A special rain was falling in the garden at home. It wasn't just any rain: it was the Singing Rain. Each drop, touching something different, made a different music. On the wide leaves of the fig tree it went pluff-pluff-pluff. On the tin bucket it went ding-dong-ding. In the puddle near the gate it went splish-splash-splosh. And on the petals of the daisies it made a soft little breath, like a mommy's kiss.

Dash, Ziggy, Lily and Skye were under the porch, with their noses out and their feet dry. They had made up a new game that made them laugh a lot.

"Guess what, guess what!" said Dash, who was the fastest talker of all. "What sound does this drop make?"

And they listened in silence.

"On the leaves!" shouted Ziggy, jumping on one foot.

"No, on the bucket!" replied Lily, her blue eyes very focused.

"On the puddle," said Skye calmly, and she leaned against the porch wall with a smile.

She had guessed right. Skye always guessed right, because she truly listened. Dash burst out laughing and dove onto the cushion of the garden bench.

Then, far away behind the hills, a deep voice went BRBRBRBRUMMM. It was a faraway storm, grumbling like a hungry tummy.

"It's a storm!" said Ziggy.

"Don't be afraid," whispered Skye. "It's far away. It's grumbling because it wants a snack."

Everyone laughed. But then something happened that they didn't expect.

CHOOFFFF CHOOFFFF.

From behind the rose bush a little red and gold train appeared, with sparkly wheels and smoke shaped like little bows. It was Toby the Magic Train, who came every now and then to take them on an adventure.

"CHOOFFFF CHOOFFFF," said Toby, stopping in front of the porch. Then, with his little singing voice, he spoke like this:

"Climb aboard the bright train to a magical land,
where dreams are all baked by a soft, gentle hand:
a wonderful factory has fallen asleep,
whoever can wake it makes colors leap!"

The children looked at each other with big eyes. A dream factory? What was that? They didn't know, but they wanted to find out. They ran onto the little train. Dash sat in front, Ziggy behind him, Lily next to Ziggy, and Skye near the window, because she loved to look out without talking.

CHOOFFFF CHOOFFFF, the little train set off.

The journey was short and wonderful. They flew over the rooftops, over a blue river, over a field of sunflowers, and they arrived in a place none of them had ever seen.

In front of them stood a giant cream-colored brick building. It had many tall round chimneys, but no smoke came out. There were spiral staircases all twisted like candy, round windows like the portholes of a ship, and a big sign above the door that said:

THE WHISPERED DREAMS FACTORY

"Wow!" whispered Lily.

"A dream factory!" said Ziggy, and he jumped up high for joy.

But then Dash noticed something strange. He zipped forward fast as lightning and came back with a worried little face.

"Friends," he said, "the chimneys are silent. And look at the forest."

Everyone turned around. Around the factory there was a forest, but the leaves on the trees were not green. They weren't yellow either, or red. They were gray. Gray like ashes. Sad.

"How sad," said Skye, and a little drop of rain fell on her nose.

"Let's go in," said Lily, decisive. "Maybe someone needs help."

They pushed the big wooden door. It opened with a soft creak, like a whisper. And inside... what a mess!

The shelves were knocked over. Soft cotton pillowcases were scattered all over the floor. There were balls of colored thread everywhere: they were tangled-dreams, dreams that had gotten knotted up and couldn't be beautiful anymore. The conveyor belts were still. The machines, which were supposed to knead clouds like bread, slept in silence.

"Who turned everything upside down?" asked Ziggy, his eyes wide open.

At that very moment, from behind a pile of pillowcases, something floated out. It didn't walk. It floated about a foot above the ground, like a soft little cloud. It was a pillow. A blue pillow with a white bow.

And it smelled lovely. It smelled like warm milk and freshly baked cookies.

The children came closer. The pillow came closer to them. It stopped in front of Dash and bent down the way kind people do when they want to say something important.

"Children," said the Dream Pillow, and his voice was as light as a breath, "come close. I must tell only you."

All four of them leaned their ears in close.

"Everything's in a jumble in here," whispered the Pillow. "Usually I whisper the start of a beautiful dream to whoever lays their head on me. But if there's a mess around me, I can't. And without beautiful dreams, the leaves of the forest turn gray too. Because nature grows sad, you see?"

"We'll fix it!" said Dash right away, who loved quick challenges.

"Yes!" said Ziggy, and he hopped in place.

"We promise," said Lily, tenacious.

"Together," said Skye, and she smiled.

The Dream Pillow looked at them with eyes that couldn't be seen but could be felt. Then he yawned. A little sweet yawn. And from his yawn came tiny little stars, which rose into the air and dissolved like powdered sugar.

"Wow," Skye gasped with her mouth open.

"So," said Dash, "what do we do?"

The Pillow whispered a plan. They had to gather all the dreams scattered on the floor. They had to put the pillowcases back on the high shelves. They had to untangle the balls of tangled-dreams. And they had to wind them carefully into the soft packages that went on the belts.

It was a lot of work. So much work. For a moment Ziggy had a doubt.

"Can we do it?" he asked.

Dash looked around. He saw the chaos. He saw the gray forest through the round window. He saw the sad Dream Pillow. Then he looked at his friends.

"Not alone," said Dash. "But there are four of us. And each of us knows how to do something different. Let's begin!"

And they began.

Dash zipped around. He was the fastest of all. He ran from one side of the factory to the other, he picked up the fallen dream-balloons, he carried them to the center of the room, he went back, he took more. He looked like a colorful wind. The dream-balloons were blue, pink, yellow, green. They weighed very little, but there were so many. Dash never stopped.

Ziggy looked at the high shelves, too high for him. But Ziggy loved to jump. He took a cotton pillowcase, took three steps back and BOING! He jumped onto the first shelf. Then BOING! He jumped onto the second. Then BOING! Onto the third. He put each pillowcase in its place, one per shelf, lined up like books in a library. His legs were springy, and he laughed every time he landed.

Lily sat down on the floor in the middle of the balls of tangled-dreams. They were huge tangles, all knotted up, impossible to understand. But Lily was tenacious. She would take a thread, follow it with her finger, untangle it calmly. When a knot was hard, she didn't get angry: she breathed and started again. One ball after another, the dreams became smooth again, ready to be used.

Skye, meanwhile, took the dreams that Dash brought to the center. She sat next to a little table and wrapped them in the soft packages. She wasn't in a hurry. She made one movement at a time. Fold, turn, tie, smile. Fold, turn, tie, smile. It was like when her dad Andy used to tell her the bedtime story: everything was calm and everything found its place.

While they worked, the Dream Pillow floated around, and every now and then he whispered, "Good job... really good job..."

Outside, the storm was still grumbling. BRBRBRBRUMMM. It seemed hungry. But inside the factory no one was afraid, because there was something beautiful to do.

Then, all of a sudden, Lily puffed. She had found a huge ball, a big red tangle that just wouldn't come undone.

"I can't do it!" she said, and her blue eyes grew teary.

Dash stopped. Ziggy stopped. Skye stopped. They all ran to Lily.

"Let me try," said Dash, and with his quick fingers he undid the smaller knots.

"I'll hold it still," said Ziggy, and with his little hands he held the ball.

"I'll blow on it," said Skye, and she blew on it gently, so the thread would soften.

And the ball came undone. It became a long, soft ribbon, of a beautiful red. Lily smiled and hugged everyone.

They each went back to their place. And they kept on working.

After a while, the factory was no longer a disaster. The shelves were tidy. The dream-balloons were in the center. The balls had become soft ribbons. The packages were ready on the conveyor belts.

Everything was in place.

The Dream Pillow floated to the center of the room. He looked around. He turned toward the children. And he whispered, "Now, yes."

Then he yawned.

It was a big, long, very sweet yawn. From his mouth came many, many tiny stars, and this time they didn't dissolve right away: they rose up high, they slipped into the machines, and the machines began to knead the clouds like white bread. They slipped into the belts, and the belts started up. They slipped into the chimneys, and from the chimneys at last came shimmering bubbles. One, ten, a hundred. They flew out of the factory and spread across the sky.

The children ran to the round window.

And they saw.

The gray leaves of the forest were no longer gray. One leaf turned green. Another turned yellow. Another one turned fiery red. Another sparkly gold. Each shimmering bubble that touched them gave them a color. The forest filled with life.

And then, once again, it began to rain. Not a storm. The Singing Rain. And it went pluff-pluff-pluff on the leaves, ding-dong-ding on the factory buckets, splish-splash-splosh in the puddles of the courtyard.

The Dream Pillow came close to the children. From inside him, for the very first time, something appeared. A tiny golden feather, glittering.

"This one only comes out when a dream is especially beautiful," whispered the Pillow. "Today you were my most beautiful dream."

The children smiled. Skye was already a little bit sleepy.

Outside, CHOOFFFF CHOOFFFF. Toby the Magic Train had come back to pick them up.

They climbed aboard. They waved goodbye to the Dream Pillow with their hands. And Toby, before leaving, said:

"Alone, not a knot in the world will come free,
but together each tangle unwinds — wait and see:
friendship's a treasure that shines, oh so bright,
with friends a whole forest can bloom into light!"

CHOOFFFF CHOOFFFF. The little train set off. The sun was setting. The shimmering bubbles flew high in the sky. And Skye, leaning on Dash's shoulder, was already fast asleep, with a little smile on her lips, as if she were listening to a soft whisper.