I was told a story as a little child.  They said something about the clouds. Something that resonated in my mind even as I grew. They said the cloud lived with us before and we humans played  with the clouds. She was our big mama and we would enter her and sleep. She was claimed to be so soft and my elder sister claimed to have slept inside her before.

They said mama cloud made crowns for those who had done exceptionally well and she gave gifts to those who seek her. Mama cloud was loved by all and many times, she protected us from danger.

But out of this all, something baffled me the most. It gripped my heart and made me love mama cloud the more. Mama cloud was kind to the poor and the needy. She fed them regularly and clothed them. Mama cloud was a big shining star to all.

"But why did I not meet this great Mama cloud on earth when I was born?"  I had asked with child-like enthusiasm. I crossed my feet as my mother tugged at my hair. She was making beautiful cornrows on my head.  My Ma sighed as she braided the ends of the cornrows. "Humans will always be humans and they will take things for granted."

I was itching to look at the expression on her face for she can never hide her feelings. They always carry the messages she needed to convey.

"A man whose name I will not mention started to ask for excess. He was not content with what the cloud gave to him. He asked to be made King.
He asked for riches, houses and numerous properties but the cloud knew he was not going to use it for anything good so she did not oblige him. This man, infuriated, angry and embarrassed, got the backing of oblivious people and went to defile the cloud. They defecated everywhere in the cloud and did a lot of embarrassing things. The cloud was angry, so angry that she turned black. We have never seen her black. She made loud, aggressive noises and brought out fire. She was so angry that she even started to cry.  Horrid, torrid tears. The tears came in torrents that the rivers started to overflow and come into the village. It took the pleading of our village head for the cloud to stop, but this led to the death of our village head for she strangled him in anger. Seeing what she had done and the damage she had caused to the village, Mama cloud began to back away little by little until she got so high we could not touch her."

I gasped. I turned and looked at my mother. My father was the village head before I was born. Mama cloud had killed my father.

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