Willa Bean's Cloud Dreams

by Cecilia Galante

  “YES!” Willa Bean yelled. “And if we go down to Cloud Eight right now, I can show you myself!”

  But just then, the cloudbus pulled up to Cloud Four. From the window, Willa Bean could see Mama and Baby Louie waiting at the cloudstop. Mama did not look happy. Willa Bean hoped it was because Baby Louie was chewing on her ear.

  “I’ll come over later,” Harper said. “After you talk to your parents. Good luck, Willa Bean.”

  Willa Bean got off the cloudbus. She gave Mama a big smile.

  “How was your first day at school?” Mama asked.

  “It was wonderful!” Willa Bean said.

  Mama raised one eyebrow. “Is that so? Then why did a messenger cupid just deliver a note from a certain Miss Twizzle?”

  “Miss Twizzle?” Willa Bean repeated. “Who’s Miss Twizzle?”

  Mama put a hand on her hip. “The note said that you had a few difficulties at school today. Would you like to tell me about it now? Or do you want to wait until your father gets home?”

  “Actually,” Willa Bean said, “I don’t want to do either.”

  Mama took her hand. “Let’s go,” she said.

  But Willa Bean dug her feet into the cloud. She pulled her hand out of Mama’s and stood there.

  “Heavens!” Mama said. “What’s the matter now?”

  “I figured out why I can’t fly!” Willa Bean said. “Just now! On the cloudbus with Harper! It’s ’cause—”

  “Not now, Willa Bean.” Mama’s voice was firm. “We need to talk about what happened at school first.”

  “How about this?” suggested Willa Bean. “How about you go home and talk to Daddy about everything, and then the two of you can meet me on Cloud Eight and watch me fly?” She tilted her head. “And then later we can talk about everything else. How does that sound?”

  Mama’s eyebrow went up. “We will do no such thing. And unless you would like to find yourself in even more trouble, you will come with me. Right now.”

  “Dow!” Baby Louie cooed.

  Slowly, Willa Bean took Mama’s hand again.

  And then, when Mama wasn’t looking, she reached around and yanked off Baby Louie’s sock.

  Willa Bean headed straight for her room when she got home. She crawled under her covers. She knew when Daddy got home, she would get into a lot of trouble. But Mama and Daddy would never find her under here.

  “Bonjour, Willa Bean.”

  Willa Bean peeked out from her blankets. Even in the dark of the closet, she could make out Snooze’s big yellow eyes. “Bonjour, Snooze,” she sighed. “I’m hiding.”

  “I can see that,” Snooze said. “From whom?”

  “Mama and Daddy,” Willa Bean said. “Miss Twizzle called home today because I got into a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, eeny-weeny little bit of trouble at school. Mama still has to tell Daddy about it. And then I know they’re both going to freak out.”

  Snooze settled himself on the edge of the bed. “Do you remember the last time you got in trouble?”

  Willa Bean thought. “I think it was last week, when Harper and I were playing with my night-light. Mama told us to stop and we didn’t. And then Harper got zinged and had to go home.”

  “Exactly,” Snooze replied. “And what happened afterward?”

  “Mama freaked out,” Willa Bean said.

  “Au contraire, Willa Bean. She did not freak out. Your mother was very calm and collected after it happened.”

  “She made me clean my room!” Willa Bean said. “By myself! She never makes me clean my room by myself unless she is freaking out.”

  “Cleaning your room was just the price you had to pay for not listening.” Snooze dipped his beak inside his wing. He fluffed his feathers. “It has nothing to do with freaking out.”

  “But I hate cleaning my room. It was one of the worst nights of my life.” Willa Bean picked at a scab on her knee. “Well, until I found that old croissant you brought me under all my socks. From Paris. That was almost like finding treasure!”

  Snooze rolled his eyes. He didn’t have much patience for all the things Willa Bean thought of as treasure. “My point, Willa Bean, is that I don’t think your parents will freak out this time, either. Your mother is not a freaking-out sort of person. And neither is your father. Which means there is no reason for you to be hiding under your blankets.”

  Just then, there was a tap on the door. Willa Bean pulled the covers back over her head.

  “Willa Bean?” Daddy called. “Are you in here?”

  “No.” Willa Bean’s voice was muffly-sounding.

  “We’re coming in,” Mama said. “And please come out from under your blankets so that we can talk like regular cupids.”

  Willa Bean didn’t move. Not even when Daddy pulled back her covers and looked down at her. “It sounds like you had a pretty rough first day at school, little love,” Daddy said.

  Willa Bean heaved a great big, quivery sigh. “Yes,” she said sadly. “It was not one of my best days.”

  “Miss Twizzle said that you seem to be having trouble following directions,” said Mama.

  “And keeping your temper in check,” said Daddy.

  “I wouldn’t have a temper if that horrible Vivi didn’t make me so boiling mad!” said Willa Bean. “She said my hair was huge! And snarly! And then she tattled on me because of the ink on my skirt!”

  “The only person you should be paying attention to in class is Miss Twizzle,” Daddy said. “Not Vivi or any other cupid who says something unkind about the way you look.”

  “I know.” Willa Bean stuck her lower lip out. She yanked on a curl and thought again about the Cupid Rule. It sounded easy. But it wasn’t. She thought about how much she liked being different from the other cupids, too. But being different wasn’t always easy, either.

  “Miss Twizzle also said that you have a wonderful personality,” Mama added.

  “She did?” Willa Bean folded her hands in her lap. “Did she say there was anything else wonderful about me?”

  Daddy coughed. “No, Willa Bean. I think that was more than enough for today.”

  Just then, Willa Bean remembered her wings.

  “I figured out why I can’t fly!” She jumped up and down on her bed. “And if you’ll take me down to Cloud Eight right now, I can show you! And then everything will be all right again!”

  Mama and Daddy looked at each other. “You’ll have to clean your room as soon as we get back,” Mama said. “No ifs, ands, or buts.”

  Willa Bean stopped jumping. “What’s an ifsandsorbut?”

  “Never mind,” Mama said, putting her arm around Willa Bean. “Let’s get down to that cloud and see what you can do.”

  Willa Bean took six moonstones, three gold coins, and two pieces of moonbubble out of her right pocket. She gave it all to Harper.

  Harper’s hands were full.

  Then Willa Bean removed the fat pink eraser, the blue-and-white marble, and some more moonbubble from her left pocket. She gave everything to Mama.

  Mama’s hands were full.

  “Your hair, too,” Harper said. “Don’t forget the stuff in your hair, Willa Bean!”

  Willa Bean bent over and shook her head. Out fell the second Snoogy Bar, an old shoelace, and the silver buckle with the little flowers on the side.

  “Stars on Mars!” Ariel said. “You’re like a walking pack rat! No wonder you haven’t been able to fly!”

  All of a sudden, Willa Bean felt the inside crying feeling come up in her throat. And it wasn’t because of what her pain-in-the-wing big sister had just said. “I don’t think I want to fly if I can’t keep all my treasure,” she told Mama. “Finding treasure is one of the best parts about being a cupid.”

  “I thought you might say that,” Mama said. “Which is why I brought this along for you.”

  She pulled a soft pouch from the sleeve of her gown. A tiny pair of wings fluttered on the sides. They were purple with silver tips. “You can put all your treasures in this pouch when you fly,�
� Mama said.

  Mama pointed to the pouch’s wings. “See? It already knows how to fly. And it will fly right next to you, Willa Bean, wherever you go. Now you don’t have to carry your treasure in your pockets or your hair. It can be your very own portable treasure chest.”

  Willa Bean stared at the beautiful little pouch with the purple feathers. “Where did you get it?” she whispered.

  “It used to be mine,” Mama said. “When I was little.”

  “But how?” Willa Bean asked. “You don’t have purple wings with silver tips.”

  “Oh, I still have a few purple feathers under all these big white ones,” Mama said. She gave Willa Bean a wink. “Go ahead now, sweetheart.”

  “Ring-a-ding-a-doodad!” Harper yelled. “Let’s see how it works! Put all your treasure in it right now!”

  Willa Bean smiled and hugged Mama tight. There was no one like Mama. Not in the whole entire universe. “Thank you, Mama,” she said.

  Everyone watched Willa Bean as she climbed up to the highest part of Cloud Eight.

  “You can do it!” Harper shouted. “Concentrate!”

  “Be patient, little love!” Daddy said. “Nice and slow!”

  “I’ve got all your treasure right here!” Mama patted Willa Bean’s new pouch.

  “Come on, Willa Bean!” Ariel yelled. “Go for it!”

  “Courage!” Snooze called.

  “Doo!” Baby Louie squealed. “Doo-da!”

  Willa Bean looked at Cloud Eight spread out below her. It was very far down. And very pink. She could see the fat polka dots from where she stood. They looked like giant freckles.

  Willa Bean spread her arms out wide. She rolled up on her toes. She wiggled her bright purple wings with the silver tips, and shook them out. She bent her knees and took a deep breath.

  And then she flew.

  She flew straight into the sky, up where the blue part met the white part. The sun was warm against her face. The breeze blew through her hair. She turned around and swooped over Mama and Daddy. She flew over Ariel and Baby Louie and Harper and Snooze.

  They yelled and screamed and clapped and laughed.

  Willa Bean flew straight, and she flew in wiggles. She flew up a little, and she flew down. She flew in and out, right and left, over and under, and even upside down.

  She flew and flew until her wings got so tired that she couldn’t possibly fly another flap.

  And then, just because she could, she flew some more.