The Wonderbubble Weather Grandpa In My Pocket

-BOTH:

-Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

Come down, Grandpa!

It was a sunny afternoon.

My brother Josh was playing football

and I was playing a Captain Dumbletwit card game with Grandpa.

And I think there's another Captain Dumbletwit there!

-DOORBELL RINGS

-'We heard a visitor arrive.'

Come in, come in! They're upstairs in the sitting room.

-Oh, spectopular!

-Who might that be?

-'It was Mr Mentor the inventor.'

-Mr Mentor. What have you got?

-My latest invention.

In fact, I think it's my most wonderbubble invention ever.

'Mr Mentor doesn't just invent things, he invents words too.'

Show us, then.

Ta-da!

'Mr Mentor had invented...

'the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher.'

This tells you whether it's good weather for flying a kite,

eating ice cream, dancing in puddles or building a snowman.

And what if it points to this picture of a house?

That means a terribubble storm is on its way and you must go home.

-What's the weather going to be today?

-I'll show you!

'Mr Mentor pulled the lever and the arrow stopped on a boat.'

It's the perfect weather for a boat trip.

-In other words, warm and sunny with a slight breeze.

-Oh.

Which is why I've arranged to go sailing this afternoon

with Bob's boat. I was hoping you'd come with me.

-Yes, please!

-Fabidiculous! I'll go and ask your aunt and uncle.

Maybe we'll get a lift to the harbour.

It was a long walk here and I love riding in Campo!

'Grandpa wanted to take a closer look.'

I think I'll take a closer look.

'The machine made strange noises and the arrow spun round.'

-It shouldn't be doing that.

-What are you thinking, Grandpa?

I'm thinking that I'd better come on this boat trip with you

in case there's a problem with this Wonderbubble Weather Watcher

that needs someone small.

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

'You know what happens when Grandpa shrinks.

'He runs about so fast I can't ever catch him.

'He goes swoop, swoop on Gordon the toy seagull.

'And zoom, zoom in Jason's car.

'Sometimes, he flies in Josh's helicopter

'or rides in the Sunnysands train.

'And he loves flying on my Mrs Ostrich, which is odd,

'because ostriches can't fly, actually.

'Today, he was about to jump in my pocket

'when we heard Uncle CJ come in.'

Oh, I see Grandpa's gone for a little lie down.

Jolly good, means I can have a dust around.

Can I go on the boat trip?

Of course! Auntie Jules is going to give you a lift.

-Isn't this amazing? Mr Mentor's so clever.

-Come along, come along!

Bob will be waiting for us.

'Mr Mentor picked up the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher

'and we went out.

'Uncle CJ stayed to do the tidying up,

-'which meant Grandpa couldn't get away!'

-Bother!

'So, Auntie Jules took us in Campo through the ford,

'down the country lanes,

'over the bridge, until at last we got to the harbour.

'And there was Bob's boat - The Boomerang - waiting for us.

'Bob's from Australia. He's new to Sunnysands.'

-Hey, Elsie, want to come on deck and help me cast off?

-You bet!

'Mr Mentor stayed to look after his Wonderbubble Weather Watcher.

'Soon, we were out at sea.

'I was waiting for Grandpa but he hadn't turned up,

'because he was hiding in a vase and he couldn't leave

'until Uncle CJ had finished dusting.

'At last, he left the room, so Grandpa could get away.'

Phew!

'He jumped into Jason's toy plane and took off. Wheee!

'Mr Mentor was having a nap

'when I came into the cabin with some bad news.'

-Mr Mentor, wake up!

-Oh!

Bad news! The weather's changed.

The sun's gone in and it's all shivery.

And there's no wind, so we can't sail.

-I've had to drop anchor.

-That can't be right.

My Wonderbubble Weather Watcher is still saying

it's warm and sunny with a slight breeze. Look!

-There's got to be something wrong with it.

-Impossibubble!

'I was wishing and wishing Grandpa was here. I needed him!'

PLANE ENGINE ROARS

'Luckily, he was just about to land on deck.'

It can't be cold and grey and still, it just can't!

'Then he sneaked into the cabin. I had to talk to Grandpa alone.

'So I had a brilliant idea.'

Why don't you go and look at the weather for yourselves?

-Oh, very well. Although it's quite unnecessary.

-Good idea, though.

Come on. Come and have a look.

'Now I could talk to Grandpa.'

Guess what? You were right.

The Wonderbubble Weather Watcher isn't working properly.

-OK, I'll see what I can do.

-Great!

'And Grandpa ran across Bob's bed, jumped onto the floor,

'hopped up onto the table and said...'

Pull the lever, Elsie.

'I pulled the lever...

'..and the arrow on the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher span round and round

'and landed on the snowman.'

-Now it says it's snowing!

-Mmmm.

I'm going to have to take a look inside.

'Then Bob and Mr Mentor came back.'

This is very disappointabubble.

-I must have done something wrong. I'll take a look.

-No!

Don't look inside. You might mess things up.

-But it's not working properly.

-It'll fix itself if you wait a bit.

-Probably.

-Well, it had better hurry up about it.

-Maybe it's the parter starter.

-Sure.

-The twisty turnarator.

-Right.

It could be the wizzy wheeler. Or even the loopy lever!

'Mr Mentor was in such a panic, he accidentally pushed Bob over!

'All this time, Grandpa was inside the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher,

'trying hard to mend it. Bob had hurt his arm.'

-So sorry, Bob, I didn't mean to knock you over.

-Ow, ow, ow!

I know. It's OK, but now I'm hurt,

we need to go straight back to Sunnysands.

How can we if there's no wind for the sails?

-We can use the motor instead.

-I'll start it, Captain!

You stay right there. I'll get that motor going quick as a flash!

'I put the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher back on the table.

'Grandpa was still inside,

'busy fixing all the bits Mr Mentor had got wrong.

'Bob called up to Mr Mentor on deck.'

-How you doing up there?

-Absolumptly fine.

I had to fiddle about a bit,

but I'll start the engine now.

'So Mr Mentor started the engine and there was a terrible rattling noise

'which got louder and louder and then it went...'

-BANG!

-That didn't sound too good.

'Then back down the stairs he came and said...'

I've broken the engine. I've broken the engine!

Oh, and I can't fix it cos I've hurt my arm.

'Grandpa came out of the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher...'

-Oh, dear.

-'..and found a new place to hide.'

-How are we supposed to get it started?

-I'm so sorry!

This is turning into a terribubble boat trip.

How are we going to get back to Sunnysands now?

No worries, we'll wait for the wind to pick up again

and we can use the sails.

If only the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher was working properly,

it could tell us how long we've got to wait.

'Grandpa had mended it, so I said...'

-Why don't we try it again? It might be working now.

-How?

It can't fix itself.

Believe me, that sort of things happens all the time.

'So Mr Mentor pulled the lever.

'It was working!'

Oh, it's working! Oh, yes!

Oh, no! It's pointing to the little house.

That means a terribubble storm is coming

-and we've got to go home as quickly as we can.

-That's all we need.

If there's a storm, it'll be too dangerous to put up the sails.

And I've broken the engine and you can't fix it. Help! Help! Disaster!

'While Bob was trying to calm Mr Mentor down,

'Grandpa called me over.'

-I'm going to try to fix the engine.

-Be careful.

'He jumped down and ran off as fast as he could.'

Terribubble storm is going to get us, and it's all my fault!

We'll be OK.

I'll call the coastguard and get someone to come and rescue us.

-'But just then, we heard this...'

-ENGINE ROARS

That's the engine - it started all by itself, just like your invention.

-Fabidiculous!

-Fabidiculous!

-Fabidiculous!

Means we can get home before the storm breaks.

Let's get back to Sunnysands!

'As soon as they'd gone, Grandpa appeared at the top of the steps.'

-Grandpa!

-That's the engine fixed, then.

-You're so clever.

It only needed somebody small. I'd better get back home.

-Don't want to get caught in the storm.

-No. Go now!

I'll see you at the Mill.

Phew!

'Grandpa flew home as fast as he could

'and Auntie Jules brought me home in Campo.

'Grandpa jumped out of the plane, took off his shrinking cap

'and came back to his normal size.'

Wulfy, come on. Up you come!

-Grandpa, you made it!

-So did you, safe and sound.

-All down to you.

Oh, not all. You made sure Mr Mentor didn't find me

in the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher.

-It was teamwork.

-Teamwork!

Oh, Grandpa, you're back in your chair! And you're back too.

THUNDER RUMBLES

There's the storm the Wonderbubble Weather Watcher told us about.

-That's why we came home early.

-I'm glad you did.

-What would we do without Mr Mentor's inventions, eh?

-Can't imagine.

Teamwork!