A bedtime story
starring your kid.

On the night the rain started, Iris was wide awake. The rain made one kind of sound on the window and another kind of sound on the roof. Iris listened to both. She was four years old, which is old enough to listen to two different things at once. "Mama," she whispered, "is the rain okay?" Her mama, who was almost asleep, smiled in the dark. "The rain is okay," she said. "The rain is just doing its job. The plants drink it, the rivers grow with it, and the worms come up to say hello to the sidewalks." "Worms say hello?" "In their own way." Iris thought about that. She thought about the worms saying hello. She thought about the rivers getting wider. She thought about the plants, drinking, drinking, drinking. "Mama?" "Yes, baby." "I want to drink water like a plant." "Okay," said her mama. "Tomorrow." Iris closed her eyes. The rain kept doing its job. And soon, so did she.