”

“It looked kind of like a wet snowball!” Cole yelled.

WHOOSH!

“That’s not snow!” cried Izzy

WHOOSH!

“No! It’s ice!” Yelled Riian.

WHOOSH!

“Let’s get out of here!”

They began to fly with all their strength when WAP! a large hailstone struck Cole in the shoulder. With the ice flying past them at an ever-increasing rate Cole began to fall and Jack flew to catch him. In the next instant WAM! Riian was hit in the leg and also began to fall with Izzy in pursuit to catch her. When Jack and Izzy caught the other two they decided to try to fly straight down to get out of cloud, but SMASH! Cole stuck out his good arm to stop a softball sized hailstone just before it was going to hit Izzy square in the head. Izzy and Jack quickly changed their direction to try to avoid being hit so directly by the ice and slush and flew faster than they thought they could, especially with their injured siblings in tow. Hailstones of all sizes were striking the siblings all over their bodies now, with Cole and Riian bravely trying to take the brunt of whatever collisions they could so that Jack and Izzy could keep flying. The violent storm in the cloud was blinding them now and they were positive they could only last a few more moments when suddenly everything stopped.

They were out of the cloud, and back in the warmth and calm of the sun.

Izzy and Jack were exhausted and bruised, and Cole and Riian could barely breathe, but the peace of the air around them enveloped them and they began to recover. The unmoving air seemed much more inviting and welcome than it had just a few minutes prior. Cole and Riian began to breathe easier and could just start to fly on their own again…

CRACK! KABOOOOOOM!!!!!

A bolt of lightning soared past them; it’s origin in the cloud that suddenly seemed way too close. With what remaining energy they had they flew home, bruised but grateful, and vowing never to disobey their father again.

At least when it came to flying through clouds…

The End