Seeing is...

Mr Peters appearance alone commanded the attention of a class: His skin was obsidian black, and when he spoke, or smiled, it was with a lightening flash of white teeth.

Today he was teaching class four B about Aboriginal legends, and the Dreamtime. However the rainbow snake, who arched his multicoloured body across the sky, was proving to be a bit of a sticking point.

"I saw, on the discovery channel, that rainbows are made by... by.... sunlight, and water drops and, the light sort of bouncing around inside the drops and..." Billy didn't often get the attention of the class, and he seemed determined to make the most of it.

Mr Peters laughed a laugh like the distant thunder. "Did I say that every rainbow was a giant snake?" He asked.

Billy squinted up at him, through his glasses. "No."

"Of course not! Giant multicoloured snakes everywhere - they'd always be squashing things. The rainbow snake is a Dreamtime creature, not a discovery channel creature."

"So is it real or not?" The little boy pressed.

Mr Peters eyes twinkled. Billy hadn't seen eyes that twinkled with actual sparks of ochre, blue and mauve before. 'Pretty' he thought. He didn't say anything, in case the teacher thought he was being rude.

"Would you like to see?" Mr Peters asked. The little boy nodded.

*

That afternoon a thunderstorm broke over the school, followed by a rainbow. From the kitchen window, which Billys mum looked through as she loaded the washing machine, one end seemed to be right over the sports field.

When home time arrived, she found her little boy looking thoughtful.

"What's that Billy?" she asked, as he pulled something out of his bag to show her.

"It's a rainbow snake scale mum. Mr Peters says we'll use it in the school play."

Billys mum held the plate sized, paper thin, object. The colour changed, depending on what angle the sunlight hit it. I wonder where Mr Peters got that from? She thought. Then she shrugged, and handed the 'scale' back.

"Can we have pizza tonight mum?"

Supper tonight was sausages and mash. "But, if you eat it all, you can have chocolate ice cream for afters."

And so they went home for supper, with chocolate ice cream for afters.

Image above courtesy of Planetpals.com