Me, You, And...Does The Dingles

Our story takes place in Brisbane, Australia. Australia is a really cool place somewhere in the world, filled with all the cool things people living in the hot sun really like, such as meat pies, swimming pools and kangaroos.

That orange house with a brown roof over there is the home of Aunt Marnie. You can tell by her yellow fur and green hair tufts and circle round her front that she’s of true Australian descent. Of course, she’s never complete without her children - Furaha, Nakona, Orko and Baby Marvin.

She placed them in different parts of the backyard and said, “Now you be good kids and play for a while. I’m just going to the verandah to have a little nap. If you dare disturb me…I’ll do THIS!” Aunt Marnie grabbed Orko and tickled him. “Hey! Stop!” cried Orko, and his siblings laughed with him too. Now, as Aunt Marnie rests on the verandah with her glass of juice and listens to ‘60s Radio, let me introduce you to her children.

First, there’s Orko. A Trollan wizard. Shy, eager to help and sometimes a little too excitable, he’s an expert at magic inside and out. He cares for his siblings, but his favourite is dear little Furaha. He likes to play with her and share a cuddle with her in case times get too tough. Here he is now, sorting through his bag of tricks. Right now he’s thrown out a rubber duck, a flower, a rubber teddy bear, a stick of rainbow sherbet and an inflatable kangaroo.

“Ha-ha!” Nakona took Aunt Marnie’s sunhat off her head and placed it on top of his, standing proudly as if he were king of the whole garden. “Now who’s boss? I’m king of the whole garden and no one’s going to stop me!” No one responded. “Oh well, suit yourself!” Nakona is never one for adventure. He always likes to pretend he’s a famous explorer, or an astronaut, or a king. He would urge Aunt Marnie to play with him and his siblings, just by tapping her with his paw and repeating her name over and over. It gets annoying after a while, but eventually, Aunt Marnie gives in. “Alright, alright, I’m up,” she groaned as she went to the part of the garden where Furaha was playing. Furaha is sweet, innocent, lively and loves a good game or two. Today, she’s wearing her tiger onesie and bouncing around, going “Hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo!” “Now who’s this little lion in tiger skin?” Aunt Marnie said cheekily. “Me!” shouted Furaha, and she leapt onto her, knocking her to the ground and nuzzling her. Aunt Marnie kissed her and said, “You little bouncy bunny. Isn’t it too hot to be wearing a onesie?” And finally, here in the sandpit, there’s Baby Marvin, a small martian who cannot talk yet, but needs a little help with things. He’s really shy, but he’s a good friend to animals, especially his lion siblings.

Every day was special, fun and exciting for this true Australian family, but breakfast was their favourite time of the day, because one lucky sibling gets to share Aunt Marnie’s famous homemade riced popcorn. “Alright,” she said that morning as they sat down to have breakfast outside, “Who wants riced popcorn?” “Me! Me! Me!” everyone shouted. “I do! I do I do I do pick me!” cried Nakona. “Seeing as you’ve been so good this week,” explained Aunt Marnie, “I’ll let you have a nice bowl of riced popcorn.” “Alright!” cried Nakona as his bowl was laiden in front of him, and he poured some milk into the popcorn. “Better be careful, though, it’s my own special recipe so it may pop a little.” Suddenly, POP! POP! POP! Popcorn began flying everywhere. Nakona was an expert at karate, for he had been to karate class every Thursday, so he did his best karate moves and tried to defend himself, then he got all the popcorn into his mouth and swallowed it all down in one giant gulp.

Furaha was given Crunchy Pops for breakfast, along with a banana. “All the best for a healthy body,” reminded Aunt Marnie. Furaha squeezed the banana out of its peel, and then chopped it into tiny pieces in midair, allowing the pieces to fall safely into her cereal. Once she began eating, it felt like she was eating bananas on crackers instead of cheese on crackers.

Orko was given a boiled egg and a plate of toast soldiers. His favourite breakfast! However, every time he had a boiled egg for breakfast, he was worried there might be a baby bird inside. “Do you think a baby bird might be inside this egg?” he asked, “Because I don’t want to eat its remains.” “No, an emu didn’t lay this egg. Its eggs are twice as big. These eggs are sourced from farms, from the dairy, and are filtered for people to enjoy at breakfast.” Orko cracked open the egg and looked inside. Its yolk was still there. “It’s okay, baby bird, I’m not going to stab you with knife toast.” He took out a straw and began to slurp it as if it were juice. Aunt Marnie chuckled and went over to Baby Marvin. “And Baby Marvin, you’re having porridge today. It’s your favourite, yum yum!” Marnie helped feed Baby Marvin while everyone enjoyed their breakfast. After breakfast, they all drank mugs of cocoa, especially Orko, who needed to get the taste of egg yolk, what he called ‘baby bird’ out of his mouth.

Everyone went into the backyard to play and burn off their breakfast. Orko was doing cartwheels across the grass, Baby Marvin and Furaha were playing in the sandpit and Nakona was playing at being a fierce dragon. Aunt Marnie was relaxing on the verandah drinking her juice and listening to her music on the radio, when suddenly…

“This is the voice of doom speaking. Special bulletin! Flash! Gales are coming. High winds will be blowing through Brisbane. Now be calm, don’t get panicky…GO BACK INSIDE!”

Just as the voice on the radio said that, strong winds began to blow and the sky began to darken. A storm was coming. Aunt Marnie jumped to her feet and called. “Kids! Come back inside! It’s about to get stormy.” “Come on, Baby Marvin, let’s go!” But the winds were too strong and they blew Furaha into the air, with Baby Marvin holding on. “AUNT MARNIE!!!” screamed Furaha. “FURAHA!” screamed Aunt Marnie back, and Orko was too busy doing cartwheels to notice the wind blowing him away too. “HELP!” he cried as the wind blew him away. Nakona was pretending to breathe fire on the helpless peasants of the village he came to destroy, when all of a sudden the wind blew him away too. Luckily, Aunt Marnie caught him by the paw and said, “I got you, darling!” But unfortunately, both were blown away by the wind.

The wind took the family all over Australia. They flew over Sunshine Bay, they flew over Adelaide, they flew over Sydney, they flew over Alice Springs! Baby Marvin was too scared and started screaming his head off. “I told you this isn’t a good idea to play outside during high winds,” called Aunt Marnie over the wind and Baby Marvin’s screams. “Now look what we’ve put ourselves into - we’re stuck in the high wind!” “We’re so foolish,” whimpered Orko, “And that voice of doom on the radio is trying to tell you all along - Australian storms are very very dangerous!” “It didn’t say that!” said Furaha. “Did too!” argued Nakona. “STOP ARGUING!” shouted Aunt Marnie, almost losing her patience, “I’m so sorry,” cried Nakona, almost in tears, “Please forgive us, please!” Aunt Marnie sighed. She took hold of Baby Marvin’s hand, and he stopped screaming. “Alright, I forgive you, but do not play outside in a storm again, understand?” she scolded. “We understand,” said Furaha, Orko and Nakona in unison, so they all held onto Aunt Marnie and waited to pass over their house.

A few minutes later, the winds blew them back to Brisbane. “Look! There’s our house!” cried Furaha. And so it was - there was their cosy little house, untouched by the wind and rain. Suddenly, the wind stopped. The family started falling down, down, down, until they fell straight through the chimney and tumbled into the living room.

They were very dirty from their tumble, but still, they were safely indoors, out of the wind and the rain. Suddenly, lightning flashed outside, and Orko ran to hide under the carpet. He whimpered and shivered. “Aunt Marnie, I’m scared,” he shivered. “It’s alright, Orko. Look! We’re indoors!” she reassured. “And we’re still in one piece,” said Nakona. “But we’re here for you, Orko. With us, you’ll never have to hear of another thunderstorm ever again.” smiled Furaha.

“Come on,” said Aunt Marnie, “Who would like a nice, warm bath?” “Us,” said Furaha, “We’ve had such a hectic day.” As Aunt Marnie ran the bath, Orko helped out by pouring a bottle of Sunrise Surprise bubble bath into the water. “Ooh, my favourite!” said Furaha. “Can I taste it?” “No problem,” said Orko, “It’s my own special recipe.” Furaha tasted the bubble bath. “YUCK!” she cried, “It tastes of chemical lab liquid!” She ran to the tap in the sink and drank some water, while Nakona helped Aunt Marnie into the bath. Soon, everyone else got in and enjoyed splashing each other - and getting soap suds on the floor - while Aunt Marnie got herself and her children clean.

After they were all dry they sat in the middle of the living room. The kids enjoyed honey milk, while Aunt Marnie enjoyed her favourite kangaroo cordial, which was specifically flavoured like ginger and oranges but was a bit sour on the tongue. Furaha poured herself a glass of honey milk and proposed a toast. “To us - a true Australian family!” “A true Australian family. Hooray!” everyone cried.

When the kids went to bed that night, Furaha had a bad dream about floating in a hot air balloon in a stormy sky. Orko, Nakona and Baby Marvin were riding on hot air balloons too, and suddenly, their balloons were colliding with each other…

POP!

Furaha shot up, startled, and almost knocked her head into Nakona’s. He was there with Orko and Baby Marvin. “Hey Furaha, I dare you to go into Aunt Marnie’s room.” he said. “Why?” asked Furaha. “Because storms give us nightmares,” said Orko.

Nakona, Orko and Baby Marvin pushed Furaha into Aunt Marnie’s bedroom. “You mean we all have to sleep in there?” asked Furaha. “Yeah, let’s,” said Nakona. So Furaha got into bed beside Aunt Marnie, who was delighted to have her there. Nakona, Orko and Baby Marvin crawled into bed beside her and snuggled down into a deep sleep. “Goodnight,” they softly whispered to each other, and with everything perfect once again, they snuggled into a deep sleep.

Contrast their peace and happiness to the real lives Australians live. In the spirit of reconciliation the creator of this story acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today, especially lions, Trollan wizards and aliens who live in this peaceful community.

Now, anyone for some riced popcorn?

THE END.