Summerland – Part 2

“Wow”, said Sandy, to the Gnome, “I can’t believe that I’m really flying on a giant hotdog. It’s like  I’m having a weird dream”.

“Maybe you are”, said the Gnome, laughing,  “There’s a very thin line between dreams and magic”.

But then suddenly, the genie took out a large ice cream scoop and an ice cream cone.

“Are we having Ice cream?”, asked Sandy.

“We are approaching the ice cream clouds of Summerland”, said the Genie, pointing towards a big group of clouds that were floating up ahead of them; clouds not just of white but also of yellow, pink, green and brown.

“Which flavour would you like?”, asked the Genie, “Vanilla, Strawberry, Mint or Chocolate?”.

“Mmm”, said Sandy, imagining the taste of delicious ice cream, “Strawberry, please”.

The genie commanded the hotdog to fly towards the pink ice cream cloud and then, using the ice cream scoop, took a big scoop of pink ice-cream out of the cloud and piled it onto the ice cream cone in his other hand before handing it to Sandy.

“There you are”, he said as she took the cone, “bon appetite”.

But then, just as Sandy was tucking into what tasted like a very delicious and strawberryish ice-cream, the genie pointed a finger towards something far below and said, “There it is Summerland and the palace of the Sun”.

Then, wagging its tail, the hot dog flew down, landing inside what looked like a gigantic sandcastle but made out of grains of glittering gold dust instead of sand and all around it was a beach covered in gold dust and, beyond the golden beach, a sea of silver.

“Here we are”,  said the genie, “The palace of Emperor Sun, king of Summerland”.

And then, just as the genie was saying this, out of the golden sand palace came a king with a large round golden face just like the sun and a crown of sunbeams on his head and behind him were 3 little girls, all with round golden faces.

“Welcome to the golden castle”, said the King, “I am Emperor Sun and these are my three little sunbeam daughters, June, July and August. We are honoured to have you as our guests”.

The genie got off of the flying hot dog and then helped Sandy and the Gnome off aswell.

“Greetings your sunniness”, said the Genie, “I am the Genie of the Watering can and this is Sandy, a little girl from the mortal realm and her friend Mr Gnome”.

“Oh splendid! Splendid!”, said the king, excitedly, “She’s just in time for the Galaxy ball”.

“Galaxy ball?”, asked Sandy.

“Yes”, said the sun, “It’s when I invite all the planets to dance round and round and round. It’s awfully fun”.

But then the planets all started to arrive; gigantic and round, they entered  the sun kings palace accompanied by little moon shaped maids and footmen.

First came the red planet Mars who looked quite cross and whose surface was covered in smoking volcanoes. Then came the planet Venus who, though she had a big round head like a planet had long blonde hair; big red lips and long fluttering eyelashes; then came giant joyful Jupiter who bounced in like a big beach ball laughing heartily; then came watery Neptune dressed like a sea captain, and Uranus, the heavenly planet who looked like an angel with a pair of wings and a halo and little Pluto who looked dark and gloomy and, last of all came old grey bearded Saturn leaning on a walking stick who, because of his large rings had trouble squeezing through the entrance of the kings palace.

 

And then, when all the planets had entered the Sun kings palace, Sandy heard an orchestra, from somewhere begin to play.

 

“Where is that music coming from?”, asked Sandy.

 

“Oh that”, replied the Sun, “Is the music of the spheres”.

 

Then, rotating in time to the music, all the planets started to dance around the sun and, not wanting to be left out Sandy, the Gnome and the Genie did the same.

 

“Now isn’t this a good dance”, said the Sun as it was turning round, “I invented it myself you know”.

 

“Oh yes, it is”, agreed Sandy, “Although I know a better dance”.

 

“Oh?”, asked the Sun, “Can you teach me?”.

 

“Well”, said Sandy, “It’s called the hokey cokey and its very simple really. You just put your left leg in; your left leg out; in; out then you shake it all about. You do the hokey-cokey and you turn around, that’s what it’s all about”.

 

Then Sandy did the Hokey- Cokey and, seeing the new dance, Emperor sun beamed brightly.

 

“Oh that’s a marvellous dance”,  he said, clapping his golden hands with joy, “Let’s all do that”.

 

And so the Sun and Sandy and all the planets, the genie and the gnome too did the hokey-cokey together and they were doing it quite happily when, suddenly, there was a crash and a flash of thunder and lightning in the sky above.

 

“Oh no!”, said Emperor Sun looking up at the sky, “It’s Thunderella, the bad weather witch”.

 

“Weather Witch?”, asked Sandy looking up at the sky aswell and seeing a witch in a pointy hat flying about on a crooked lightning bolt.

 

“Yes WHETHER you like it or not”, said the Gnome, “She’s the thing WHICH spoils every summer day with thunder and lightning or wind and rain”.

 

“And she’s always trying to spoil my parties too”, said Emperor Sun.

 

But then Thunderella flew down just like a lightning bolt, landing on one of the turrets of the golden palace.

 

“Not pleased to see me, your majesty?”, she asked, cackling, “I thought you might be interested in my latest magic spell”.

 

“Oh?”, asked the king, his curiosity perking up, “Is it a good spell”.

 

“Oh, yes”, said the Witch, “And just perfect for a sunny day. It’s called Thunderella’s shadow controlling spell”.

 

Then the witch, taking out a crooked thunderbolt shaped wand, waved it in the air, speaking as she did so, a magical incantation.

 

“Power of wind and rain and thunder; lightning crash that splits asunder; so I may be mean and bad-o, make me mistress of all shadows!”.

 

“Baddo?”, said the Gnome, scoffing, “That’s not even a word”.

 

“Nonetheless”, said the Witch, “The spell works just fine”.

 

And then, at the witches command all of the shadows of Emperor Sun and his guests, including Sandy rose up off of the ground and grabbed hold of them and, before Sandy could say a thing, a jet black shadow version of herself smiled wickedly placing its dark hand over her mouth.

 

Even the flying hotdogs shadow barking and growling chased the hot dog round in a circle.

 

“Why this is abominable!”, said Emperor Sun, wrestling with his shadow, “You vile witch. You will not get away with this!”.

 

“Yes I will”, said the witch, cackling with glee, “And once I’ve dealt with you, your majesty then I will make the weather the way I like, thundery, dark and stormy, all the time”.

 

“What are we going to do?”, asked the Gnome, “If Thunderella has her way then she’ll ruin Summer for ever”.

 

Just then, however, Sandy remembered that she had one wish left and, struggling to speak with her shadows hand over her mouth she said, “Oh, I wish that witch and her shadows would just vanish forever”.

 

“As you wish”, said the Genie, bowing and smiling, “So shall it be”.

 

And no sooner had the Genie said these words when, to Sandy’s amazement, the witch and all the shadows under her control simply vanished into thin air.

“Well done!”, said the king to Sandy, “Your wish has saved us all”.

 

Then the king made a medal of gold appear which he pinned upon Sandy’s chest, “For saving the royal personage of the Sun”, he said.

 

Sandy was very happy with her medal although one thing was bothering her.

 

“Now that I’ve used up my last wish”, she said, “How will I get back home?”.

 

“Oh don’t worry about that”, said Emperor Sun, “I can reach out all the way across the galaxy at the speed of light. I’ll get you back home in an instant”.

 

“Oh, thank you  your majesty”, said Sandy, cutseying.

 

“You’re very welcome”, said the King, “But first let’s do another hokey-cokey!”.

 

And so Emperor Sun and Sandy, the Genie, the Gnome, the flying hotdog and all the planets did the hokey-cokey one more time and, when they had finished, the king picked up Sandy in his golden hand and, reaching all the way across the galaxy, returned her to her to her back garden.

 

“And don’t forget”, said the king waving to her from the sky above, “If you ever want to visit, all you have to do is touch your golden medal and make a wish and the flying hotdog will come for you”.

 

“I will”, said Sandy.

 

But then Sandy took off her magical sunglasses and, sighing, sat back in her deck chair, looking at the clouds drifting overhead and listening to the birds twittering in the trees. “That was very magical but sometimes, Summers magical enough just the way it is”.