On the savanna, all that could be seen is yellow grass, soil, single trees scattered here and there, and a blue sky. Looking at the horizon, everything has wavy lines and no animals.
An exhausted fly zigzagged from one acacia tree to another and finally arrived close to Big Rock to take some rest.
“Guys, finally I’m here!” said the fly, short of breath.
Behind Big Rock, there was a natural shelter from the sun created by the huge rock and a small pond and few blades of grass. This was where animals spent their day when the weather was too hot.
Jack the lion, lying on his stomach on the higher rock in the shadow, counted the few clouds in the sky; Amanda, the elegant giraffe, was slowly eating leaves while the monkey Jimmie was resting on a tree, swinging with its tail.
The only one with some energy was Blue the elephant, the youngest of the crew, who was seated in the middle of the pond spraying water with his trunk to refresh all the gang.
“Guys, come on! I’m here! Listen to me!” repeated the fly, this time with a stronger voice
“Oh fly, we didn’t hear you coming,” said Amanda, “What’s going on?”
“I flew all the way from the human tent camp, and I’ve got great news for all of us! You can’t believe what it is!” replied the fly.
“I like challenges! Let me guess!” said Blue excitedly.
“No you can’t, really!”
“I wanna try, give me a clue”
“No really, this is something unbelievable!” replied the fly once again.
“ROOOARRRR!,” Jack interrupted. “Don’t act like pets! It’s incredibly hot today, and we are too tired to play these games. Fly, speak! Quickly!” he said firmly.
Scared by this reaction, the fly quickly started explaining: “Our pain is coming to an end! It will start raining!”
“What?” Jimmie exclaimed while falling from a tree.
“It’s true! These clouds mean that it will rain tonight. Humans said so, I’m sure.”
Hearing those words, the whole gang bursted into cheers.
“Let’s celebrate this moment. Here at Big Rock, tonight!” ruled Jack. Then he ordered the fly to visit other shelters and spread the word to every animal of the savanna.
He also added, “Jimmie, you are in charge of the music. Blue, take care of entertainment and pond-games. Amanda, you are responsible for veggie snacks, and I’m going to take care of the location. Everything has to be perfect. Now, go!”
At night, when the animals started to arrive at Big Rock, there were no rain clouds in the sky. Jack was getting anxious and said, “Amanda, you are the tallest here, how is the cloud situation over there?”
“Jack, you asked me twice, we see the same clouds. No news so far, but why don’t we try a rain dance?” she replied quietly.
This answer enlightened the lion. “Brilliant as always, Amanda!”
The lion ordered Jimmie to put on the music for the rain, and all the animals in the shelter started to sing and dance together, waiting for some rain.
When the first drops started to fall, Big Rock was already full of dancing animals. Blue started to jump and scream all around, “It’s my first rain! I didn’t know that it was water from the sky! Amazing!”
Jimmie played music for everyone, and Amanda happily danced non-stop, because more rain meant more leaves and more leaves meant more food.
The celebration kept going all night long, and so did the rain. The proud lion looked at the party as a success that would have been remembered for ages in the savanna!
