The Banana Christmas Adventure

It was early on Christmas morning. Mel was asleep in her bed, dreaming of Santa and presents.

Her Mummy and Daddy sneaked in quietly through the door.

‘One…two…three…’ They whispered.

‘Wake up, Mel! Merry Christmas!’

Mel opened her eyes and looked up with a big wide smile.

‘Merry Christmas, Mum! Merry Christmas, Dad!’

They all hugged each other.

‘Can I get my presents from under the tree?’ Mel asked.

‘Not yet, darling,’ said Mummy. ‘First you’ve got to have your special Christmas breakfast.’

Mel’s eyes lit up. ‘What is it?’

Daddy held out a big plate piled high with…bananas.

‘Bananas, Daddy?’ asked Mel.

‘Yes, darling, lots of lovely Christmas bananas! Yum, yum, yum!’

Dad started peeling a banana and eating it.

‘Yum, yum, yum!’

Mummy and Mel just looked at each other. Christmas bananas?

‘I think you’re bananas, Daddy,’ said Mel.

‘Come on, Mel,’ said Mummy, ‘Get your dressing gown on and let’s see what else we can find in the kitchen.’

So Mel put on her dressing gown and went downstairs with Mummy.

In the kitchen:

There were bananas on the table,

bananas in the cupboard,

bananas in the fridge,

bananas in the sink!

Bananas on the windows,

bananas in the bowl,

bananas on the chairs,

bananas…everywhere!

‘Actually, I quite wanted chocolate spread on toast,’ said Mel.

‘We’ve only got bananas!’ said Mummy.

Daddy came in. ‘There’s nothing wrong with bananas, girls – they’re really cheap so I bought a whole box to keep us going over Christmas. Yum, yum, yum, Christmas bananas!’

Mel looked at the big box of bananas. It was big enough to climb in. You could probably climb all the way inside and still not touch the bottom. And it was FULL of bananas.

With a big sigh she reached in to take a banana for her Christmas breakfast.

Mel chose a banana and she was just about to peel it when she said, ‘I wish, I WISH, I could have chocolate spread on toast for my Christmas breakfast.’

BOING!

A plate of chocolate spread on toast appeared on the table!

‘What?!’ said Daddy.

‘How did THAT happen?’ said Mel.

Mummy looked at Mel’s banana. It was bright yellow, almost golden coloured, and it even seemed to glow in the air.

‘I’ve heard of these bananas before,’ said Mummy. ‘These are special wishing bananas. Only a true Banana Princess can use the power of a wishing banana to make dreams come true.’

Mel’s eyes opened wide. A Banana Princess?

She looked at the banana again and made a wish.

BOING! She was wearing the most beautiful golden party dress with a shimmering tiara.

‘You can be a princess, too, Mummy!’

BOING! Mummy had a beautiful dress of her own.

‘Daddy, you can – ’

RING RING! The phone rang.

‘Wait one second, darling!’ Daddy answered the phone.

It was the police station where Daddy worked. A cat was stuck up a tree on their street and Daddy had to go and help!

‘I’d better get my uniform,’ he said.

BOING! One banana wish later, he was already wearing his uniform!

‘Thank you, Mel,’ said Daddy. He went out the front door and ran down the street. Mel went with him to help.

Outside, there was a very tall tree with a very frightened cat stuck in the top branches. Lots of people were gathered at the bottom, but nobody knew what to do next.

‘We need a ladder,’ said Daddy.

‘I’ve got a ladder,’ said a woman. She brought it from her house.

The people put the ladder against the tree.

Daddy climbed bravely up as high as he could.

Everybody watched.

‘It’s not tall enough!’ said Daddy. He came back down.

‘I’ve got an idea!’ said Mel.

BOING! The power of the magic banana started to lift her higher and higher towards the branch where the cat was holding on.

Mel was a flying Banana Princess in a golden party dress.

She got nearer…

and nearer…

but she couldn’t QUITE reach that poor cat.

‘I can’t fly high enough!’ She told her Daddy.

‘You’d better come down,’ he said.

Everybody stopped to have a think.

Mummy came to help.

‘You know,’ Mummy said, ‘the only thing more powerful than one Banana Princess, is two Banana Princesses.’

‘You could do it!’ said Mel.

‘No,’ said Mummy. ‘You’ve given me this lovely magic dress, but I’m not a Princess. Who could you ask to help?’

‘I know!’ said Mel. She put the magic banana to her ear like a phone.

RING RING! RING RING!

She used the magic banana to call her best friend Lizzie.

‘Hello Mel!’ said Lizzie.

‘Hi, Lizzie. Can you ask your Mummy if you can come out and help us rescue a cat?’

‘Okay!’

Lizzie asked her Mummy and soon she was at the tree with Mel and all the other people.

Mel showed her the magic banana. ‘Look, it turned me into a magic Banana Princess but I can’t fly high enough to save the cat. Can you help me?’

‘Of course!’ said Lizzie.

So Mel made a wish –

BOING!

- and now Lizzie was a Banana Princess too, in a beautiful golden dress.

The two girls held hands and looked up to the top of the tree.

BOING! The power of the magic banana started to lift them higher and higher towards the branch where the cat was holding on.

Mel and Lizzie were flying Banana Princesses in golden party dresses.

They got nearer…

and nearer…

…and they rescued that poor cat!

‘Miaow! PURR!’ said the cat.

Everybody cheered.

‘Merry Christmas! Three cheers for the Banana Princesses! Hip hip…HOORAY! Hip hip…HOORAY! Hip hip…HOORAY!’

So Mel gave Lizzie her Christmas present, and Lizzie gave Mel her Christmas present, and then they went back home to their houses.

At Mel’s house everybody sat down in the kitchen for a nice cool drink after all that hard work.

‘Well done, Mel,’ said Mummy. She put out a saucer of milk for the cat.

‘Miaow! SLURP!’ said the cat. He had a big cheeky smile on his face

‘Well done, Mel,’ said Daddy.

‘Now tell me…

…aren’t you glad I bought bananas for Christmas?’

‘DADDY!’