“Look!” Scarlett pointed to a fluffy cloud shaped like a giant bunny.
“That one looks like you, Lily!”
Lily, a fluffy white cat, purred and rubbed against Scarlett’s leg. Scarlett giggled. It was important to be respectful of Lily’s feelings, even if she couldn’t understand words.
Suddenly, the fluffy bunny cloud began to glow! It shimmered with pink and lilac light. Then, a staircase made of rainbows appeared, reaching all the way down from the sky.
“Wow!” Scarlett gasped. “Do you think we could…”
Before she even finished her sentence, Lily leaped onto the first rainbow step. She looked back at Scarlett, her tail swishing with excitement.
“Okay, okay!” Scarlett carefully climbed the rainbow stairs. They felt soft and bouncy, like giant marshmallows.
At the top, they found themselves in a world made entirely of clouds! Everything was soft and white, and the air sparkled.
But something wasn’t right.
A little ghost with a crown was floating all by himself, tears rolling down his transparent cheeks.
“Hello,” Scarlett said softly. “My name is Scarlett, and this is Lily. Why are you sad?”
The little ghost sniffled. “I’m Prince Puffy, and I lost my smile because nobody is being respectful!”
Scarlett remembered what her mommy always said. “Respect is important,” she declared. “It means being kind to others and treating everyone nicely. It means taking care of our things and not being mean.”
“Exactly!” Prince Puffy exclaimed. “When everyone forgets to be respectful, my magical kingdom becomes sad and gray.”
Looking around, Scarlett saw that Prince Puffy was right. The clouds, usually bright and colorful, were dull and gray. The sparkly air felt heavy and sad.
“Don’t worry, Prince Puffy!” Scarlett declared. “Lily and I will help you find your smile!”
Scarlett knew just what to do. She took out her box of sparkly pipe cleaners from her backpack. She always kept it with her, just in case she needed to be creative!
“We can make everyone smile by sharing these!” she explained to Lily.
First, Scarlett carefully shaped a pipe cleaner into a crown for Prince Puffy. As soon as he put it on, a small smile flickered on his face. The clouds around them became a tiny bit brighter.
Next, Scarlett and Lily floated through the cloud kingdom, offering sparkly pipe cleaners to everyone they met. Scarlett helped a cloud shaped like a puppy make a sparkly collar. Lily nudged a grumpy cloud sheep with her head until it took a sparkly pipe cleaner to make a fluffy tail.
As more and more clouds started smiling, the sky grew brighter and brighter. The colors returned, more vibrant than ever before! Prince Puffy’s smile was so big and bright that it lit up the entire cloud kingdom.
“Thank you, Scarlett and Lily!” Prince Puffy cried. “You brought back the joy and respect to my cloud kingdom!”
Scarlett and Lily giggled, happy to have helped. Prince Puffy hugged them both (which tickled a little, since he was a ghost).
Suddenly, Scarlett felt a gentle nudge. Lily was looking at her with big, knowing eyes. It was time to go home.
Scarlett hugged Prince Puffy goodbye and waved at their new cloud friends. They climbed back down the rainbow staircase, feeling proud of themselves.
Back in their backyard, Scarlett looked up at the sky. The clouds were back to their normal fluffy selves, but they seemed to shimmer just a little brighter. Scarlett smiled. She knew that somewhere up there, hidden among the clouds, a little prince was smiling too.
