Captain Blizzard to the rescue 5/7

She nodded happily. “It’s not much of a breeze but there’s a west wind blowing here. If I get the cloud to follow the direction, I’m certain to find the West Wind himself eventually.”

She ran back to the cloud and climbed the rope ladder as quickly as she could. She told Captain Blizzard her idea and waited while he ordered one of his crewmen to keep an eye on the way the wind was blowing, then pass the necessary directions back to the helmsman.

It was slow work, as the cloud had to stop every mile or so to make sure that the wind was still ahead of them. But the wind slowly grew stronger, until at last an odd looking cloud was seen on the horizon. The Climate Cloud flew directly towards it and came to a stop alongside. A plump gentleman with puffed out red cheeks was blowing steadily down a funnel shaped portion of his cloud.

“Ahoy the West Wind,” shouted Captain Blizzard through a speaking trumpet.

The West Wind stopped blowing in mid puff and looked round in surprise. “You’ve just ruined the build up to a perfectly good westerly gale,” he said in a rather annoyed tone of voice, “I hope whatever it is you want is really important, or else I shall put in a complaint to the Clerk of the Weather.”

“This young lady has an idea to rescue a member of my crew, who has been unfortunate enough to be buried under an avalanche. You have a very important role to play. So if you would be so good as to follow me, I shall return to the Cairngorm Mountains. If all goes well you should be able to get back to your gale before the evening.”

The West Wind followed the Climate Cloud to the avalanche site, then Jennifer Jane went down to the ground, while the Captain stayed up in the colder air in order to keep his crew comfortable. The West Wind landed his cloud nearby and walked over to shake hands.

“Pleased to meet you, my name is Jennifer Jane and I’m hoping you’ll be able to blow the snow away from this area without melting it.”

The West wind shook his head, “I think I’m too hot and bothered to blow coldly enough not to melt the snow.”

He blew gently on the nearest patch. The snow melted and then blew away in a spray of water. “I’m sorry,” he said sadly, “but I’m afraid I can’t help you.”