Clouds by Robin Jones Gunn Read Free Book Online Page A

flying above the clouds, somewhere over Idaho, she guessed. She leaned over and contentedly gazed at the endless field of white fluffthat spread out before them. This was the part of flying she loved most—the clouds. Always changing. So peaceful and beautiful. They reminded her of a meadow of freshly fallen snow. Only in a meadow, someone could walk through and leave footprints in the perfect snow. No one could walk through the clouds. No human could mar their perfection.
    She remembered the first time she had decided she loved clouds. She had been with Jonathan in the tree house. They must have been close to twelve years old. Her poetic side was just beginning to sprout its wings. She was perched on the strong branch that jutted out of the top of the tree house, and Jonathan was busy with a hammer repairing the boards that had warped during the spring rains. Shelly had been watching the clouds perform their lazy May dance through the bright green leaves. “They’re like a field of cotton stuffing,” she said. “And no one can make them come or go.”
    “Are you going to help me or not?” Jonathan said.
    Shelly ignored him and lingered on the branch, feeding her newly born poetic self by trying to describe the clouds in as many ways as she could.
    That night, Shelly’s older sisters had sat her down and given her a lecture about playing in the woods with Jonathan. They said if Mom and Dad didn’t see the danger in it, they certainly did. At twelve, Shelly was too old to act like a tomboy. She needed to know that being alone with Jonathan was only giving him an invitation to kiss her.
    The thought shocked Shelly. Kissing Jonathan would be like kissing her brother. Why would she do that? He wouldn’t think of kissing her, either. She was sure of it.
    As it was, nearly four years after the lecture Shelly began to think seriously about kissing a guy. She didn’t know when Jonathan started to think about kissing her. It might have beenwhen they were twelve. Or when they were seventeen and went for their hand-holding walk around the block. But he didn’t act on it until he was eighteen.
    “Shelly?” Dirk reached over and shook her shoulder. “Are you ready?”
    “Oh, sorry. I must have dozed off. Sure. Is the beverage cart ready, or do you want me to finish loading it?”
    “It’s all set.”
    Shelly rose and followed Dirk down the aisle, still trying to adjust her thoughts to catch up to the task at hand. “Something to drink for you?” she asked the passengers in the first row. Shelly began the familiar motions of pouring beverages and delivering them to the passengers with a smile. From then on everything was routine.
    The flight landed at eleven-thirty in the morning, right on time. Shelly drove to her parents’ home in light traffic, which was a nice change. She couldn’t wait to take a hot bath and sleep.
    Mom had left a note on her bed. “Call the church immediately.” Shelly complied, and when the secretary answered, she said, “Oh, Shelly, your parents have been so worried about you. Are you okay?”
    “Yes, why?”
    “Your father’s right here.” The secretary put him on the phone.
    “Hi, Daddy.”
    “Where have you been?”
    “I got a call to take a red-eye to Philadelphia a couple of days ago. I just got back.”
    He was silent for a moment. “Your mother and I didn’t know where you were.”
    “I work,” Shelly said cautiously. “This is how my schedulegoes sometimes. Mom knew I received a call from the airline. She called me at Meri’s a couple of days ago.”
    “Meri’s been gone, too,” Dad said. “Or not answering her phone. We were concerned, that’s all.”
    Shelly felt her life being pinched. It was bad enough to be home, trying to overlap her routine and habits with her parents’, but for her parents to check on her like this was frustrating. For five years she had come and gone as she pleased at all hours of the day. Living at home with Mom and Dad was not going to