There was once a little boy of 6 years old called Lewis. One day, as he was looking out of the car window on his way to school, he discovered that a large mass of grey smoke was forming just above his dad’s car.

Somewhat alarmed, Lewis looked at the other cars on the road to find out if they too had a cloud of grey smoke chasing them. To Lewis’ surprise, all the cars travelling on the motorway had the grey smoke hovering around them.

So Lewis asked his father: “Dad, what’s that grey smoke above our cars?” Lewis’ father was a little surprised by the question, but answered: “Well, Lewis, it’s called pollution.”

“Pollution? What’s pollution?” asked Lewis, waiting intrigued for his father’s answer.

“Well, for example, it’s that grey smoke you can see above our cars. Cars that run on petrol or diesel give off gasses into the atmosphere, which are very bad for all living beings and the planet too. Today you can see a lot of the grey smoke because it hasn’t rained for a long time,” answered his father.

Lewis spent a while pondering on this, and began to put two and two together. If the grey smoke was bad, and it was all because of cars, then why were there so many cars on the road?

“Dad,” said Lewis slowly, “If the grey smoke is pollution and is bad for us, why are we going to school in a car?”

“So I can get to work on time, son. The bus or metro would make us late,” answered his father.

From that morning, Lewis couldn’t stop thinking about why people used the car so much. Not quite satisfied with his father’s answer, one day at break he went to talk to his geography teacher.

“Sir, can I ask you a question?” asked Lewis and the teacher nodded.

“Why do people use cars so much if it causes all that grey smoke?” Lewis asked.

“By grey smoke, I suppose you mean pollution, Lewis?” said the teacher.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Well you’re right, Lewis. People should use public transport more often to get to school, work or other places. That way we’d help the grey smoke disappear from cities and help look after the environment. What do you think, Lewis?” asked the teacher.

So that afternoon when Lewis’ father came to pick him up from school, he told him: “Dad, we should come to school by bus tomorrow. If there isn’t enough time, we’ll just get up early and that way we’ll help look after the environment.”

And that was how Lewis taught his father that it was very important to reduce the amount of grey smoke in the world. Not to mention that every single person could help just by swapping the car for the bus. And from that day on, Lewis and his father always travelled to school and work by bus.

THE END

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Stories for kids written by: www.shortstories.net (a pseudonym).