After it rained, steam rose from the ground, and swirled around. Goldi put on her bathing suit, ran out into the steamy air, and started to jump. The puddles were clean, round, and deep. They were perfect. A gift the rain gave to Goldie.

“There’s another one way down there!” Goldie cried as she skipped through a stream that rippled down the street and swirled around at the end of the culd de sac. The giant perfectly round clear puddle was suddenly lit up with sparkles. The grayish blue sky canvassed a rainbow. The sun lit it up long enough for everyone to look and wonder.

“Come on! It’s great!” Goldie’s hair was combed with fresh water drips. There was not a dry spot on her. Her wide open smile seemed to drink in the refreshment from the sky.

That was the happiest kind of rain.

Goldie held a blanket and a giant stuffed pink rabbit. She sunk down in a puffy beanbag jammed into the corner of her closet and closed its door.

“Goldie? Goldie are you in there?” My voice accompanied my eager knocking on her bedroom door. “Are you ok?”

Goldie didn’t answer. Even if she did. I would not have heard her. The thunder kept interrupting.

The sky blinked many times in a row. Then there was darkness.

“The power went out!” Goldie burst out of her closet. “Where is the flashlight?”

“Look,” I said placing the giant flashlight in the center of her room.

Goldie looked all around at what looked very familiar but to be sure- she felt each toy, book, and pillow. The darkness had not erased everything dear to her.

“When will the lights come back on?” she asked squeezing her pink bunny again.

“I am not sure. We’ll have our eyes closed most of the time anyway. It’s bedtime. “

“Oh,” Goldi said hurrying herself in blankets and other stuffed animals.

That was the mean and scary kind of rain.

“You are not going to like this question,” Goldie sighed and looked one way and then the other. “I am just wondering , is it supposed to rain tonight?”

Since spring, Goldie had been asking me the same question nearly everyday. Knowing if it would rain, cancelled any inkling to have a friend over, go shopping, or walk to the library. If I asked her, “Would you like to go to the bookstore?” She would say, “Maybe another day, today it is supposed to rain.”

“I will look at the forecast.” I assured her.

The forecast didn’t look very assuring. A nearly 100% chance of rain. Rain that we needed. Rain that would green up the world. Rain that would feed the lakes, rivers, and streams. Rain that would grow her favorite vegetable and make my flowers grow.

“Yes, it is supposed to rain. It says 100% chance”. “

“Is it going to be bad?” Goldi wrinkled up her forehead She squeezed one set of fingers with the other hand and then rubbed her palms together.

“I don’t know. But there is one thing I do know!” I said bouncing eyebrows up and down.

“What?” Goldie’s eyebrows jumped up and stayed up high in her forehead.

“I know who wants it to rain. I know who will show how big and powerful He is when it does.”

“That’s true. ” Goldie said looking out the window. In her long look, the sky was sometimes full of clouds and sometimes full of sun. The trees waved to her and then were still. She could hear the frogs singing.

The windows were soon washed. Then the whole house seemed to be in a bath. It seemed like a bucket of water was being dumped from above. The trees must have waved goodbye. We could not make them out through the window. . All we could see was wet. The sky didn’t blink but the bossy thunder made the window pane rattle.

“I’m scared.” Goldie said softly.

“I know,” I said standing shoulder to shoulder next to her. “and HE knows too”. I pointed up to the sky.

That is the stretching and growing and have to be brave kind of rain.

That is the rain that we have now.