Flying High with Teddy and Unicorn
It was Summer in Ireland. Meabh was lying on the grass, staring at the clouds in the blue sky. “I would like to be a cloud,” she said, waving her straw hat towards the sky.
Caoimhe giggled. “That is silly. We can’t float like clouds. All they do is make us wet.”
Meabh thought about what it might be like, then said, “Why not?”
“Cos we would sink.” Caoimhe nodded her head, causing her curls to bounce. She hugged her favourite Unicorn. “Cutie would help me to fly.”
“Cutie is a stuffed Unicorn, not a real one,” Meabh stood. Looking at the clouds, she decided to try to fly. Sometime later, she returned, lugging a large clothes basket and her Teddy.
Caoimhe giggled, “What are you making?”
“A flying machine,” Meabh mumbled. Caoimhe sat on the grass and watched her big sister huffing and puffing to blow up an odd collection of balloons. Some had numbers on them; some had words, while the remaining few were simply bright, colourful balloons.
“What’s with the teddy?” Caoimhe, despite herself, was becoming interested.
“Well, if Teddy has become my Test Bear Teddy, I think she should look her best.” Meabh smiled.
Caoimhe pouted. “Hmm, you could have chosen a much better outfit for flying high in the sky.”
Meabh didn’t bother to answer. She was busy huffing and puffing. She hated to admit defeat, but blowing air into balloons sounds much easier than it is.
“At least her bow matches her dress.” Caoimhe picked a balloon from the basket and began to blow.
Much to Meabh’s disgust, Caoimhe found it an easy task. Within minutes, the grass was littered with balloons. Meabh tied them in bunches. She looked at Teddy and decided to fix the largest balloons to the basket and the next largest to Teddy.
She sat Teddy on the ground and hopped into the basket to test its size. “It’s pretty snug, but it will do, ” she said.
Caoimhe hugged her unicorn and laughed. “Look at Ms Teddy go,” she pointed upwards.
“No, no, no.” She wasn’t supposed to take off yet. Now, how am I going to get her down.” Meabh howled, standing in the clothes basket.
To their horror, Meabh’s basket decided to try flying. It took off with a gentle thump and a soft hiss.
“Meabh, you were not supposed to do that. Mum will kill you. You are supposed to be minding me” Caoimhe stamped her foot in protest.
Meabh glanced down and smiled. “Well, I think I am safer here than down there.”
Caoimhe hugged Cutie and whispered, “I wish we could float like Meabh.”
Slowly and gently, a small cloud sank to the earth and hovered at Caoimhe’s feet. She tentatively put one foot on the cloud and discovered it wasn’t squishy but solid. So, she hopped on, and off they went.
The sky filled with laughter as they chased, slowly chased each other. Meabh and Caoimhe discovered that not only did they love flying, but they were rather good at it. The only one who did not look happy was Ms Teddy.
Can you guess how they returned to Earth?
I will leave that story for another day.
Or you can read it here: The Rescue