Mom had barely finished saying yes when Kalendri dashed out the front door to climb the tall Gum tree in their front yard.

Only when there was no wind was Kalendri allowed to climb the tree. It had been windy on their farm for the last three days.

Her brother who was nine years old was glad all the while it was windy because none of the children was allowed to climb trees until they were ten years old. Kalendri was eleven.

She was so excited to climb that only when she had bruised her shins for the second time as she climbed up through the branches she remembered she had not changed into her long jeans.

That was Dad's and Mom's rule about climbing trees.

A shirt with long sleeves and long jeans and sneakers. No dresses. No bare feet. Mom too, it seems, had forgotten the rule. She had let Kalendri dash out in a short dress with short sleeves, and in sneakers.

Kalendri was not about to climb down to change into her long jeans. A wind might whip up at any time which would mean she would not be allowed to climb.

She had to climb fast to get high enough before her younger brother could see her. He was sure to tell Mom if he saw Kalendri in a dress.

She climbed furiously until she reached the highest sturdy branch.

When she reached her favourite branches she sat on one of them and giggled in excitement. She could see for miles and miles around.
On a clear day she could see the lake which Dad said was about a hundred miles away. She could see other farms. Most times there were farmers working in whichever direction she looked. She would guess at what each farmer was doing.

She could see her family's own corn fields, pumpkin fields and their small apple orchard. They had no animals on their farm but on a few occasions she had been able to call out to Dad about some other farmer's cow or horse that had wandered onto their farm.

It was a little breezy this high up. Most days it was like this. Breezy wasn't strong enough to sway the sturdy branches. Still, breezy could get a little cold. In a shirt and long jeans she would not feel the cold breeze. Here she was in a short dress with short sleeves. She was beginning to feel cold.

She might have to climb down lower and risk her little brother seeing her. She was determined to hold out at this height for as long as she could bear the cool breezes.

Out of nowhere a whoosh of wind swayed all the branches to one side. Kalendri lost her grip on the branch she was holding.

She easily grabbed another branch. She had been climbing trees for over a year. She could deftly handle small unexpected problems like gusts of wind.

The hem of her dress snagged on some smaller branches. This was more than a small problem.

If her dress tore she would be in a lot of trouble with Mom. She slowly turned and twisted about to see what she had to do to untangle her dress without tearing it.

In one of her turns she saw in the distance a large leaf floating down out of the sky. She lost interest in her tangled dress. She watched the leaf. It puzzled her.

There were no trees in that area. Where did the leaf come from? Even from this far it looked like a fairly large leaf. It drifted down onto the corn field and was lost to her among the tall corn plants.

Without pausing to think up a plan of action Kalendri quickly climbed down. Her quick and unplanned movements caused her dress to snag and rip as it was yanked off the branches.

Her fright at this under other circumstances would have made her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing. Now, because she was so excited about that huge mysterious leaf that had floated down into the tall corn plants field, she ignored the tear in her dress as she sped down the tree.

On the ground when she reached the field and entered it she had to be careful how she moved the corn plants aside as she moved through them.

On the farm everyone could discern between corn stalks moved by wind and stalks moved by animals. If her movements made someone suspicious they would come to see for themselves.

Kalendri bent low as she scanned the ground ahead of her from side to side. There!

She stopped! It had the colours of a leaf all right, but it was a boy! About her age! He was kneeling, and carefully tending to the corn plants he had fallen on. She stood still and watched him. He stopped helping the corn plants and slowly turned to look at her.

"Uh, hello," he said softly. "Hi," answered Kalendri just as softly.

If this had been her brother she would have yelled at him for damaging the plants.

She was so surprised at seeing the boy she quite forgot the damaged plants.

"You looked like a leaf floating down from the sky." "Uh, yes. I could have looked like that because I am so light. Actually, I am light as a leaf."

"How can that be? You're bigger than my little brother, and he is so heavy I can barely lift him up."

"I can explain that. But will you please help me with these plants? I don't know how to get them to stand straight up."

Kalendri knew all about helping damaged plants. She was helping Dad and Mom on this farm all the time. She knelt down on the ground next to him. They talked while they worked.

"Thanks. My name is Shai. Rhymes with sky." "I'm Kalendri. Rhymes with I'm Wendy." She giggled. He smiled and playfully dabbed her hand with a lump of sand.

"Shai, you said you are as light as a leaf. How come?" "All right. I don't think I have much time to explain. You have to promise you will believe everything I tell you. And you won't think I'm just being silly."

"I promise I won't think you're just being silly." Her turn to playfully dab his hand.

"By the way, you must be in a lot of trouble because of that big rip in your dress."

"Yes, I am. But so are you for hurting so many of our corn plants."

"I'm sorry about that. I thought since I am so light I wouldn't cause any damage."

"You're lucky you have me to help you fix your problem. There. That's the last one. All done. Good as new."

"Thank you, Kalendri-rhymes-with-I'm-Wendy." "You're welcome, Shai-rhymes-with-sky." Both giggled.

"You think these plants will continue to grow?" He looked at the plants and was concerned.

"Oh, yes. When you fell on them none broke. They just toppled over. Their roots are still in the ground. They'll continue to grow. If you had bent or broken the stems, we couldn't save them. Now come on. Tell me why you are as light as a leaf. I promised I won't think you're just being silly."

"I was in a Spaceship. I did not have my seat belt fastened. When Mom flipped the ship into a spin I fell out."

"Makes sense. Dad doesn't start the car until all of us fasten our seat belts."

"You believe me, then?" "You asked me to. I believe you." "You believe there are Spaceships?" "Of course. We see them all the time on television. In art classes at school most of us love drawing spaceships. But you still have not explained why you are as light as a leaf, Shai-rhymes-with-sky. Seems to me you're stalling." She playfully poked him on the chest with her finger.

"Uh, well, that's because my family is from another star."

"You mean like the Moon?" "Uh, yes. But our star is much farther than the moon. Ours is so far away in the sky you cannot see it from this world. When people from our star come here they become light as leaves."

"Why did you say you don't have much time to explain, Shai?"

"Because when Dad or Mom sees I am not in the ship, they will turn back and come looking for me. There they are!" He jumped up and waved.

Kalendri stood up. "I can't see anything." "You won't be able to. It's invisible. When they pull me up I'll be invisible to you when I get into the ship."

While he was speaking he slowly rose up straight into the air. As he went higher and higher he once more looked like a giant leaf.

Kalendri kept her eyes on him and called out "Will I see you again, Shai?" Just before he disappeared she thought she heard him call out "Yes. I'll find you, Kalendri-rhymes-with-I'm-Wendy."

She stared up into the sky for a long time although she couldn't see anything.

Remembering she had torn her dress in the tree, she instantly forgot about things in the sky. She was going to have to sneak back up to her room without anyone seeing her torn dress. She looked to see just how badly the tear was. She couldn't believe what she saw!

The dress was not torn!