You know that Dill enjoyed powerful private transport aboard Carla the Cloud. Carla was her special vehicle for her uncanny adventures with Will andToucan Bill. However, you may not be aware of how she met Carla. Here’s the story.

For years and years, Carla the Cloud floated high in the sky with clouds that were just like her, although none had the striking wave of auburn curls that Carla had. She and her fellow clouds roamed the sky, when it was blue, when it was grey, when thunder and lighting storms hit. All the clouds could finesse good and bad weather as they knew to fly up closer to heavan or down closer to earth.

At one point Carla said to herself, “I think I’ve had enough of being up here in the sky. I know this sky geography all too well. I’m bored with having the same old conversation about the weather day after day. I think I’ll move a little bit closer to earth. Maybe I can find friends down there whom I can talk to and have an adventure with. One of her closest cloud friends, a slender cloud named Lilly, suggested that Carla try going to New York City. ‘It’s very big,” Lilly said, “you’re bound to meet someone interesting to talk to.”

So Carla floated down from the sky on a brilliant May day and chose to go to the Bronx Botanical Garden. She had heard of its lavish gardens of flowers and fancy bushes and special trees. She floated around there for quite a while, but she didn’t come across anything that interested her in terms of making new friends or seeing things that made her want to hover around.

She said to herself, “I’ll go over to Central Park. I hear that’s a really big park and quite different than the Bronx Botanical Garden. I think it has meadows and woods and ponds and a reservoir and statues of famous people.”

She crossed two big rivers and a highway jammed with cars and reached the park — quiet, verdant, filled with natural beauty. She floated around inspecting the park from all sides.

She took note of Dill scampering around with a lively jog close to her chestnut tree. She floated closer. Dill looked up and waved. “Hello hello, how do you do? I’m Dill, I live down here in this big chestnut tree.”

Carla was filled with curiosity . “Tell me. You live there? Do you live in the tree? What is your place like?

“Well,” said Dill, “I have a very nice apartment. It has five rooms. I have a comfy bedroom and I have a nice library where I keep my world geography book. I have a room for my comb and brush and glasses and another room for my big hamper of sandwiches. I take all these things with me when I travel. I have a guestroom as well as my relatives some times stop by for an overnight. In June my tree is ablaze with big white blossoms that passerby’s stop and admire.

“Do you know anybody else in the park?” asked Carla. “Oh yes,” said Dill. “I have a very good friend. His name is Will and he is the big statue at the beginning of the Elm Tree Walkway. If you float down there,” she said, signaling left, “you’ll see him. Don’t be put off by the funny costume he wears. He’s very nice and he is very smart. His formal name is William Shakespeare. He’s written well-known plays and poetry. He’s famous the world over, and I’m proud to say he’s a very good friend.”

Carla was very happy with this information and she showed it by puffing up her cloud . She knew she loved Dill. She said to Dill, “I would like to become your good friend and get to know Will. Do you mind if I stay around and be a regular visitor?”

“That would be grand,” said Dill. “I go out for coffee every morning and then I go talk to Will. I’ll introduce you to him.” “Oh thank you, thank you,” said Carla, and added, “maybe I can give you a ride one day. My cloud is really comfortable. You can just pretend you are in a soft cushiony bed made of cotton puffs and silk. We could float around and study the park together.”

“I would love to do that. When you think its a good day for touring let me know and I’ll be ready.”

The next day Carla came by. She called down to Dill. “It’s a beautiful day for touring so jump on and I will go around a bit and you will see how you like being on a cloud.”

Dill was beside himself herself with excitement. She had never imagined that she would see Central Park from on high — in all its jade green beauty, with its majestic trees, large ponds and lakes, gardens of roses and azuleas, numerous paths and by ways.

Dill and Carla became fast friends and Dill soon introduced her to Will. Will was very amiable as always. He admired Carla’s cottony cloud, her pale blue dress that was barely visible and her auburn curls. He liked the way she looked so intently at her weather monitor. “She looks smart,” Will commented to Dill, “and she is very very friendly. And its quite marvelous that she can float wherever she wishes in the world.”

So that’s how the three became friends and eventually became traveling companions and took their first big trip to Brazil.