WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:05.190 The missing Metro poster. Nora's poster vanished at the bakery. 2 00:00:05.870 --> 00:00:09.570 She had set its cardboard tube beside the counter while Mr. 3 00:00:09.650 --> 00:00:14.330 Hammond boxed two pastries. Another long tube already stood there, 4 00:00:14.750 --> 00:00:17.469 and a man in a green cap was rolling up 5 00:00:17.809 --> 00:00:22.309 a blue concert poster. Beautiful blue elephant, he had said. 6 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:27.149 It's a rain cloud, Nora had replied. Nora picked up 7 00:00:27.190 --> 00:00:30.269 the tube nearest the door. She did not discover it 8 00:00:30.309 --> 00:00:34.750 was empty until she and Mom reached the metro stairs. 9 00:00:35.869 --> 00:00:39.789 Nora stood beside Mom at the station entrance, holding only 10 00:00:39.890 --> 00:00:43.990 two strips of tape. The neighborhood art show opened in 11 00:00:44.149 --> 00:00:48.409 forty minutes. We can go home and print the photo, 12 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:53.200 Mom said. Nora shook her head. The photo showed the 13 00:00:53.299 --> 00:00:58.179 painting before she had added the silver rooftops. Besides, She 14 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:02.469 had spent a week getting the blue exactly right. A 15 00:01:02.649 --> 00:01:06.069 torn scrap of blue paper lay near the ticket machine. 16 00:01:06.849 --> 00:01:09.769 Nora picked it up. The color was almost the same 17 00:01:09.810 --> 00:01:15.109 as her painted sky. Mine! They followed another blue scrap 18 00:01:15.170 --> 00:01:19.129 down the stairs. On the platform, the station cleaner had 19 00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:24.430 found three more pieces stuck to his broom. Something large 20 00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:27.510 blew through when the train arrived, he said. It went 21 00:01:27.549 --> 00:01:32.859 that way. The next train rushed into the station. Wind 22 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:36.760 pushed Nora's coat against her legs and sent an old 23 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:42.239 receipt spinning along the tiles. She pictured her poster sailing 24 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:46.569 down the tunnel. Then she noticed a blue rectangle inside 25 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:50.150 the train. The doors closed before she could see more. 26 00:01:50.769 --> 00:01:54.989 That was it, Nora cried. Mom studied the departure board. 27 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.000 That train stops at River Market. We can meet the 28 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:04.180 next one there. At River Market, they searched every carriage 29 00:02:04.219 --> 00:02:09.099 of the arriving train. No poster. Nora checked the seats, 30 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:13.439 the luggage spaces, and the floor beneath a folded newspaper. 31 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:19.000 A passenger remembered seeing blue paper, but it had been 32 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:23.590 a child's kite. Another pointed them toward the station office. 33 00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:27.789 where the lost property shelf held three umbrellas and a 34 00:02:27.909 --> 00:02:32.599 framed painting of a brown horse. Not yours? Mum asked. 35 00:02:33.259 --> 00:02:37.620 Mine has fewer legs, Nora said. A violinist near the 36 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:41.379 exit remembered seeing a man carrying a large blue sheet. 37 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:46.680 Green cap, she said. Long cardboard tube. He went toward 38 00:02:46.699 --> 00:02:51.199 the market hall. Nora and Mum hurried upstairs. The market 39 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:57.509 was already crowded. Bakers arranged bread. Florists filled buckets. Artists 40 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.800 leaned paintings against temporary walls. At the far end, a 41 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:05.039 man in a green cap was taping up a blue poster. 42 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:09.520 Nora ran toward him, then stopped. It was not her 43 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:15.539 rain cloud. It advertised a jazz concert. I found it 44 00:03:15.580 --> 00:03:19.879 blowing around the metro, the man said. Mine escaped this morning. 45 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.939 Nora showed him the torn blue corner He turned his 46 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.780 poster over. The back was clean. There were two runaway 47 00:03:28.870 --> 00:03:33.530 blue posters, Mum asked. The man pointed to his cardboard tube. 48 00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:38.870 A sticker on it read, River Market Art Show. Nora 49 00:03:38.949 --> 00:03:42.409 held up the identical tube she had carried from the bakery. 50 00:03:43.349 --> 00:03:48.400 Aran remembered setting his concert poster beside Nora's painting while 51 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:52.860 he paid. In a hurry, He had rolled both blue 52 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.000 sheets together and slipped them into the fabric case on 53 00:03:57.060 --> 00:04:01.189 his shoulder. Nora had picked up his empty tube instead 54 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:05.849 of her own. At the metro, Aaron's concert poster had 55 00:04:05.930 --> 00:04:09.189 slipped partly out of the case. He caught it on 56 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:13.789 the train, but not before one edge tore and left 57 00:04:13.909 --> 00:04:18.009 the blue scraps Nora had followed. Then where is my painting? 58 00:04:18.490 --> 00:04:21.600 Nora asked. He checked the fabric case on his shoulder. 59 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:27.430 Inside were two rolled posters, his concert notice and Nora's painting. 60 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:32.970 I wondered why my jazz poster had silver buildings, he said. 61 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:38.300 Nora unrolled her work across an empty table. The rain 62 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:41.620 cloud was creased and one corner had torn where the 63 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:46.540 two posters had been rolled together. The painted rooftops were safe. 64 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.670 The man's name was Arun? He was due to play 65 00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:55.019 at the market that afternoon. Yes, but now one corner 66 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.920 of his concert poster was missing, too. Nora found it 67 00:04:59.139 --> 00:05:02.899 clinging to the bottom of his shoe. The metro wind 68 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:07.769 had been equally unkind to both artists. The green-capped man 69 00:05:07.970 --> 00:05:11.350 offered to flatten it beneath two boxes of concert programs 70 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:16.129 while they found fresh backing paper. Nora wanted to hide 71 00:05:16.189 --> 00:05:20.230 the torn corner. Then she saw that the tear cut 72 00:05:20.389 --> 00:05:25.439 through empty sky. She trimmed the paper into a narrower shape. 73 00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:29.199 The rain cloud now appeared to hang just beyond the 74 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.879 edge of the city. At the art show, visitors stopped 75 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:37.459 in front of it. One person called it peaceful. Another 76 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.589 called it stormy. Mr. Hamid arrived from the bakery and 77 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:47.689 continued to believe it was an elephant. The jazz musician 78 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:54.189 hung his constant poster beside Nora's painting until the show closed. 79 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:58.779 During the afternoon, Arun played a short set near the entrance. 80 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:02.720 Nora sat where she could see people stop before her painting. 81 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:07.519 A small boy insisted the cloud was a whale. His 82 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.769 sister said it was a spilled bottle of ink. Nora 83 00:06:11.810 --> 00:06:14.899 did not correct either of them. When they packed up, 84 00:06:15.470 --> 00:06:20.060 he held out the two identical cardboard tubes. Nora wrote 85 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.759 RAIN CLOUD across hers in thick black letters. He wrote 86 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:29.060 NOT A RAIN CLOUD across his. They checked the labels 87 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:34.850 before leaving in opposite directions. The End. As always, visit 88 00:06:34.970 --> 00:06:38.850 us at redthetale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.