This Take Ten to Write story was submitted by 12-year-old Mary. Happy reading!

---

Prompt: “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” — Diane Arbus

Prologue

One day, there was a storm in a city. Lightning, thunder, rain-the whole rainy day package. The package probably came from the cloudy mail and was shipped to another cloudy mail. The clouds were the mail shipping the rain to more clouds to open the package of rain.

Part 1

Day 1 / Forest
JULY 2015

In a forest, an explorer named Brookie, an explorer named Emilie and an explorer named Julie were all exploring a forest. The exploration hadn’t been that successful. With the rainy day package still open, there was rain today and probably tomorrow. “This is a rainforest,” Brookie said. “Maybe that’s why there is rain,” Emilie said. “Maybe,” Julie said.

Day 2 / Tundra
JULY 2015

They left the rainforest as a snowy tundra came into view. They stopped walking where the forest dirt path met the tundra ice ground and put on cozy jackets. They didn’t only need to explore in style, they needed to explore in clothes that matched the scenery around them. “It’s weird how the tundra is next to the forest,” Brookie remarked. “Strange,” Emilie siad. “I know, right?” Julie said. Suddenly, the rainy package got opened again and more rain fell.

Day 3 / Ocean
JULY 2015

They noticed the tundra come to an end at an ocean and they put on bathing suits and wetsuits, as well as life jackets. They wanted to stay as safe as possible. “It is weird how the tundra met the ocean,” Brookie remarked. “Sometimes there are cold oceans near cold places,” Emilie said. “True,” said Julie. Then, the rainy package got opened again and more rain fell.

Rainy Perspectives

Brookie
JULY 2015

The rain was a bit strange in the tundra, but it was not strange in the forest only because it was a rainforest. It was not strange in the ocean, because the ocean is made from the rain. We saw lots of interesting creatures on the trip, including polar bears, penguins, toucans and fish.

Emilie
JULY 2015

We saw lots of cool creatures and I really enjoyed the trip. I loved the jumping dolphins we saw in the ocean.

Julie
JULY 2015

I liked exploring caves in the tundra and playing with monkeys in the forest. It was so much fun.

Epilogue

Later, the rainy day package came back. It had first come to the town where the explorers live, then followed them on their journey. When it came back to them later, they wondered why is was following them only and not anyone else.