Intelligence Test of Washing Clouds,

by J. W. Cassandra

The short story Intelligence Test of Washing Clouds is of an ironic tone short story, and belongs to the volume Masquerade of the Cycle of Existence. It combines scientific research and reality. The idea of the whole story matured for decades, until it suddenly burst out of my head and I wrote it. Washing clouds are actually rain clouds, but while the washing is still going on and the hanging is still waiting, these clouds are invisible. When the moment comes to hang the clothes, the rain clouds also appear and pour down. Even if there was nothing to indicate their existence until then. That is why I named them washing clouds, and I was not ashamed to put them through an intelligence test. The idea came from the fact that we moved. You can find out the rest from the short story. Have a good reading time!

It should be known about washing clouds that this category includes those clouds which show particular malice towards those female members of humanity who are forced to apply themselves to washing in one way or another. It is a well-known fact for everybody that washing takes a long time.

Now, if a person's daughter also has a yard, and in the season from spring to autumn, she wants to hang up the clothes in her yard so that the washed clothes dry sooner and easier with the help of the sky heating lamp, the Sun, and so that the moderate wind can also help this activity, then she obviously has some means for this.

In our overregulated - practically taking the time spent at home as almost zero – lives timing has significance. In our case, Friday proved to be the optimal solution: if nothing comes up, Friday is the day of washing.

And this is where the washing clouds enter: these above-mentioned malicious clouds, which gather above the head of a man's daughter for the day intended for washing, and after she has hanged out everything, it is quite certain that the clothes will be washed again: by the heavens, in the shape of the shower that comes down from the clouds, dripping, rain pouring cats and dogs, or in other forms. Even hail is not despised by the celestials at this time...

And then the suspicion follows: "It might be raining... Ah, just became overcast... But yes, it is raining! Gawd! - and then comes the panic-stricken run, grabbing clothes, hanging up them inside... It is also guaranteed that cooking will join uninvited: soup will run out, gravy will burn, roast meat, vegetables, whatever will burn...

Until the next Friday, a bright sky and a sun constantly shining will make the man's daughter happy, giving her some hope: maybe now she can dry the clothes outside! Nevertheless, as soon as Friday arrives, the washing clouds also arrive: relentlessly, with clockwork precision, viciously... And it starts all over again...

During the winter period, the washing clouds disappear, they actually transform: once upon a time they hung like snow clouds at the bottom of the sky in leaden, today they "only" conjure up the same colour, spraying cold rain or only covering the horizon.

Inasmuch I have already counted more summers than I would like, I pondered: am I the only one, being given their evil "graces" by the washing clouds? Only here where I do live? So when we moved, I decided to observe them. Well, I can report: they moved their headquarters to, where I live now!

And that is when I got the idea: I will do an intelligence test on them. My aim was to bring to light: if they have successfully overcome the obstacle of moving, will they adapt to it, if I change the day of washing?

I set out to implement it: sometimes I washed on Wednesday, other times on Thursday, another time on Saturday, it occured that on Sunday... I changed it irregularly, so to speak, deciding on the basis of a momentary caprice. And the summer has passed. The clouds, as if by magic, always gathered for the day on which I had just moved the day of washing. Although, I did not tell them! I did not call them! But they came and covered the sky. In addition, they always waited until I had already put a huge amount of clothes on the dryer, and only then did they shed tears, meaning rain...

Based on all this, it was ascertained by me that the intelligence test of the washing clouds is positive, namely, these are intelligent beings above us...

The conclusion is based on

1. They were able to "move" with me to where and when I was moving.

2. They also adapted to the desultorily changed washing day, always pouring rain down on the day of washing, never mistaking it...

3. All this means decades of experience, the experiment does not require a long "follow-up".

At most, more daughters of men should be included in the test on a random basis from anywhere in the world. However, this is no longer my business. I have carried out the basic experiment, the rest will be up to others. If someone disagrees with me, my suggestion is to embark on a similar comprehensive study!

This is where intelligence test of the washing clouds ends, conceived by me...

Written: 15 / 09. 2022., by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 27 / 07. 2025., by J. W. Cassandra

All rights reserved. ©