Owen kicked his bright red ball as hard as he could. *Boing!* It bounced high into the air, spinning against the blue sky. He loved playing in the park on Saturday mornings. The grass was green, the flowers were yellow, and the slide was a shiny purple. Owen ran to catch the ball, his sneakers squeaking on the path. *Squeak, squeak!*

He reached out his hands, but when the ball landed in his palms, Owen gasped. The ball wasn’t red anymore. It was gray. It looked like a round rock.

"That is weird," Owen whispered. He felt a little wiggle in his tummy. He was a shy boy, and strange things made him nervous.

He looked down at the grass. The bright green color rippled like water and then vanished. *Whoosh!* Now the grass was gray too. Owen looked at the slide. *Pop!* The purple disappeared. The whole park was turning into a black-and-white movie.

Suddenly, a loud, bubbly giggle floated down from above. *Hee-hee-hoo!*

Owen looked up. Floating just above the swings was a chubby, fluffy cloud. But this was not a normal cloud. It had two wiggly arms, a mischievous smile, and it was holding a giant vacuum cleaner. The cloud pointed the nozzle at a bright orange butterfly. *Schloop!* The orange color got sucked right up, and the butterfly turned gray.

"Hey!" Owen shouted, surprising himself. He was usually very quiet. "Those colors belong to us!"

The cloud looked down, stuck out its tongue, and zoomed away toward the tallest hill in town. *Zoom!* It left a trail of gray fog behind it.

Owen knew he had to be brave. He zipped up his jacket—which was now sadly gray—and ran toward the hill. When he reached the top, he saw something amazing. Sticking out of the ground was a ladder made entirely of light.