Magic Quilt - part 4

The Magic Quilt

PART 4

As the quilt crash-landed, Sam and Lee pitched forward and found themselves rolling off the edge. For a moment or two, they struggled to climb back onto the quilt .... then, both together, they realised something rather strange.
Sam	Wait! Where's the water?
Lee	It's gone! We're not drowning!
Sam	Hooray! We've landed in Spain!
Lee	No we haven't! We're back in your back garden. Look, there's your Dad's old shed.
Sam	But my bottom's wet!
Lee	That's because you're sitting in a puddle.
Sam	Oh, yes! So what is happening?
Lee	I don't know. Perhaps the quilt will explain. Look for a jiggly bit.
Sam	You're right. That bit over there is jiggling.
Lee	Let's read it.

Lee	Well, I'm glad about that. For a minute, I thought we were going to drown.
Sam	But we still didn't get to Spain - and I really wanted to go.
Lee	Perhaps we could try again?
Sam	But we would have to find out a lot more information to keep the quilt flying. It wanted us to tell it everything we knew!
Lee	There is something else we could do.
Sam	What's your idea?
Lee	We could choose somewhere else.
Sam	That wouldn't be any good. We wouldn't know anything about that place either.
Lee	Yes we would - because we could look it up before we go.
Sam	That's brilliant! Where shall we go?
Lee	Well, I have got an idea. I've got a book in my bedroom about France. I got it out of the school library by mistake when I was in a rush.
Sam	That's great. France is a bit like Spain, isn't it?
Lee	I don't know. Let's go and find out.
In less than two minutes Sam and Lee had run along to number 8, Canal Terrace where Lee's Mum was now preparing tea. Sam and Lee dashed through the kitchen and up to Lee's bedroom. Sam was quite surprised at how tidy it was: Sam's bedroom was an absolute mess, but Lee's was really rather organised, with toys tucked away neatly and not even any clothes on the floor. Lee soon found the book on France and the two of them began to search keenly through its pages to find out what they could. Lee tore a page out of the middle of a school exercise book (neatly, so their teacher would not notice) and started to make notes. When they had looked all through the book, Lee had almost two full pages of notes. Sam had even found a list of French words and numbers.

Sam	Alright! That should keep the old quilt flying all the way to France.
Lee	Aren't you forgetting something?
Sam	No. What?
Lee	We need a rhyme to tell the quilt where to go.
Sam	Of course! So ... let's make a list of words that rhyme with "France".
Lee	"Dance" ... "chance" ... can you have "aunts"?
Sam	You could have "plants". Wait! I've got a good word! "Prance!" I think it means jumping around ... like a horse.
Lee	That should be plenty. Let's see what we can do.
Sam	I want to put those French numbers in. I think that would be really cool.
For a few minutes, Sam made suggestions as Lee scribbled ideas on a piece of scrap paper. There was a lot of crossing out. There was a lot of re-writing. Then the two of them sat back, contented. Sam looked at Lee. Lee looked at Sam. Together, they jumped to their feet and charged down the stairs, making more noise than a herd of wild buffalo. In no time at all, they were back in Sam's garden and sprawled out in the middle of the quilt.
Sam	O.K. Prepare for take off!

Sam	Yippee! We're off again!
Lee	Not yet, we're not. Not until we read the rhyme.
Sam	O.K. Hold on tight! Here we go!
Lee & Sam	Un, deux, trois - let's step and prance, Let's lead this quilt a merry dance! Quatre, cinq, six - let's take a chance, Let's take off and go to France!	This is a class poem by Year 3 from Maybury Primary School. Special thanks to Callum and Christina & Jade & Naomi - who knew how to count in French.
Sam	Look down there! That's the bus station, right next to the railway station.
Lee	That must be the railway line that goes to the coast.
Sam	Wow! We are already out over the sea.
Lee	Let's hope we don't come down again.
Sam	That reminds me. Get our list of French information ready. If it looks like we are losing height, we'll have to start telling the quilt what we know.
Lee	I hope it's enough to get us all the way to France. It looked like a cool place to visit.
Sam	We'll soon find out if we know enough. The sea beneath us looks a bit closer than it did before.
Lee	Right. Let's start telling the quilt what we found out.
Sam	Let's hope we can remember it all!
Hesitantly at first, but then with growing confidence, Sam and Lee started to talk about all the things they had discovered about France. At first, they rushed a bit, fearful that the quilt might run out of "fuel", but once they got into the swing of it, they found that they were reminding each other of things they had read in Lee's book. Beneath them, the sea flashed past in a whirl of blues, greys and greens and they were soon flying over the coastline of France. Then, as they moved inland, they could make out a mottled landscape of brown, green and yellow fields. The quilt tilted steeply to the left and began to fly in a wide, sweeping circle.
Sam	This is fantastic! I wonder where we will land.
Lee	We don't seem to be getting any lower; just flying round and round in circles. If we don't land soon, I'll be so dizzy I'll just fall off the quilt anyway.
Sam	It's like being on a fairground ride!
Lee	It's more like being in a cake mixer!
Sam	Hey! Look! The quilt's jiggling again.

Sam	That's easy! Let's go to the capital city. That's Paris.
Lee	Oh no! You know what that means. We will have to think of another rhyme.
Sam	That's easy. Just think of words that rhyme with "Paris".
Lee	Such as ... ?
Sam	Oh ... I see what you mean. Well, what about words that rhyme with "capital"?
Lee	I don't think there are any.
Sam	Oh no! We'll be flying round in circles for ever.
Lee	Let me think ... ... Yes! I think I've got a rhyme.
Sam	Go on, then. Tell the quilt and let's get on our way.
Lee	We can't fly in circles for hour after hour, So take us off to the Eiffel Tower.
Sam	You're a genius! The quilt has changed direction already - and I bet I know where it's going.
The quilt had indeed changed direction and was travelling at great speed, flying first over open countryside, then over scattered villages and towns. Roads, rivers and railways flashed past beneath Sam and Lee. The largest of the rivers snaked ahead of them towards the outskirts of a huge city, its array of buildings outlined against the skyline.
Sam	Wow! It's enormous!
Lee	Yes, that book said it's one of the biggest cities in the world.
Sam	Not just the city ... The Eiffel Tower! It's gigantic!
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Ahead of them, pointing to the sky like a giant finger, Sam and Lee could see the immense metal structure of the Tower. As they approached, the quilt swooped lower in a controlled dive towards the base of the enormous monument. Then, to the surprise of Sam and Lee, instead of settling down and landing, the quilt accelerated suddenly and flew directly at the Tower. Sam and Lee clutched at the quilt as they suddenly found themselves flying between the huge legs of the metal monster.
Sam	Yahoo! I bet no-one's ever flown underneath the Eiffel Tower before.
Lee	Only an idiot would even think of it ... but it was brilliant!
Sam	Right. Now we're in Paris ... what next?
Lee	I'm not sure, but another one of the quilt's patches is jiggling. I think we should read it before we do anything else.
	What will happen next? Click here for PART FIVE of the story
	Click here for main MAGIC QUILT page