Thursday, 11 August 2022
Grow Up, Little Finn
Bluey Season 3 On Disney+!
I.B.F.F Diaries: Bedroom Support For Learning Base Activity Guide
1.Read the first chapter of I.B.F.F Diaries: Bedroom to your students.
2.Ask your students what their worst fear is, like Bingo’s fear of losing Floppy to Lola.
3.Students can draw their worst nightmares down on a piece of paper. Bring out three hollow buckets, or one for each child.
4.Next, encourage your students to rip up their drawings and sprinkle them into the buckets so that they can go away.
5.Explain to students that when we get new things, confronting something new is the scariest thing we are ever to do in our lives, but luckily we managed to find a solution, like taking a comforter to the dentist or doctor, or leaving on a nightlight by their bed every night.
6.Next, encourage your students to write down their best memories from when they were at preschool or when they were babies or toddlers, inspired by my baby photos from the story.
7.Have each student share their story with the group.
8.Ask students how they felt during this activity, and how it helped them confront their fears. Confronting fears is a normal part of mindfulness, and can help us reason with what we fear most whether it’s an upcoming doctor’s appointment or a trip to a noisy restaurant.
I.B.F.F Diaries: Bedroom
Saturday, August 1st
Dear Bluey,
I’m writing this diary entry to make sure you know that I love you. I knew that from the moment you took your first steps. I was in the kitchen washing the dishes when that happened. I felt like nothing happened for the whole day, except for stinky cloth nappies, mushy baby food and drool-covered baby toys. But suddenly, this milestone happened that’ll change how I view your life forever. You were crawling backwards into the kitchen while I was doing the boring dishwashing task. You reached your hand up and grasped the bar on the kitchen cabinet, your eyes aimed at me like a Nerf gun aiming for its target. You stood up on your wobbly legs while your bones were still strong, and then you let go. There was no looking back. You walked one step at a time towards me. When I turned, my expression was unexplainable as I watched you walk towards me. I was moved to tears as I picked you up and whirled you round, ending with a big hug. Regressing to the times you were a baby may be the times I learnt to be the one who loved you the most, but now I’m clearing out your nursery just for you.
We discovered it sometime yesterday while you were at school. There were so many baby toys - squeaky bath toys, your old yellow rubber duck, your favourite tummy time gym and a ukulele which I used to help sing you to sleep. You, Bingo and Bandit helped me clear it out, as we had never been in this room for three years. Everything was dusty and needed a good clean out, but it still had that lemon baby powder smell, even if there was a changing mat and table in there. I remember when Bandit tried to change your nappy - he hated the task, even when your nappy was filled with poo. It was disgusting to him, and I’m laughing a bit just thinking about it. Watching you strum the ukulele I used during bedtimes in the past makes a slab of butter fall onto my heart and melt like a fried egg in a frying pan.
And now, I’m staring at your cot, in tears over such memories that have come back to me. I remember the bedtimes that were as memorable as the days I spent playing with you and taking you to the mother-baby group. I’d give you a nice warm bath with lots of bubbles and your favourite yellow rubber duck, as the scent of lavender filled the air. I would then massage you with lotion and pamper you with baby powder whilst I fetched you a clean, natural nappy. Then I’d take you into your nursery and read you a bedtime story or sing a lullaby using my ukulele. I would sing this song to you, and I still remember it to this day.
“Lullaby, hushabye, rockabye bed,
Close your eyes and rest your head
Someday I will soon let you see
That no one will love you more than me.”
Bandit would attempt to sing the song, but he’d forget and sing some silly lyrics, and you’d burst into fits of laughter. I’d do too. I’d kiss you goodnight and turn out the light, leaving you sleeping peacefully. Now, the time has come to turn your nursery into your very own bedroom, just for your sake, to see how much you’ve been gifted.
Love,
Chilli.
Next door, Sybil and her siblings Luke, Resus and Cleo were looking through old baby photos. Sybil took out a photo of her with Dig. “That was from when Dig was getting used to me.” said Sybil. “Yeah, he was a friendly dog. He liked new friends.” said Cleo. “And I remember when you first met Lulu,” said Luke, “You were frightened at first, but then you saw that Lulu was the friendliest leech ever.” Sybil next took out a photo of her without a nappy, and Alston trying to change her nappy. Resus blushed, and Cleo and Luke laughed. “Don’t laugh at me, it’s just that whenever my dad changed her I would look away. Changing nappies is all about poo and bottoms.” “That’s what changing nappies is for,” said Cleo, “It’s all about poo and bottoms.” “I remember when Niles tried to change my nappy too - he kept wearing my nappy on his head!” laughed Sybil, then she took out another photo. It was of Luke with her and baby Bluey. “Wasn’t Bluey cute back then?” asked Luke. “And…and…that’s me.” “You were an excellent big brother to me,” Sybil smiled, “I feel like you were the strongest, most protective of the family, and you still are. The way you touch, kiss and cuddle me is beyond what any big brother could do.” In fact, Luke was heartwarmed by all of them. “I loved those times. Resus and Cleo helped me make these possible.” Luke grabbed Sybil and cuddled her. She felt like she regressed 5 years and was back to being a baby in Luke’s arms, being bathed in a little tub with lots of bubbles, being cradled in the parents’ arms and playing with her new siblings.
The heartwarming moment was broken by the sound of the telephone ringing. Sybil ran to answer it. I was on the other end of the phone, next door. “Hi, Bluey’s mum!” Sybil said. “Hi, Sybil, I just wanted to tell you that Bluey has just got a new bedroom. It wouldn’t be much of a problem if you and your siblings came over to visit it. Besides, I don’t mind visitors coming to our house, especially some of Bluey’s friends when they go on a playdate.” “Bluey’s got a new room? That’s great!” Sybil squealed. “Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes. Bye!” I said, and we both put down the phone. Sybil raced up to Luke, Resus and Cleo and told them everything. They were excited to hear that Bluey got a new bedroom, so they asked their parents if they could come over to Bluey’s house. When they said yes, the four kids raced over to our house and ran upstairs to see the new bedroom.
When they approached the two rooms that lead into Bluey’s new room and Bingo’s bedroom, they couldn’t believe it. The sun was shining into the bedroom - Bluey’s yellow duvet covers shone like new, and the watermelon rug glowed a bright red in the light. The chair in the corner of the room stood wise yet new. Nearby, Bluey was tucking one of her soft toys into a cardboard box. “Hi, Bluey!” Sybil called. “Hi, mate!” called Bluey, “Have you checked out my new room yet?” “We already did!” said Resus, “And it’s beautiful, not to mention there’s just the right amount of sunshine to make your room like any other playroom.” “It’s a big improvement turning your old nursery into your own room.” Sybil said. She breathed in the air. “And it smells of lemonade, too.” “You like it?” said Bluey. She reached up to the window and took out a bottle of body spray titled ‘Lemonade Sweetness’. “That’s because my body spray, which I use as an air freshener, does smell like lemonade.” “Is it me or does it smell of strawberry lemonade?” asked Luke. “There’s another body spray ont the windowsill.” “This one’s called Strawberry Lemon.” “Maybe we can use it to mark Bingo’s room with the scent too!” said Cleo. “Mark?” I said. “But only dogs mark their territory. Dig never wees, although he has exposed wee that he uses to mark his territory.” Sybil took the Strawberry Lemon body spray and ran into Bingo’s room yelling, “Wheeeeeeeeee!!”
Bingo didn’t notice Sybil arriving. “Wheeeeeeee!” she cried, and aimed the body spray all around the place like she was a mad gunner on the track of killing people. “This is for you, Bingo!” “Sybil! Yay!” cried Bingo, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. I’m telling you, she is the best six year old anyone had ever seen, especially when she acts as crazy as Bluey and Bingo with Bandit. She waved her body spray around in the air screaming and yelling while from Bluey’s room, Luke, Resus, Cleo and Bluey cheered her on. When everyone had calmed down, Sybil knelt down to Bingo and said, “Now, I’m spraying your room so that Bluey would recognise your scent.” “Mmm-hmm,” muttered Bingo. “You sure you’re putting Floppy in your room?” “Of course,” said Bingo, “Why couldn’t I? Floppy is my favourite toy.” “You’ve been telling everyone about your dream where you and Floppy were floating around through Space.” Sybil smiled, “And did you know about the time when you got confronted by a killer rabbit called Lola?” “A little,” said Bingo. She got a little frightened. “It almost turned into a nightmare, but I moved all the rabbits that were floating around Saturn to a fresh green pasture, and they turned into real rabbits.” “What’s she on?” asked Resus. “Don’t worry, Bingo, Lola only appeared once. She’ll never appear in your dreams again.”
Sybil looked around and saw a drawn picture of Lola on Bingo’s wall. He was an aggressive, grey and black rabbit with red, evil eyes and sharp teeth, and a pocket knife in his hand. “Luke!” called Sybil, and Luke ran into the room and partially transformed his hands into werewolf paws. He tore up the drawing and ripped it into a million pieces. He lifted the pieces up into the air and howled. “Hooray!” cried Bingo. “This is for all the times you’ve tormented Floppy, Lola, don’t you dare bother her in her dreams ever again!” Luke ran over to the window and was about to throw them out when he saw a kookaburra in his nest. “Sssssshhh,” said Bingo, “This is a symbol of motherhood.” Everyone walked up to the window and watched the kookaburra sleeping in its nest. It was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. Memories of birth and babyhood came back to Bingo, as from the day she was born she was a friendly addition to the Heeler family.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Sybil whispered. “Not as beautiful as my new room.” said Bluey. Her face fell. “I’ll never see pretty sights like this again.” “I’ll draw a picture for you and put it up on your bedroom wall tomorrow. It is the Summer holidays after all.” “To think of a kookaburra,” said Bluey. They all held out their pinky fingers and held each other by them. “To think of a kookaburra,” they all said softly. Suddenly, Sybil heard her mum calling. “Sybil! Kids! Time to come in!” “Coming!” Sybil called, and she raced downstairs and out the door with her siblings as Bluey, Bingo and I waved goodbye to them. Bingo went upstairs and placed Floppy on her bed. She stared at Floppy for a long time, then she glanced at the kookaburra in its nest outside. She thought about Lola chasing her and Floppy all across a dark void, and just as the thought of Floppy being sliced down her chest reached her mind, Bingo grabbed hold of Floppy in tears and hugged her. She remembered the pinky promise she made with her friends, and knew there was nothing to worry about. Outside, Bluey saw the photo of her as a baby with Sybil as a baby and Luke by their side on our neighbours’ doorstep. She ran inside to show us.
At dinner, Bluey told us everything. “I just found one of Sybil’s baby photos, and I saw that she used to hang out with me and her big brother Luke.” Bluey was sitting on the photo so it could be a surprise to her family. “Oh yeah, I remember these times,” I smiled, “Those were happy ones.” “Happy is as happy goes,” said Bandit, “I remember when I was a pretend Steve Irwin, looking for koalas in our house.” “I thought he hunts crocodiles,” said Bingo. “He hunts koalas, I knew it, I knew the truth the moment I saw him on the telly.” Bandit replied. “Koalas are endangered, they don’t get hunted.” I said in a concerned manner. “Oh yeah?” said Bluey. She sat up and took out the photo. “That’s you?!” squealed Bingo, “Aaaaawwww, you were so cute!” “And Sybil was such a sweetie.” said Bandit. “Luke was a good help too, even though he’s a werewolf, he does show a little soft side.” He prodded his tummy to show how soft it is. “Bandit!” I hissed, “Don’t poke your bellybutton, we’re eating!” “Yeah, don’t you know your manners?” said Bluey, “I got this photo and I think I’m going to put it up on my wall the moment I go to bed tonight.” “I don’t think so, it must be Sybil’s. We should return it in the morning. For now, you can keep it by your bedside.” I announced. “Let’s continue eating.”
At bathtime, I washed Bingo with shampoo to keep all the nasty nits out, while Bluey blew bubbles that floated around the bathroom. Bluey held her nose and ducked down into the bath. She pretended she was swimming under the sea, exploring a paradise that was only found under the vast, blue ocean and nowhere else in the world.
Tuesday, 9 August 2022
McDonald's Again
Monday, 8 August 2022
Zuri: Tale Of An Autistic Stop Motion Character
Chapter 1:
Origins
The synthesised noise of lasers made me adjust my eyesight clearly. Even though I was lying down, I could only see properly, and I could feel fur being placed onto me. I had two sticky-up ears, all semi-circular, and a tail was placed onto me. When I fully emerged, I was stark-naked and crying my eyes out. Two human hands helped me out of the machine and wrapped me up in a soft, white shawl. I don’t know who my true mother is, but they called me ‘Zuri’. I remember them as ‘Jo’ and ‘Phil’, but I only remember their names and no one else. I was still crying when they placed me on a desk. “This little lioness isn’t fit for any of our stop-motion productions,” said a tough male voice, and stamped a ‘Rejection’ stamp on my shawl. The real reason why I’m so different is because one of my ears drooped down.
The next thing I remember, I was carried down the street in the arms of ‘Jo’ and taken to a little house in the country. I was placed on the ‘Welcome’ mat on the doorstep. A knock on the door alerted my new mother - Ophelia. She was a woman of 33, a simple young woman with pale white skin and a flowery dress, plus red high heels that dug into the soles of her feet. Ophelia opened the door and saw me lying on the doorstep, sniffing and crying. She took me in her gentle arms and began to rock me lovingly, lifting me against her bosom. She looked at my shawl and saw the name ‘Zuri’ planted on it. “Now, Zuri, let’s get you a bottle before you starve.” she said.
I grew up living a quiet life with my new mother, my grandma and my foster siblings. They’re the most unusual siblings I could’ve ever had. Most foster children have normal brothers and sisters that are human, but my mum works for a TV agency company, hiring animated characters to star in TV series and movies. The company was named BiroCorp, and five of these characters were assigned to be my foster siblings. Everyone knew I was a stop-motion character, and three of my siblings were stop-motion too. Charlie may look like my older brother, but he’s actually a werewolf whenever he feels stressed. All you have to do is make him grind his teeth and you can let the fireworks go off. Charlie and his two siblings starred in Halloween Monster Party and various Halloween episodes of preschool shows as extras. Now they star as main characters in Monster Avenue. Monster Avenue is my favourite show in the world, and I can’t believe I’m living with my own idols!
Next, there’s Montague. He may be a vampire, but he’s vegan. That means he never eats animals and instead eats food made with plants. He likes to embrace his inner nature, and sometimes before bathtime he takes off all his clothes and lies down in our shared bed, feeling the softness of the duvet against his sensitive skin, which he always takes care of. I always laugh when I see Montague in the nuddy, lying in our bed. He is a gentle vampire who cares for nature and often wants to get outdoors without any clothes on. He hates scratchy clothing and prefers to wear smooth, soft clothes instead of vampire uniforms.
Mona is an Egyptian mummy, an immortal princess who is as gentle as Montague. She is a blackbelt in karate and likes to do yoga to relax in the garden, sometimes swatting away flies and bees. The only time she gets excited is when she plays with me, and when I chase her with the garden hose. Mona and I love to try on Mum’s makeup when she isn’t looking, and sometimes spray each other with Mum’s precious ruby red perfume. Egyptian mummies usually smell musty and rotten, but Mona smelled of lavender bubble bath, mostly because she uses lavender perfume or body mist.
Star and Abby are 2D-animated Australian Jack Russell dogs who had a bad start in life. Their dad was drunk so much that he started abusing his wife, and sometimes abusing Star when she ran to stop them. They were shipped off to the UK, where they were sent into foster care. Everyone spent their time laughing at them and treating them like they were the foster home’s real pet dogs. One day, Star had enough and bit the kid who she used to call ‘alien’, so their social worker put them into a dog shelter. Star and Abby spent their miserable lives surrounded by real dogs. When Ophelia came to adopt our dog Coco, a chocolate brown dog, she decided to adopt Star and Abby too, for they have had a horrible time at the foster home. Star and Abby sometimes flew back to Australia to ‘Star’ in their own preschool series - Star The Shelia Dog. It became famous all around the world
As Ophelia was cradling me in her arms, her loving hand stroking my soft, downy yellow fur, Charlie, Montague, Mona, Star and Abby came to see me. “Hey! You stay away from our mother!” cried Montague, who hated it when my mum paid attention to the other siblings. “Now, Montague, this is Zuri. She’s been left by her parents outside our door, but if you want, you can all welcome her with a big cuddle.” “We don’t mind cuddles, Mum,” said Mona, “I don’t mind a new baby in the house.” “And me!” shrieked Abby. “Okay, everyone gather round,” laughed Ophelia. With that, they shared the biggest cuddle in the world. I could already smell the lavender perfume scent of Mona, and the wet dog smell of Abby and Star.
Now, something you didn’t know about my house is a magical cupboard in my bedroom, which I’ve had for 22 years and counting. I was born gifted and talented, which means the Blue Fairy (no, not the one from Pinocchio) flew through my window overnight and tapped her wand gently on me, giving me the power of a big imagination.
Saturday, 6 August 2022
Sandcastles With Grogu
Friday, 5 August 2022
The Hallowistmas Drill - Part 1: Don't Try This At Home
5th August.
57 more days ‘til October.
My family and I had a big meeting in the kitchen today. Chilli banged a big spoon on the table to get everyone’s attention, as we were all talking and such. All of us were here - me, Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella, Six, Bluey, Bingo, Muffin, Socks, Mike, Sue, Alston, Bella, Niles, Eefa, Dr F, Bandit, Chilli, Uncle Stripe, Aunt Trixie and Nana. “Now then, everyone, Halloween is in two months, and that means more Scream Street. Which means, due to circumstances untold, CBBC can only air this brilliantly animated yet tragically fallen show on Halloween.” “That’s our show!” said Cleo, “CBBC can’t just take our show and make it go downhill!” “I know,” said Chilli, “This is why we are organising a Hallowistmas plan.” “What’s Hallowistmas?” I asked. “It’s like Halloween mixed in with Christmas mixed in with nuclear war.” responded Chilli. “I’m not one for nuclear war,” said Mr Watson. “Me neither,” said Mrs Watson. “Well we all have to help each other in times of crisis. When Bandit was young his father on our behalf held a copy of Protect & Survive. Lots of people were scared of this now because of the public service announcements that aired in the ‘70s.” “Yeah, loads of people were scared out of their wits!” boomed Niles, “No wonder it ended up on a Channel 4 poll.” Chilli held up a copy of the Protect & Survive manual and placed it in the middle of the table. It looked a little dusty. Chilli managed to find it in the attic scrolling through the equipment she needed to survive times like this.
“We are going to recreate this manual to theme it around the awful new series of Scream Street,” said Chilli. “If anyone, and I mean anyone, in this family, manages to watch new episodes when they air on CBBC this October, then we’re going to be in the very worst kind of distress - if you know what I mean.” Everyone gasped, and Bella fainted! Luckily, Nana caught her. “Well caught, daddy!” cried Muffin, clapping her paws. Socks howled. Chilli once again banged her spoon on the table to quiet the little ones down. “Thank you, Muffin, we needed this. Now, we have a fallout shelter outside in the yard, and this shelter is big enough to fit anyone. Now, who has watched the Bluey episode ‘Hairdressers’ this morning?” All of us raised our hands and paws. “Good! Bluey is much better than an awful second series of a falling stop motion series.” Luella, Luke, Resus, Cleo and Six all looked at their hands in confusion. They were stop motion, while the dogs in the family were 2D animated. I was stop motion too, and I was only six years old! “We’d better start preparing straight away, or Scream Street will fall!”
Later, Bandit was watching ‘Hairdressers’ on iPlayer, when he spotted something which made his jaw drop. CBeebies had made a peculiar edit to Hairdressers. They cut out the scene where Bluey and Bingo were flourbombing Bandit! “Hey! Sweetheart! Come and look at this!” Chilli ran into the room and saw the edit right before her eyes. “Well, wackadoo! I think CBeebies has made a good job of telling kids not to waste flour.” “That’s what the health and safety organisation says,” said Bandit, “Thank god they didn’t show my nightmare of a torture experience on CBeebies, it might be fooling viewers into wasting flour as if it were a sackload of asbestos.” Chilli facepalmed. “Ever since I married you, you always thought flour was asbestos. Flour is flour wherever you are. Bluey and Bingo are just playing.” “You know what? We should take the whole family to the BBC studios to explain our situation to the British republic.”
Upstairs, Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella, Six, Bluey, Bingo, Muffin, Socks and I are writing a list for Hallowistmas. We only had two things on our list: the Scream Street Petrifying Puzzle Book and the Scream Street Terrifying Trivia Book. “These will be the best books ever!” I cried. “I can’t wait to learn the real truth behind our fallen street!” said Luke. “I’ll learn about real wolves.” Socks howled. “We already have a wolf,” I laughed. Socks barked as if to say yes. “You have two,” said Luke. “Me AND Socks.” Luke picked up Socks and scruffled her head. “Scwu-fal-lees!” he said in a cutesy voice. Seeing this cute moment, Resus and Cleo began to tickle my tummy. I was screaming with laughter. Luella began to tickle Bluey. Bingo tickled Six, and Muffin was left out. Eefa came in and saw all of us laughing as we were tickling each other. “Oh, so one of us is left out, eh?” said Eefa, and she leapt onto Muffin, tickling her. Muffin was screaming loudly with laughter. Then Chilli entered. “Kids! Time for the drill!” “Already?” I asked at last, as we looked up.
We all lined up in the living room as Chilli got the TV ready. “Okay, now I’m going to put on an episode of the awful new Scream Street series, and we all have to run into our fallout shelter at once. I’m going to put on last year’s ‘Bones Of Destiny’ episode. Ready?” “Yep,” we all said. Chilli put on the episode, and we all ran outside into the garden and leapt into the fallout shelter immediately. It was full of toys, games and spoiled food. The smell of spoilt milk filled the air, and we all had to hold our noses. “See? What did I tell you? We’re all safe in here.” “But it smells like a cow did an enormous poo and died, then someone cut it open and took out its milk and intestines,” said Resus. “Be quiet, Resus, you’re frightening the little ones,” whispered Alston. “Good job we have some air freshener,” said Chilli, and got out some strawberry-scented air freshener. She sprayed it, and the sweet smell of strawberry blossoms filled the air raid shelter like lily pads had appeared in spoilt milk to grow and make it smell wonderful. We all enjoyed the smell so much. “It’s like we were in a flowery rainforest,” I smiled, and lay back to enjoy the smell.
Rainforest flowers for you and me,
Protect the planet peacefully
Make our passings heavenly,
And then say, come and play with me!
Just as I was enjoying it in our shelter, I realised Chilli was gone, and Bluey was calling, “Mum? MUM!” We all looked around, calling for Chilli, but then the shelter door opened and Chilli looked in. “TV’s off!” she called. “Everyone back into the house now!” We got out of our shelter and back into the house. Gratefully, the screen was black, and we all cheered and jumped up and down. Us kids had to hug each other and jump up and down. “No more awful Scream Street!” we shouted. “No more cannibalism!” cried Luella.
Later, we went altogether to the BBC studios in Salford. When we got in, there was so much to see. Catchphrases from shows like Teletubbies were plastered on the walls, and TVs were showing what was on the BBC channels. Channel logos were put up on the wall. “All we have to do now is convince the public to watch Season 1 of Scream Street.” said Chilli to all of us. People were everywhere, chatting and filming programmes and everything. We crept into a huge hallway, where various studios were filming programmes. “Sssssshhhh,” said Chilli, and we giggled under our breaths, saying “Sssshh.” to each other. Then we stood outside the CBBC room and waited. And waited. And waited. For all this time, we were silent. Then, it was suddenly broken when Bandit peered into the room where they were airing CBeebies programmes and yelled, during an episode of Go Jetters, “Some idiot cut out the scene where I was flourbombed!” That was when the chaos started.
“Where’s my baby? Where’s Socks?!” cried Aunt Trixie, and we all looked around for Socks, until Bingo gave a shout. “There she is! Look!” Everyone looked, and saw Socks greenscreened in front of an episode of Arthur, barking and trying to tear at the episode. We were all delighted, and the door was open! “Oh yes!” cried Bandit! “That’s my girl, tear down that bespectacled yellow-jumpered aardvark!” cried Uncle Stripe. Bandit and Uncle Stripe crashed through the door, while we all sat down on a plush sofa and watched the chaos unfold. Bandit was greenscreened in front of the episode, and Uncle Stripe was cheering from offscreen, like when he was watching a State Of Origin match on the telly. This is what Bandit yelled to millions of TV viewers:
“The BBC is trying to americanise CBBC! They’re now airing cartoons to attract a working class audience! That’s bad news for our children! Use your common sense and watch Season 1 of Scream Street! This is better than any other show on iPlayer! Join the revolution! Save the street and watch Season 1! I will be proud of you if you do!”
We were all screaming for Bandit and cheering for him as he strutted out of the room with Uncle Stripe and Socks. Aunt Trixie swept up Socks and cuddled her. “We want Dad! We want Dad!” we all chanted, until we got spotted by a TV executive. “You’re spoiling our programmes!” she squealed, “Clear off now!” And with that, she kicked us out of the studios, and we all had to drive home.
“The BBC is trying to americanise CBBC!” Bandit’s roaring speech was repeated on BBC News, as the newscasters were talking about Bandit and Socks’ invasion on CBBC and CBeebies earlier that day. “No need to thank me,” Bandit said to the telly, “We always adore a piece of dad.” “I like when you save the day, dad, you wrecked Elwood City like a reptile wrecking havoc in the city!” We all laughed. “Oh my god, that was hilarious,” breathed Chilli. “I can’t believe we did a great job on invading CBBC today!” “You’re right, if it hadn’t been for Socks, I would’ve left her at the studio forever!” “Then go and get her a bone immediately!” mocked Uncle Stripe, and we laughed even louder as Chilli turned off the telly.
The sun was setting outside, and the sky was getting dark. Everyone’s laughter turned to yawning. “I think we should all go to bed now,” I said. “No, we can’t go into our separate beds, we need to train for when Scream Street airs on CBBC. We have to sleep altogether in one bed.” So we did our usual bedtime routine, then we went into Bandit and Chilli’s bedroom and snuggled altogether into the huge bed, me next to Six and Luke. I snuggled into the pile of family members as Chilli recited Psalm 121 softly, and we were all quiet as we settled to sleep in the dark. As for me, I snuggle down and dreamed of our rainforest fantasy we thought of as we smelled the beautiful air freshener in the fallout shelter.
Sometimes we shall live to find
We never leave our friends behind
And when we embrace inclusivity
You know you are inviting me!
TO BE CONTINUED…
Hairdressers
Me, You, And Digimon Data Squad: Never Meet Your Heroes
“Hmmmm…sounds like a total sense of nothing to me,” said Thomas as he gazed up at a poster printed on a lamppost. It read:
‘SHINJUKU ANNUAL BOXING MATCH!
Come at 11PM to see the country’s best fighters compete in the smackdown of their lives!”
Thomas and Gaomon turned away from the poster and went off on their way down the street. “You don’t think this has something to do with drafting people in to play, don’t you?” asked Gaomon. “I don’t think so,” said Thomas, looking around him. “Usually people train and sign up before they get drafted into games like this.” “Do you remember a creature called Shadow the Hedgehog?” asked Gaomon. “Hmmm…doesn’t ring a bell,” said Thomas. “I may be connected to him. Who knows, I may have black blood running through my veins.” Thomas just laughed. “Don’t be silly, there’s no black blood running through your veins!” “Well, I’m going to ask Lanka whether you like it or not!” said Gaomon, and he ran off down the path. “Wait!” called Thomas, but now he was left on his own.
Out in the streets, Gaomon and Lanka were talking about whether Gaomon has black blood running through his veins. “No one will believe me,” said Gaomon, “I seem to have red blood running through my veins, just like everybody else.” “Red? It seems black to me.” said Lanka. “It may be black, but how can you tell black and red are the same colour?” “It’s just the colour of a friend of mine.” Lanka smiled. “You’ll get used to that fact someday.” “But what about Thomas?” asked Gaomon, “He knows the only way Digimon can get different coloured blood is through transnetic operations that only last up to 15 days, and I don’t want to get my blood dyed a different colour while Thomas sits here alone.” “I’m sure Thomas will accept the colour of your blood. In fact, I can use a claw to cut right down your arm and see what colour your blood is.” Lanka reached a paw out to cut his arm, but Gaomon slapped it away. “No self mutilation!” This left them both sitting there quietly.
Meanwhile, Thomas was wandering the streets on his own. He knew he never should’ve argued with Gaomon, and he sat outside an alleyway to think.
Thursday, 4 August 2022
Find The Perfect Cartoon For You
