Johnny Finds Some Friends

by E. M. Castle

Johnny was unhappy. There was no one to play with him. Todd had gone to visit his grandmother. Scott was on a fishing trip with his father. Mother was in the kitchen making bread. Baby was asleep in his room.

It had rained yesterday, but now the sun had broken through the clouds. Johnny was anxious to go outside.

“May I go out to play?” Johnny asked Mother.

“Yes,” she answered, “but be back in time for lunch.”

Johnny pulled on his shoes and ran outside. He skipped down the sidewalk to a field of tall grass. Everything smelled fresh and new after the rain.

When Johnny reached the edge of the field, he turned a cartwheel and rolled to the bottom of the grassy slope.

Lying in the tall grass, Johnny pretended he was in a jungle.

Then he imagined he was in a forest in the mountains. Finally Johnny made believe he was a small worm squirming through the grass.

But playing all alone wasn’t much fun.

Johnny looked up at the sun. It seemed to be dancing through great white puffs of clouds.

The wind shaped the clouds into an elephant with big floppy ears and a long trunk.

Behind the elephant Johnny saw a roly-poly bear dancing along with the sun, a lollipop, a boat, two fish, a dog, and a car.

The car reminded Johnny that Daddy would soon be home for lunch. Johnny looked up again at the sky. The car in the clouds was gone, but he could see Daddy’s car in the driveway.

Mother was putting the baby in the high chair as Johnny came into the house. The kitchen was full of good warm smells.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Mother smiled. “Were you lonely all by yourself in the field?”

“No,” Johnny answered happily, thinking about all the things in the clouds he had seen floating through the sky. “I found some new friends today!”

Illustrated by Neva Schultz