ABSTRACT
Some time ago Jesse, a kindergarten child, and I were scurrying through a heavy rain on the way from my car to his classroom. I remarked that it had been raining pretty heavily for some time and over a large area. That was a lot of water and it must be very heavy. Had he ever lifted a bucket of water? Yes, he had, and it was really heavy. So what did he think about how all this water could stay up in the sky? By this time we had entered the building and he looked at me and proceeded to explain that there was a great big glass or plastic ceiling in the sky. Moreover, that’s what thunder was-when it would crack. This was a wonderful theory, and I said so; but it occurred to me that he had recently flown for the first time. Did he think the plane had broken through the glass barrier? He didn’t say anything at first . . . you could see him thinking about things, and of course the most striking feature of flying is looking down on the clouds. Then he said that he hadn’t thought of that. Maybe his idea wasn’t right. Maybe something else held the water up. “Wonder what it is,” he said. “Yes,” I agreed, “wonder what it is.”
