Rainy Days

Slow-Poke was out walking with his mother, Mrs. Duck, one hot summer day. He wished so much that it would rain because he wanted to play in puddles and splash around. Slow-Poke loved the rain and why wouldn’t he, he’s a duck.

“Hey Slow-Poke,” said Mother, about an hour into their walk. “It actually looks like it is going to rain.”

“Goodie,” exclaimed Slow-Poke, jumping up and down for joy.

A big gust of wind came along just then and Mother took Slow-Poke by the hand and started running as fast as she could toward their home at the ranch.

“What are you doing?” asked Slow-Poke. “It is raining. We love the rain.”

“Oh we do love the rain,” said Mother, running as fast as she could. “However, we do not like hurricanes.”

“What are hurricanes?” asked Slow-Poke, trying to keep up with his mother.

“I don’t have time to explain right now,” said Mother. “I’ll explain when we are safely behind the barn doors.”

Mother tugged at Slow-Poke’s wing to get him to speed up a bit.

“Hurry up Slow-Poke,” Mother said, huffing and puffing.

Slow-Poke ran as fast as he could go, even though it still wasn’t quite as fast as Mother would have wanted him to run. The rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing harder than Slow-Poke had ever seen in his life.

“Slow-Poke,” said Mother, sternly this time. “You have to run faster than you have ever run in your entire life.”

Slow-Poke put every effort he had into running just as fast as he could. His Mother knew he was trying his hardest but she still coaxed him to run even faster. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the gate to the ranch just up ahead. Mrs. Duck and Slow-Poke arrived at the barn doors just as their owner,  Mr. Johnson, was about to close them up.

“Good thing you made it,” said Mr. Johnson, locking the barn door once they were safely inside. “We’re in for a real bad storm tonight.”

“What is going on?” asked Slow-Poke, now getting a little scared.

“Don’t worry,” said Mrs. Duck. “You are safe now.”

“Mother, what is a hurricane?” said Slow-Poke.

“Here,” said Mrs. Duck, showing Slow-Poke a quick look out the window of the barn.

“Oh my!” exclaimed Slow-Poke, watching the rain pour down like buckets and watching the trees almost bend in half as they swayed in the wind. “I don’t think I’m ever going to wish for it to rain ever again.”

“Good idea,” said Mother, giving her son a big hug. “Guess what though! Tomorrow there will be tons of puddles for you to play in.”

Mother smiled when she saw the biggest grin on Slow-Poke’s face that she had ever seen in her whole life.