A Rain of Questions(Ashley D. Brown) "Stop asking so many questions, child," said Grandmother.

"But why?" Danielle asked innocently and then covered her mouth quickly, her eyes round with her mistake. But Grandmother was smiling, "Because I like to listen to the rain, child."

"Why do you like to listen to the rain?" Danielle asked, peeping over the edge of her covers with large brown eyes as Grandmother went to each lamp and switched it off.

"Because I used to listen to the storm with my grandmother when I was a little girl," was the quiet answer. And the old woman closed her eyes, leaning back in the chair with pleasure.

Danielle's eyes grew round again, "You were a little girl, Grandmother?"
Grandmother laughed softly, "For a very brief time."

In the gloom of the bedroom, lightning flashed, filling the room very briefly in its pale glow. The rain tapped heavily on the window pane, and Danielle could not help but feel as she watched Grandmother settle comfortably into the chair beside her bed, the cozy and warm atmosphere of the room versus the wild raging of the storm outside.

After a pause, during which Grandmother knew that the little girl's mind was working furiously, Danielle said, "Will I be a grandmother someday?"

"Maybe." was the quiet reply. And then: "Go to sleep, child. Stop asking so many questions." Grandmother was smiling as she said this and yawned soon after. But Danielle was not sleepy. She stared at the tired old woman.

"Grandmother?" she said, after a long moment when both of them sat quietly in the still room and the wind howled against the window pane. "Grandmother?" There was no answer.

Danielle sat up in bed to see that her grandmother was breathing deeply, a small smile on her lips and her head to one side against the red cushion of the chair. Smiling to herself, Danielle got up, draped her blanket gently over the old woman's lap, and crawled back into bed to listen to the storm.

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