Here is part one, in case you missed it https://mariamatthewsbooks.com/?p=2586
Meabh loved being in the sky, even if she could not move about in the basket. This was bad, she decided, when she heard Caoimhe crying for help but couldn’t see where her sister was.
“I can’t see you, Caoimhe; you need to move to me,” Meabh instructed.
Caoimhe, still hugging Cutie, leaned to her right, and she moved close to the basket. “I want to go down. I am hungry, and I don’t like standing in one place. I want to dance.” Caoimhe pouted, her blond curls bouncing. “I wished to land, and it didn’t happen. Cutie must have run out of wishes.”
Meabh sighed. She loved being a big sister, but it was a big responsibility.
“Okay, this is what we are going to do,” she said, searching her mind for ideas. Any idea might help calm Caoimhe. The problem was that Meabh couldn’t think of one.
“Hey, why is Panda riding Mum’s bike? And why are the bunnies having a picnic without me?” Caoimhe stamped her foot, and the cloud she was standing on wobbled a little. Meabh smiled.
“Why are you smiling, Meabh? This is serious stuff.”
“You are correct. It is serious. Stamp your foot once again, Caoimhe.”
Caoimhe obliged by jumping a few times. “Hey, this cloud is sinking a little.”
“It is, so if you keep jumping, you should get close enough for Panda to pull you down.” Meabh crossed her fingers.
“I don’t know Meabh. She does enjoy her picnics.” Caoimhe was breathless from jumping. “I could use a sandwich.” A sandwich appeared in her hand. She beamed and began to chew. Unfortunately, the cloud rose into the air again.
“Caoimhe, keep jumping,” Meabh shouted.
Meabh and Caoimhe’s shouts woke the smallest bunny from his nap. He sat and looked above him. “Why are they flying?” he wondered aloud. ”They shouldn’t be up there.”
Fox, Panda and Mouse stopped moving to look above them.
Great stuff, thought, Meabh. Now they will help. But to her horror, she watched them race about the field, jumping and reaching out to the sky. When they tired of this, they tried to climb one on top of the other to reach Caoimhe. It didn’t work. Meabh watched as they fell to the ground.
Fox grabbed a balloon and began to rise into the sky. “Let go, Fox,” she cried. He did and he wasn’t impressed when he hit the ground with a light smack.
“As rescuers, they are pretty useless,” she looked at Caoimhe, who was now sitting on her cloud, happily eating the sandwich.
Meabh leant over the edge of the basket and shouted, “Panda, help, please.” Meabh reasoned that if Mum said Please was a magic word, then it had to be, didn’t it?
It worked. Panda hopped onto the bicycle once again and this time with a funny bunny sitting in the basket, she cycled as fast as she could go.
“Won’t work, “ Caoimhe said. “She is too big to float.”
But she was wrong; Panda rose into the sky with her bright blue scarf flowing behind her. Bunny sat on the front of the basket and when they were below Meabh she grabbed the ladder and held on, slowly everyone sank to the ground.
Once there, Meabh sat and waited for Panda to rescue Caoimhe.
When the sisters thanked their rescuers, they looked at each other. Meabh grinned, “What shall we do next?”
Caoimhe suggested, “Don’t tell Mum that Please is a magic word, cos we would never hear the end of it.”