Nicola's eyes were squeezed shut in sheer terror as she plummeted through the air.
Once, she'd fallen out of a tree in her backyard and had broken her arm.That had really hurt, but she guessed this was really, really going to hurt.
Any second now she would slam straight into the ground!
Any second now she would be shattered like a broken cup. Any second now.
Actually, it did seem to be taking quite a long time.
And it didn't really feel like she was falling. It felt more like she was floating.
She risked opening one eye and then immediately opened the other one.
The most amazing thing had happened! The skirt of her dress had puffed out like a shiny blue parachute, and she was bobbing gently in a mysterious, swirling world of wispy white fog.
I'm in the middle of a cloud, she thought. I'm swimming in a cloud!
"Watch out below!"
Nicola looked up to see Georgio poised on the edge of the helicopter. Suddenly he leaped out with both knees gripped close to his chest.
"Whoopeee!"
It was exactly the way Sean jumped into a swimming pool. Nicola hated it when he did that because he landed with a splash like a tidal wave and water went up her nose. She always got right out of the pool and did one straight back at him.They called it "having a battle of cannonballs."Their mom called it "trying to drown each other."
It turned out that the same thing happened in a cloud as in a swimming pool. Georgio landed right next to her with a huge whoosh of air that caused Nicola to spin around and around in circles while her mouth filled up with fluffy white cloud.
"No cannonballs allowed."When she finally stopped spinning, Georgio pointed a stern finger at her. "That was just for demonstration purposes."
His long black coat billowed out behind him just like Nicola's dress. He lay on his back and lazily ran his fingers through the cloud. "So what do you think of cloud-swimming, Nicola?"
Nicola spat out bits of cloud while she bobbed dizzily around in the air. She was feeling slightly angry with Georgio. "I thought I was going to fall straight to the ground when you threw me out of the helicopter!"
"Well, I knew you were dressed appropriately! After all, I'd hardly throw someone out without their cloud-swimming gear!" Georgio chuckled.Then he looked thoughtful. "Although there was that unfortunate incident with Uncle Dick."
He shook his head and winced. "Oh well! No point dwelling on past mistakes, is there? Learn from them and then move on! Come on. Don't just float there. Let's see you swim."
Nicola tentatively pushed her hands through the air as if she were swimming along the bottom of a pool.To her surprise, her body obediently moved forward. Air was much lighter than water! Cloud-swimming felt faster and smoother and more graceful. Actually, it felt like she was flying! She pushed her arms harder and kicked her legs and moved even faster. It got easier and easier, as if she'd always known how to cloud-swim and just forgotten for a while.
Georgio treaded cloud while he watched her and applauded loudly. "You're a natural!"
Nicola swooped and dived and glided through the air. The sun shone on the inflated blue satin skirt of her dress so it shimmered, and the air felt cool and fresh against her face. She couldn't believe that a little while ago she'd been sitting in Mrs. Zucchini's class learning about oceans and seas. Now here she was swimming in a cloud, while beneath her everybody was still at school!
"Try a belly flop!" cried Georgio.
"But they hurt!"
"What are you talking about? Belly flops tickle!"
Georgio held his arms and legs wide like a starfish and went plummeting into a cloud that looked like a scoop of ice cream. Sure enough, when he landed he clutched his stomach, threw back his head, and roared with laughter.
"You'd better not be faking!" yelled Nicola, who was used to that sort of thing from Sean.
She copied his starfish dive and went hurtling toward the same cloud.When she landed it felt as though her stomach was being gently tickled by hundreds of feathery fingers. She laughed so hard that tears ran down her face.
"Try a cartwheel!" called out Georgio, and he did ten in a row.
"I can't do cartwheels," Nicola said and stopped laughing. She was remembering that awful day at school when Greta Gretch had come around to the grassy area behind the school hall and seen Nicola and Katie doing cartwheels. Katie was quite good at them, but Nicola was hopeless. Greta had pointed and sneered and called everybody over. "Look at Nicola! She told me she was a phenomenal cartwheeler and look at her! She's the worst cartwheeler I've ever seen!"