WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:20.359 US Studios the Cloud Factory. Cyrus had been watching clouds 2 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:24.079 for as long as she could remember. It started when 3 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:28.719 she was very young, three or four years old, lying 4 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.800 on a blanket in the back yard while her mother 5 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:36.159 hung laundry on the line. The sheets billowed in the wind, 6 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:41.240 white and enormous, and Cyrus would look up at them, 7 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.359 and then look up at the sky and see the 8 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:51.039 same shapes, the same whiteness, the same slow, patient movement, 9 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:56.679 and she would say, Mamma, the sheets are flying, and 10 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:01.399 her mother would laugh and say, not quite, sweetheart, those 11 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:05.280 are clouds. And Cyrus would look again and try to 12 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:09.799 understand the difference, but she could not, because to her 13 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:15.239 they were the same thing, the same white, soft, drifting thing. 14 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:20.439 And she decided then that clouds were the sky's laundry, 15 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:24.239 hung out to dry on a line that stretched from 16 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:27.920 one horizon to the other. By the time she was six, 17 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:33.079 Cyrus had learned the names of the clouds. Her mother 18 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:37.159 had bought her a children's book about weather, a thin, 19 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:43.159 glossy volume with pictures of clouds on every page, and 20 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:48.040 Cyrus had studied it the way other children studied dinosaur 21 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:53.959 names or baseball statistics, memorizing the shapes and the words 22 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.480 that went with them. Cumulus were the big, puffy ones, 23 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:03.560 the ones that looked like pillows or cotton balls, or 24 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:08.000 the tops of scoops of vanilla ice cream. They appeared 25 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:14.560 on warm afternoons, rising from the horizon in great white towers, 26 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:21.319 their tops flat and spreading, their bases dark and flat, 27 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:27.639 and they drifted across the sky in slow majettutuk formations, 28 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:32.360 casting shadows on the fields below that moved like dark 29 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:38.599 ships across a green sea. Cyrus were different. They were 30 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:44.120 high and thin, wispy streaks of white that looked like 31 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.719 brush strokes on a blue canvas, or like someone had 32 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.719 torn a cotton ball into thin strips and laid them 33 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:57.479 across the sky. They appeared in autumn, when the air 34 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:02.960 was cool and dry, and they moved fast, faster than 35 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:07.639 any other cloud type, racing across the sky from west 36 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:12.120 to east, while the cumulus below them drifted slowly in 37 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:17.439 the opposite direction. Serious clouds were made of ice crystals, 38 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:22.919 the book said, not water droplets, and this made them 39 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:30.360 different from all the other clouds, lighter, more delicate, more 40 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:35.360 like something that belonged to a higher, thinner world. Stratus 41 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:39.919 clouds were the ones that brought rain. They were low 42 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.319 and gray and flat, covering the sky like a blanket, 43 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:50.000 hiding the sun and the blue and everything else. And 44 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.400 when they gathered thick enough, they released their rain in long, 45 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.199 slow curtains that fell from the sky like curtains of 46 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:05.360 silver threat. Cyrus did not mind stratus clouds. They brought rain, 47 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:11.759 and rain brought puddles, and puddles were for splashing, and 48 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:16.839 splashing was one of Cyrus's favorite things. But the cloud 49 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.319 she liked best was the one she had invented herself. 50 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.160 She called it a factory cloud, and it was not 51 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.800 a real type of cloud at all, but a game 52 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:32.079 she played with her imagination, a way of making sense 53 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:36.000 of the sky that was both scientific and magical at 54 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:41.319 the same time. The factory cloud was a place high 55 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.439 above the world where clouds were made not by nature, 56 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:53.439 not by evaporation and condensation and the slow, invisible processes 57 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:59.360 of the atmosphere, but by actual workers, tiny people who 58 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:03.519 lived in a factory in the sky, a factory made 59 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:08.759 of cloud stuff itself, with cloud walls and cloud roofs 60 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.680 and cloud windows that looked down on the world below. 61 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:19.839 She had first imagined the Factory when she was four, 62 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:26.199 lying on the same blanket in the same field, watching 63 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:32.399 the same clouds. Her grandmother had told her that clouds 64 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:37.720 were made by nature, by the sun heating the water, 65 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:43.120 and the water rising and the water cooling and forming 66 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:51.360 into droplets. And Cyrus had listened and understood, and also 67 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:58.480 thought that this explanation was not quite complete, that there 68 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:07.000 was something more, something behind the invisible processes, something that 69 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:14.040 had intention and craft and care. The Factory was her 70 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:19.240 way of filling in the gap, of giving a face 71 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:24.839 and a name and a purpose to the invisible forces 72 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:31.399 that shaped the sky. It was not science, she knew that, 73 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:38.279 but it was not fantasy either. It was something in between, 74 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:44.439 a story that made the sky feel less random and 75 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:48.759 more like a place where things were made with purpose, 76 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:56.319 where every cloud had been designed and shaped and released 77 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:01.519 by someone who cared about getting it right. The Factory 78 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:06.079 was Cyrus's invention, but it felt real to her, as 79 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:09.120 real as the field she lay in and the grass 80 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.120 beneath her back and the sound of the creek running 81 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:15.879 through the valley below. She could see it in her mind, 82 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.439 a great white building floating above the clouds, with chimneys 83 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:25.040 that puffed out vapor, and doors that opened to release 84 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:29.160 new clouds into the sky. The workers inside were small, 85 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.399 no bigger than mayi, and they moved with quiet efficiency, 86 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:37.680 carrying buckets of cloud stuff and shaping it with their hands, 87 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.920 rolling it into balls, and then flattening it, stretching it, 88 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.839 pulling it into shapes the way a baker shapes dough, 89 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:51.439 the way a potter shapes clay. On this particular afternoon 90 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.079 in late June, Cyrus was lying in the big field 91 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:59.199 behind her grandmother's house, a field that stretched from the 92 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.480 edge of the garden into the creek at the bottom 93 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:05.160 of the hill. The grass was tall and green, still 94 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:09.160 wet from the morning dew, and it smelt sweet and earthy, 95 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:14.079 like rain and sunlight mixed together. The field was full 96 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:19.279 of wild flowers, yellow buttercups and white daisies, and the 97 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:23.920 occasional purple clover, and the bees moved among them in slow, 98 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.759 deliberate loops, their wings catching the sunlight and turning it 99 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:34.480 into tiny, flashing sparks. The field was alive with small movements. 100 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:39.559 A ladybug crawled along a blade of grass near Cyrus's hand, 101 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:45.080 its red shell bright against the green. A butterfly orange 102 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:49.720 and black, drifted past, riding the thermals that rose from 103 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:53.440 the warm earth. Somewhere in the grass, a cricket chirped, 104 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:58.200 a steady, rhythmic sound that was almost musical, and the 105 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.840 sound blended with the hum of the bees and the 106 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.960 murmur of the creek, and the distant call of a 107 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.399 hawk circling above the hill. Cyrus lay on her back 108 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:11.960 with her arms spread wide. Cyrus lay on her back 109 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.679 with her arms spread wide, her fingers buried in the grass, 110 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.919 and looked up at the sky. It was a perfect 111 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:24.320 cloud day. The sky was deep blue from horizon to horizon, 112 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:28.320 and scattered across it like someone had tossed them from 113 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:33.840 a great height, were the clouds, big white, puffy cumulus clouds, 114 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:39.440 their tops rising in great rounded towers, their bases flat 115 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:44.120 and dark, casting shadows on the fields below. One cloud 116 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:47.679 directly above her was shaped like a ship, its bow 117 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:52.879 pointing west, its stern trailing awake of smaller clouds. Another 118 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.440 farther to the north, looked like a sleeping cat, its 119 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:00.200 head tucked under one paw, its tail curling behind it. 120 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.960 And a third, low on the eastern horizon, was shaped 121 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.919 exactly like a factory, its walls tall and square, its 122 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.320 roof flat, with two chimney like protrusions rising from the top. 123 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:19.919 There it is, Cyrus, whispered the factory. She had been 124 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:24.159 looking for the factory cloud all morning. She had lain 125 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.360 in the field since breakfast, watching the sky, waiting for 126 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.879 a cloud that looked like a building, And now here 127 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.799 it was, sitting on the eastern horizon like a post 128 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:41.960 cart from the sky, its factory shape unmistakable. She rolled 129 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.360 on to her side and propped her head on her hand, 130 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:49.559 studying the cloud more carefully. The walls were white and solid, 131 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.120 catching the sunlight, and the roof was flat and wide, 132 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.440 like the top of a box. The two chimneys rose 133 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.639 from the center, and from the top of one chimney, 134 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:06.159 a thin stream of vapor was drifting upward, like smoke 135 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.799 from a real factory. And Cyrus smiled. Because the factory 136 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:15.320 was working today, the workers inside were busy making clouds. 137 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:19.840 She imagined the scene inside. The workers would be at 138 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:24.000 their stations, each one responsible for a different type of cloud. 139 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.039 At the cumulus station, a group of workers would be 140 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:33.200 gathered around a large round mold, packing cloud stuff into it, 141 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:39.039 smoothing the surface shaping it into a perfect dome. The 142 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:43.639 cloud stuff was soft and white, like foam or cotton, 143 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.240 or the inside of a marshmallow, and it could be 144 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:52.120 shaped into anything. The workers pressed it and pulled it 145 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.200 and rolled it, and when the cloud was the right shape, 146 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.399 they carried it to the door and pushed it out 147 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:02.919 into the sky, where it caught the wind and drifted away, 148 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:09.440 rising slowly, growing larger as it rose, becoming the cumulus 149 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:12.519 cloud that would float across the sky for the rest 150 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:16.919 of the day. At the Cirrus station, different workers handled 151 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:22.440 different material. Cirrus cloud stuff was thinner, more delicate, made 152 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.960 of ice crystals instead of water droplets, and it had 153 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.120 to be handled with care. The workers there used fine tools, 154 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.639 tiny brushes and combs to shape the ice crystals into long, 155 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:38.399 thin strands that they laid across the sky like threads 156 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:41.960 on a loom. When they were finished, the cirrus cloud 157 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.440 looked like a brushstroke or a feather, or the trail 158 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:50.039 of a finger drawn across wet paint, and it moved quickly, 159 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.639 carried by the high winds that blew at the top 160 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:56.720 of the atmosphere. At the Stratus station, the workers were 161 00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:01.279 preparing a rain cloud. This was more complex work. The 162 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:03.840 cloud had to be thick enough and heavy enough to 163 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.600 hold a large amount of water, and it had to 164 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:08.720 be shaped in a way that would allow the water 165 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:12.720 to fall evenly. When the time came, the workers packed 166 00:13:12.759 --> 00:13:18.080 the cloud stuff tightly, layer upon layer, compressing it, building 167 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:21.759 up the density, and when the cloud was ready, they 168 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:25.200 released it into the sky, where it spread out, flat 169 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:30.080 and gray, covering the sun, casting the world below into shadow. 170 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:36.120 Cyrus loved the Stratus station best. There was something dramatic 171 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:41.000 about it, something powerful, the idea that a cloud could 172 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.480 hold so much water and then release it all at once, 173 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.519 flooding the fields and filling the creeks and turning the 174 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.960 dust to mud. She imagined the workers inside the Stratus 175 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.759 cloud standing at their stations, watching the water build up, 176 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:01.080 and when the cloud was heavy enough, one of them 177 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:03.919 would pull a lever and the bottom of the cloud 178 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:08.480 would open and the rain would fall, and the workers 179 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:12.519 would watch it fall with satisfaction, knowing they had done 180 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:16.159 their job well. She lay back in the grass and 181 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:22.080 continued watching the sky. The factory cloud was drifting slowly westward, 182 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.600 carried by the wind, and as it moved it was 183 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.799 changing shape. The flat roof was rounding at the edges, 184 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:34.159 the chidden protrusions were melting into the body of the cloud, 185 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:39.000 and the whole structure was softening, becoming less like a 186 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:43.039 building and more like a hill, or a mountain, or 187 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:48.159 a great white wave. Frozen in midcrest. Cyrus knew this 188 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:53.200 was the factory, transforming the workers inside, reshaping it as 189 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:57.399 it moved, adapting it to the wind, making sure it 190 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.720 would last through the afternoon before it diss into the 191 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.759 thinner air near the horizon. She closed her eyes and 192 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:09.200 listened to the sounds of the field. The bees were 193 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.840 humming among the wild flowers, a low, steady drone that 194 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:19.200 was almost hypnotic. The creek was murmuring at the bottom 195 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.960 of the hill, a soft, continuous babble that sounded like voices, 196 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.200 like the creek was talking to itself about the stones 197 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.639 it passed over and the fish that swam in its pools. 198 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:35.960 A bird was singing somewhere in the trees along the 199 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.840 fence line, a complex, bubbling song that rose and fell 200 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:45.679 in pitch, pausing between phrases, as if the bird were 201 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.159 composing the song as it went, making it up from 202 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:55.519 moment to moment, never singing the same song twice, Cyrus 203 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:59.440 opened her eyes and looked at the sky again. The 204 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:03.960 ship had drifted farther west, and its bow was beginning 205 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:10.279 to dissolve, the sharp edge softening into a round, amorphous mass, 206 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.240 But the stern was still intact, and the wake of 207 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:20.320 smaller cloud still trailed behind it. And Cyrus imagined the 208 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.240 ship sailing across the blue sea of the sky, its 209 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:29.360 captain at the wheel, its crew on deck, all of 210 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:33.840 them made of cloud stuff, all of them drifting westward 211 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.679 toward the setting sun. She thought about what it would 212 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:42.080 be like to work in the cloud factory. She imagined 213 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:47.600 herself as one of the workers, small and efficient, moving 214 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:52.080 through the cloud walls from room to room, checking the molds, 215 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:58.200 testing the cloud stuff, making adjustments. She would work at 216 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:03.799 the cumulus station, decided shaping the big, puffy clouds that 217 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.359 everyone loved, the ones that children pointed at and named, 218 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:13.200 the ones that cast the best shadows, the ones that 219 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:18.160 looked like animals and ships and factories and everything else 220 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.400 that the human mind could see in their white, shifting shapes. 221 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.640 The best part of the job, she imagined, would be 222 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:31.440 the delivery. After a cloud was finished. The workers would 223 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.119 carry it to the door and push it out into 224 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.880 the sky, and Cyrus would stand at the edge and 225 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:44.759 watch it drift away, rising, slowly, growing larger, becoming something 226 00:17:44.759 --> 00:17:47.640 that would be seen by everyone in the town below. 227 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.279 She would watch it until it was just a white 228 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:54.880 speck on the blue horizon, and then she would go 229 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.920 back to her station and start the next one, knowing 230 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.160 that somewhere down there some one was looking up at 231 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:05.960 the cloud she had made and seeing something beautiful in it. 232 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:10.920 Her grandmother called from the porch, Cyrus, come have some 233 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.440 lemonade to Cyrus rolled to her feet and brushed the 234 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:18.240 grass from her shirt. The field was warm around her, 235 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:22.759 the grass bending in the breeze, the wild flowers nodding 236 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.480 their heads. She walked up the hill toward the house, 237 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:31.119 glancing back at the sky one more time. The factory 238 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:34.400 cloud had drifted farther west, and it was smaller now, 239 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:39.920 its shape less defined, but it was still there, still working, 240 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:44.839 still making clouds for the world below. On the porch, 241 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:47.880 her grandmother was sitting in a rocking chair with two 242 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:52.039 glasses of lemonade on the table beside her. The lemonade 243 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:56.240 was pale yellow with ice cubes floating on top, and 244 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.319 a thin slice of lemon on the rim of each glass. 245 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.839 The porch was shaded by a vine that grew over 246 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.880 the trellis at the corner, thick with green leaves and 247 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:12.359 small white flowers that smelled faintly of jasmine. But the 248 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.559 rocking chairs were old, made of wood that had been 249 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:19.400 painted white years ago and had since chipped and faded 250 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:23.400 to a soft, weathered gray, and they creaked gently when 251 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:27.839 they rocked, a sound that Cyrus found comforting, like the 252 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:32.000 house was breathing. A humming bird appeared at the vine, 253 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:37.319 its wings a blur, its throat a flash of iridescent green, 254 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:40.519 and it hovered at one of the white flowers for 255 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:44.920 a moment before dardam away, disappearing into the afternoon light. 256 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:49.720 Cyrus sat in the other rocking chair and picked up 257 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:53.599 her glass and took a sip. The lemonade was cold 258 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.319 and tart, the lemon sharp on her tongue, and she 259 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.480 drank deeply, feeling the liquid slide down her throat and 260 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.400 cool her from the inside. See any good clouds, her 261 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.799 grandmother asked the factory. Cyrus said, it's out there today. 262 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:16.440 I saw the chimneys Her grandmother looked toward the eastern horizon, 263 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:21.559 where the factory cloud was still visible, a pale white 264 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:26.200 shape against the blue. I see it, she said, It 265 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:29.400 does look like a factory. What are they making today? 266 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:35.920 Cumulus big ones for the afternoon. Her grandmother nodded, that's good, 267 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:39.640 we could use a few more. The sky looks a 268 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:44.200 bit empty on the western side. Cyrus looked west. Her 269 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:48.200 grandmother was right. The sky above the western hills was 270 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:53.839 almost entirely blue, without a single cloud, and the sun 271 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.880 beat down on the fields and the rooftops and the road, 272 00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.920 making the air shim with heat. But the factory cloud 273 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.519 was drifting that way, and behind it, smaller clouds were 274 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:12.039 following cumulus that the workers had pushed out of the 275 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:16.960 factory doors throughout the morning, and they were rising and growing, 276 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:22.799 catching the afternoon thermals, and by evening the western sky 277 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:27.839 would be full of them. Grandma Cyra said, do you 278 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:32.000 think there's really a factory up there? Her grandmother rocked 279 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:36.759 slowly in her chair, sipping her lemonade. I think, She 280 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.759 said that the sky is a very creative place, and 281 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.000 that it has more imagination than most people give it 282 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:50.119 credit for. Whether there's an actual factory with actual workers. 283 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:53.480 I can't say, but I think there's something up there 284 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:57.000 that likes to make beautiful things, and I think it 285 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:01.599 likes it when someone down here notices. Cyrus considered this. 286 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:05.119 She liked the idea that the sky was creative, that 287 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.640 it liked to make things that it noticed when some 288 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.359 one was watching. It made the relationship between herself and 289 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.839 the sky feel more personal, more like a conversation than 290 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:18.200 a one way observation. She looked up at the factory 291 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:22.039 cloud again and waved a small quick wave, and she 292 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:25.640 thought she saw the cloud shift slightly, a tiny puff 293 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.519 of vapor rising from one of the chimneys, like a 294 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:31.640 wave back. She had been lying there for about an 295 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:35.200 hour when she heard footsteps in the grass. She turned 296 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.599 her head and saw her friend Oliver walking up the 297 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:41.519 hill from the creek, his shoes wet, his hair sticking 298 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:45.640 to his forehead with sweat. Oliver lived two houses down, 299 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.799 and he was the only person Cyrus knew who shared 300 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:53.160 her interest in clouds, though his approach was different. Where 301 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.880 Cyrus imagined factories and workers, Oliver saw patterns and shapes, 302 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:01.279 and he had a gift for finding faces in the clouds. 303 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:05.920 Entire faces, with eyes and noses and mouths, as if 304 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:08.960 the clouds were portraits of people who had never existed. 305 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:13.839 There you are, Oliver said, dropping into the grass beside her. 306 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.599 I've been looking for you all morning. Your mom said 307 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:20.680 you were up here staring at the sky again. I'm 308 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:25.799 not just staring, Cyrus said, I'm watching the factory. Oliver 309 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.680 lay on his back and looked up. Which one is 310 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:33.480 the factory that one? Cyrus pointed to the eastern horizon, 311 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.519 where the factory cloud was still visible. See the chimneys. 312 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:42.519 Oliver squinted, I see a hat, like a top hat. 313 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:47.519 The cloud is wearing a hat. Cyrus looked again. Oliver 314 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:51.440 was right in a way. The factory cloud did look 315 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:54.759 like a hat, the flat roof like the brim, and 316 00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:59.920 the chimney protrusions like the crown. But she preferred her interpretation. 317 00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:05.359 It's a factory. She said. The workers are making cumulus 318 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:11.400 clouds today. What kind of cumulus big ones for the afternoon? 319 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:16.480 Oliver nodded. He had learned not to argue with Cyrus 320 00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:20.039 about the factory. The first time she had told him 321 00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:22.759 about it, he had said there was no factory in 322 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:27.160 the sky that clouds were just water vapor, and Cyrus 323 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:29.799 had looked at him with such disappointment that he had 324 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:33.319 immediately changed his mind and said maybe there was a 325 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:38.160 factory after all. Now he played along, and sometimes he 326 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:42.640 even added to the story, imagining new stations in the factory, 327 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.720 new types of clouds being made, new workers with new jobs. 328 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:52.599 I think they're making a thunderhead today too, Oliver said, 329 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:58.000 see that one to the south, it's growing. Cyrus looked south. 330 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:03.000 The thunderhead was in indeed growing, its top rising higher, 331 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.119 its base darkening, and she could see the anvil shape 332 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.000 beginning to form, flat and sharp, like the top of 333 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:15.640 a mushroom. The workers at the thunderhead station, she said, 334 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:19.759 they're the best ones. They can make a cloud that 335 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.880 holds a million gallons of water. A million. Oliver said, 336 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:29.519 that's a lot of water. The book says thunderheads can 337 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.119 hold more than that, millions and millions of gallons, and 338 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:37.640 when they release it, the rain falls so hard you 339 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:42.440 can't see across the street. Oliver was quiet for a moment, 340 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:46.319 looking at the thunderhead. Then he said, I'd like to 341 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.480 work at the thunderhead station. Imagine being inside a cloud 342 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:54.039 that big, with all that power and knowing you made it. 343 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:58.480 You'd have to be very strong, Cyrus said. The cloud 344 00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:03.680 stuff for thunderheads heavier than regular cloud stuff. It's packed tight, 345 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:09.359 layer upon layer. I'm strong, Oliver said, flexing his arm. 346 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.680 It was not particularly strong, being the arm of an 347 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.480 eight year old boy, but Cyrus appreciated the gesture. You'd 348 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:20.160 need to be strong in a different way, she said, 349 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:24.920 not muscle strong, patient strong. You'd have to pack the 350 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:29.599 cloud stuff for hours, layer upon layer, without getting tired 351 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:34.240 or bored. The thunderhead workers are the most patient workers 352 00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:38.960 in the factory. Oliver considered this. I could be patient, 353 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:43.000 he said, especially if there was a good view. They 354 00:26:43.079 --> 00:26:47.000 lay side by side in the grass, their backs against 355 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.279 the warm earth, their faces toward the sky. The thunderhead 356 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.200 was magnificent, a towering wall of cloud that rose from 357 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:01.599 the southern horizon like a cathedral made of vapor, its 358 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:05.000 top spreading into an anvil that covered a quarter of 359 00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:08.839 the sky. The base was dark and heavy, and the 360 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:12.559 rain fell beneath it in a curtain of silver, and 361 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:18.480 the lightning flashed inside the cloud, bright and quick, illuminating 362 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:22.359 the interior for a split second, revealing the layers of 363 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:28.039 cloud stuff packed tight, layer upon layer, the work of 364 00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:32.319 the most patient workers in the factory. They lay side 365 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:36.799 by side in the grass, watching the sky. The thunderhead 366 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:41.640 was growing, its top spreading wider, and the anvil shape 367 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:46.680 was fully formed, now flat and dark like a black 368 00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:51.720 ceiling over the southern horizon. The base was very dark, 369 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:56.440 almost black, and Cirrus could see the rain beginning to fall, 370 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:00.319 a thin curtain of silver that blurred the trees and 371 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:04.960 the hills behind it. There it goes, she whispered. The 372 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.680 thunder rolled across the valley, low and deep, and the 373 00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:14.160 ground vibrated slightly, and Cyrus felt it through her back, 374 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:19.279 a gentle shaking, like the earth was shivering. The rain 375 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:23.960 fell harder, and the curtain thickened, and the thunderhead seemed 376 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:29.279 to grow even larger, its top rising higher, its base 377 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:35.480 spreading wider, and Cyrus imagined the wookers inside, standing at 378 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:41.519 their stations, pulling levers, releasing the water, watching it fall 379 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:46.960 with satisfaction. I want to see inside, Oliver said, What 380 00:28:47.079 --> 00:28:52.799 does it look like inside a thunderhead? Cyrus thought about this, dark, 381 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:58.680 she said, and loud. The thunder echoes off the walls, 382 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:04.200 and there's lightning bright flashes that light up everything for 383 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:09.039 a second, and then it's dark again. The workers wear 384 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:15.759 special gear I think helmets maybe, and ear protection, and 385 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:20.839 they just stand there in the dark with the lightning. 386 00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:26.680 They're used to it. It's their job. They've been doing 387 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.960 it for as long as the factory has existed. Oliver 388 00:29:31.160 --> 00:29:35.480 was quiet for a long time. Then he said, I 389 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:39.160 think I'd rather work at the Cumulus station. The clouds 390 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:45.200 are friendlier. Cirrus smiled. The Cumulus station is nice too. 391 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:49.039 The workers there are the happiest in the factory. They 392 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.559 make clouds that people love, Clouds that look like animals 393 00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:57.680 and ships and faces. They take pride in their work. 394 00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:02.640 I'd make a cloud paped like a dinosaur, Oliver said, 395 00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:08.480 a t rex with big teeth. You'd need a very 396 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:13.119 big mold. I'd build one. They lay in the grass 397 00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:17.519 and watched the thunderhead move south, the rain falling in 398 00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:22.279 a steady silver curtain, the thunder rolling across the valley, 399 00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:29.640 and the factory cloud drifted westward, still working, still making clouds, 400 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:35.400 its chimneys puffing out vapor, its doors opening and closing. 401 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:41.279