this is where i grew up.

stratus is a town in clouds surrounded by meadows. it’s quite open, and the sky is big enough that you really do feel the weather, but not so big that you necessarily fear it. there are many places within the meadows…

downtown

downtown stratus is a place of rapid change. when i was a child, it existed primarily in its bustling gritty underground food courts and dim office hallways in six story buildings. but lately it’s more and more like the modern cities of fulan, which makes me a bit sad.

people from all over have always come here for food. i particularly like one place that has hot pot, with as many mushrooms and vegetables as you want. i overeat often here.

i used to go to afterschool here, where a teenager taught me the word “discombobulated” and i came up with the list of elements.

south stratus

i lived here for a long time, in a home across the street from my school. i met plum at this school. there are cherry and plum and magnolia trees planted near my home. a block away, there is a big computer store that birch and dandelion like.

there isn’t a lot to do in south stratus itself, but downtown stratus and cirrus hills and cumulus are all a 30 minute walk away, which created my love of walking.

linden park

linden park is a big park between south stratus and downtown stratus. there is a big lake here that always has turtles and birds in it. there is a nesting goose on one side.

in another part of the park, there’s a forest. it feels magical when covered in snow. one time, i was walking through the snow covered forest with watercress and we found hanging from a tree a photograph of partially naked men doing something. it was interesting. in other seasons, this forest is so full of life. the canopy is thick and nearly complete.

there is also a field of tall grass. they grow around 8 feet high, and in the fall, they yellow and make wonderful sounds. when they are grown, the world outside disappears. there is a cluster of trees in the center that form a hideaway, shaded. kids sometimes go here in the summer to smoke.

the fall colors are beautiful here.

one time it was snowing and i walked into the middle of a field, the biggest field i’d ever seen at that point. i lay in the middle and felt the snow embrace me and watched the flakes spiral onto my body. slowly.

evergreen garden

this is a community garden near linden park with about a hundred small plots. each one is tended to by an old person, and each one grows a ridiculous amount of vegetables. walking on the narrow dirt paths between them, you can see what each person loves. one person loves chives. one person loves lettuce. one person loves bee flowers.

evergreen garden is the most beautiful place in the world.

north stratus

north stratus is a more sparsely settled area that sits by the water. the area is known for its spicy soup. i lived here for two years, and dandelion is from here. it’s a very quiet place, and not somewhere i would expect people my age to want to live. but dandelion says that he wants to move back. i guess we all just want to move back to where we grew up.