Ralph didn't want to climb the tree this afternoon so we were sitting under it. My name is Randy. It's my tree. Well, it's in my backyard. Ralph is my best friend. When school starts in the fall we will be in sixth grade together.

Dad had put some old wooden chairs under the tree. He says he likes to sit out here and survey his estate. I think he likes to sit here to get away from a house full of girls. Anyway, the chairs are not too easy to get out of, but they are really easy to sit in. So we did.

Ralph wanted to look at the clouds. Worse, he wanted to talk about them. He was telling me why they had dark bottoms and white tops when I spotted a rabbit. Not in the clouds. On the ground. In front of us.

"Ralph, hold still." He had been waving his arms around, pointing to some clouds that were different from the others. "Rabbit in front of you," I told him.

Ralph pulled his feet up; Like the rabbit was going to attack his ankles. The rabbit ran off.

"Why'd you do that? You scared him off."

"I, um..."

Ralph is not real good with wildlife. Unless it is in a book. He reads a lot.

"It doesn't matter," I told him. "There are rabbits in the sky." I pointed to a bunch of smaller clouds that looked like rabbits hunkered down, eating grass.

"Those are cumulus. Probably altocumulus. They are higher in the sky than that one over there." Ralph pointed to his right where there was a big dark cloud just hanging out.

Once he was satisfied that I was educated properly as to the nature of clouds, he surprised me.

"And besides, those aren't rabbits, they're sheep. And over there is the sheepdog, watching them."

"That's not a sheepdog," I told him. "That's a wolf. He is scouting out the sheep for his wolf pack.

"He is not a scout. He is a lone wolf. And he can't make up his mind about the sheep or that water buffalo over there."

I sat there for a minute trying to see the water buffalo. "That's not a water buffalo, that is your Uncle Robert. See his big belly?"

"No, no. It is Mr. Pederson, our principal." We laughed. I could see that it really was Mr. Pederson. He even had some wispy hair that stuck out on the sides of his head.

Just then there was a loud cracking noise followed by a deep rumble. The cloud on the right, the real dark one, wanted to get into the game. It had moved pretty fast while we were sitting there and now was almost on top of us.

"Uh, Randy...I think Boomer is trying to tell us something."

I laughed and looked over at Ralph. I couldn't believe he had made a joke.

But Ralph wasn't laughing. He was standing straight up in the chair. Another loud rumble shook the air around us and tickled the hair on my arm. Ralph jumped to the ground and ran for the back porch.

I pushed myself out of my chair and followed him.

What a great day. The clouds were talking back to us and rain was whispering through the tree leaves. It is going to be a great summer.