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A theatre in a box
Raff put a shoebox on its side.
The back of the box became the back of a stage.
He looked inside.
It was a very quiet theatre, with nobody in it yet.
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The curtains
He tucked red cloth at the two sides.
The pieces were too short to meet in the middle.
Raff pulled them farther apart.
Now the theatre was always ready to begin.
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One performer
His yellow paper bird fitted between the curtains.
It stood on a little wooden stick.
Raff made it bow.
The whole bird bowed at once, which seemed suitably important.
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The invitation
Cleo came to the doorway.
'Is there room?' she asked.
Raff looked at the little stage.
'For the audience, yes.'
He brought her a cushion.
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The farthest seat
Cleo sat at the other end of the rug.
Raff put the bird on the stage.
From there, it looked like a yellow crumb.
Cleo leaned forward.
The crumb was having a difficult time being a bird.
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Moving the audience
She carried her cushion closer.
Now she could see its beak.
Raff tried his smallest voice.
Cleo moved one cushion-width closer still.
That seemed to be the front row.
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The beginning
'The bird had lost a cloud,' Raff began.
He moved it across the stage.
There was no cloud to look for.
There was no tree either.
Raff considered what he had.
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A very long flight
He took the bird out at one side.
Then brought it in at the other.
'It flew all the way around the world.'
Cleo followed it with her eyes.
The world had been surprisingly quick.
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The pause
The bird stopped.
Raff had not decided what came next.
Cleo waited.
The room made its little evening sounds.
After a while, Raff discovered that the bird was listening too.
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Something found
'It couldn't hear the cloud,' Raff said.
'But it could hear somebody waiting.'
The bird turned toward Cleo.
'Oh,' she said softly.
She had become part of the play without leaving her cushion.
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The applause
Raff bowed the bird.
Cleo clapped with two fingertips against one paw.
It made a tiny pattering sound.
For this theatre, it was plenty.
The curtains stayed open for all of it.
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After the show
They left the bird on the stage.
Tomorrow it might find its cloud.
Cleo put the cushion away.
She knew where the best seat would be, even before Raff invited her again.
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