Rabbit wanted to see a rabbit in the clouds.
He lay on the grass with Hedgehog and pointed. ‘That one!’
Hedgehog tilted her head. ‘A turnip?’
‘A rabbit with short ears.’
The wind stretched the cloud.
‘Now a rabbit with long ears,’ said Rabbit.
‘Now a spoon,’ said Hedgehog.
Rabbit sighed. ‘Clouds never stay rabbits.’
Hedgehog picked up two fallen leaves and held them above her head.
‘Does this one count?’
Rabbit laughed. Then he put a round leaf against his own nose.
‘Now I’m a hedgehog with a very big nose.’
They made a leaf mouse, a leaf owl, and a leaf creature that neither of them could name. Above them, the clouds kept changing without waiting for anybody.
At last, Hedgehog pointed to a little cloud near the trees.
‘Look. Two friends lying on the grass.’
Rabbit looked carefully. He could see two round shapes touching at the edges. They might have been turnips. They might have been stones.
But he liked Hedgehog’s idea best.
‘That one can change whenever it wants,’ he said.
They stayed until the sky turned peach. When they stood up, the two shapes had become one long cloud.
‘Two friends walking home,’ said Hedgehog.
And that was just what they did.
