The Cloud Man
"In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive. In your life, don't be all about business"
- Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)
The white work van traversed the tunnel, then slowly pulled to a stop...
Claude Van Horstein got out and entered the next building utility elevator.
He got off on the top floor... Which was the local 'ground' floor (so to speak).
Once there, he took his equipment and supplies to the vent ejector access.
He adjusted the controls, for maximum output - then pushed the 'Hold' button.
The motors and fans and other unseen gizmos then came to an immediate stop.
He worked quickly... adding the right Ph Level here... some extra H2O there,
and for this one job, his specialty: a mix that would brighten one child's day.
He had made white ones... pink & lavender ones... even a few blue or green ones.
They never lasted too long, but a few would linger on for a while, before vanishing.
Though very simple and short-lived, they would make the people that saw them very happy.
After completing his work, Claude smiled joyfully. Later, he saw his efforts rewarded...
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Little Jimmy had his Birthday wish come true, when he blew out the candles
on his cake. Out the viewport window, he could see a rainbow-colored cloud
leave the top of the building just next door. An activator on one electric
candle sent a Wi-fi signal, for the colors to be added to the misty vapor
at that exact moment. The magical cloud then hovered close by, outside.
Jimmy only wished that he could be out there, to walk under the shadow
of his special Birthday 'Color-Cloud' - but he would need a spacesuit,
and ones in his small size were in very short supply. A rarity in fact.
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Claude-the-Cloud-Man smiled, as he saw the video sent to him by his
sister, of her son's party... The first child born & raised on Mars.
(There's never 'THE END' wherever there's Imagination - JH)