Colors, by Miriam Sinitean

One day, a young boy asked his grandfather a question. “Where do colors come from?” was the precise way the question was asked.
The old grandfather put down his old, rusty reading glasses, closed his newspaper, and stared at the little boy.
“A long time ago,” said the grandfather, “There were no colors on earth. There was only black and white. People wore either black or white clothes. Cars were either black or white. Everything was boring.
“Then, one day, after it rained, the rainbow came out. It was huge! It took up almost the whole sky. The rainbow, usually having a smile on his face, looked sad.
“How come”, he said, “is everything black and white? It is boring! Look how sad and gloomy the people look! There is no color in their lives. No variety. I must go down there.”
The clouds, the rainbows longtime friends, all stared at him.
“What is he going to do?” they asked one another. The rainbow heard, turned around to his friends and said “I am going to pay the people a visit. See you later!” With that said, the rainbow let go of the sky. He was falling slowly………
“Stop him!” cried a cloud. But it was too late.
All the clouds were too busy mourning the rainbow, that they did not even look down at the people, but one cloud did look down.
“Look!” cried a baby cloud. “Look at the people! They are colorful! They are full of color! No more black and white! There are blues, greens, yellows, and pinks everywhere!”
As the clouds looked down, they saw how happy and cheerful the people looked.
The next day, it rained again. The rainbow came out and shocked all the clouds. But, it was not the huge rainbow it was the day before. It was a small rainbow. He did not stand out anymore, but he was still cheerful.
The baby cloud looked at the rainbow, and than back at the other clouds. Then he said what no cloud ever heard before. “Greater love has no one than this: he who gives his life up for his friends. But, in this case, he did not give up his whole life. He gave up a part of himself.
When the rainbow heard this, he looked down and smiled. He did not want the clouds to see him blushing. (But he was a rainbow. He was already blushing, right?)
As he was looking down, he saw all the people staring at him. They were all smiling. They were all full of colors! They were waving at him.
These people only stared for about one minute, than continued walking. They went back to their own businesses. But, one little girl remained. She was a little girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a bright pink dress. Only she remained. She looked up at the rainbow and with all the power inside her little lungs, she screamed out “Thank You!”
That made the rainbow cry, and it started raining again.

Colors live.
Colors Cry.
Turn off the lights
And colors die.

You and you
And I know well.
Each has a taste.
Each has a smell.

And each has his
Own story to tell.