The Day the Callminders Called on Mr Whoops Grandpa In My Pocket

-BOTH:

-Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

Come down, Grandpa!

'Today, my sister Elsie had gone on a picnic with my Auntie Jules,

'so I was at home and I had Grandpa all to myself.'

Captain Dumbletwit, off to save the universe!

-Nee-ow!

-Calm down, Josh.

-Nee-ow!

-Sssh!

'Some guests were having breakfast on the balcony.'

-Josh, quieten down a bit, will you? The dad is on the phone.

-Sorry!

He's never off it. Those poor children.

'But at that moment they came in.'

I'll call you back. Yeah, all right. Bye-bye. Bye.

-Mr Callminder, this is Grandpa.

-Pleased to...

-PHONE RINGS

-Oh, excuse me.

Hello?

-Yeah.

-This is Caroline and Callum.

-Welcome to Sunnysands.

So, what are you going to do today? Do you like lighthouses, Callum?

-He doesn't, no.

-Uh, do you like ice-cream sundaes, Caroline?

-Um, well, I think...

-She doesn't, no.

There's lots to see and do in Sunnysands.

-Um, how about a trip to Mr Whoops's shop?

-Great idea!

-PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

You'll love Mr Whoops, and his shop is the best toyshop in the world.

'Yes, this was The Day The Callminders Called On Mr Whoops.'

-Josh, I'll meet you in the meadow by Queenie in five minutes.

-Coming!

My word, Mr Callminder has never missed a call, has he?

That phone is glued to his ear!

Those poor kids, he never even lets them speak.

It's no wonder they don't know what they like.

We can help Caroline and Callum choose something from the shop,

can't we, Josh? Something they really like.

Sorry, but Queenie might be a bit overcrowded if you come too.

Josh will be able to help them choose.

Oh, I'm sorry there's no room for you, Grandpa.

Ah, but there is!

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

'When my Grandpa shrinks, there's no stopping him.'

Come back!

'He can run so fast you can't catch him, and his magic makes things go.

'So, he can travel about in a plane and even in my helicopter!

'But today, all he needed to do was this.'

Get in, Grandpa. Quick!

'So off we sailed down the river in Uncle CJ's boat, Queenie,

'towards Sunnysands

'and I whispered to Grandpa, "You'd better behave, Grandpa!"

-'And Grandpa whispered,

-"I always behave."

'We arrived at Mr Whoops's shop,

'opened the door expecting to see Mr Whoops's jolly face, but...'

Ha-ha-ha! That gave you a big fat shock, didn't it?!

-'It was Great Aunt Loretta!'

-Oh, no!

-I'm looking after Mr Whoops's shop.

His mother's poorly, so I've told him to go and see her.

What a surprise!

Well, since you're here, Loretta, I'll leave Josh with you.

I've just got a few things to do at the beach hut.

Oh, who do we have here, then?

Well, this is Mr Callminder, Caroline and Callum,

-and this is my Great Aunt Loretta.

-You're my first customers.

Come here, come on. Come over here. We'll have a look around.

-There's so much to choose from.

-What was that? What? Hang on.

I'll just be outside, yeah? You choose something.

-So, what do you fancy...Catherine and Calivan?

-Caroline and Callum.

'I quickly opened my backpack and released Grandpa onto a shelf.'

-Just as well you came!

-Quite!

The poor kids can't get a word in edgeways with Loretta now.

I love a puzzle, me. This one's lovely, it's got a squirrel.

-Have you decided, Colin?

-Oh, Loretta, his name is Callum.

No, no, no, not a train, no! Switch it off.

You'll have to take control, Josh.

-Show the kids some toys that you think they'll like.

-OK.

-Do you like this?

-A microscope? Cool!

No. Much too grown up for you.

But a microscope is marvellous.

Why don't we go outside and look at the beach stuff?

You might like that!

-'So, I took Caroline and Callum outside.'

-Oh, this is impossible.

'And Grandpa had a plan.

'A plan to distract Great Aunt Loretta

'so Caroline and Callum could do their choosing.

'First, he hid behind a toy parrot and went...'

Squawk!

Be quiet.

-Squawk!

-Hush up, you.

'Next, Grandpa made a jingly rabbit jingle.'

JING-JANG-JING!

What's happening now?

Well, you can hush up!

Good grief, anyone would think the place was alive!

I decided to show Caroline the dressing up clothes.

-A wizard costume!

-Girls can't be wizards, Camomile.

-Caroline!

And anyway, dressing up is a bit silly, isn't it?

-Dressing up is not silly!

-'Grandpa had another plan.'

-Right.

'He jumped down and ran into the store room.'

No, a nice word game or a card game, or let me see... Oh!

A knitting kit.

-'Suddenly we heard...'

-CRASH!

Oh, something's happened in the store room.

'Just then, Callum came back.'

-How about this cowboy, Callum?

-Cool!

-I like cowboys. He's got a lasso and everything!

-Boxes everywhere!

Fallen off the shelf all on their own.

'Of course I knew they hadn't fallen off all on their own.

'They'd been pushed by Grandpa.'

Would you mind giving me a hand in the store room, Mr Whatchamacall?

It's right over there, there's boxes all over the floor!

-Place is alive, I'm telling you!

-I really want this cowboy, Dad.

Not cowboys! I don't like cowboys, Caswell.

-ALL: CALLUM!

-Dad!

'Callum ran to find his dad to plead for the cowboy.'

Now, I know I keep going back to the puzzle...

Oh! Oh!

Oh, I'm getting like Mr Whoops. Oh, thank you.

Give me a hand to pick them up, there's a good girl.

'Just then I saw Grandpa running out of the store room,

'so I ran over to see him.'

Leave it to me to sort Loretta out.

-You get the others out of the shop for a bit.

-OK!

'Mr Callminder and Callum came out of the store room

'and Mr Callminder headed outside to take another call.'

Leave Loretta to me.

Why don't you go outside so you can really think about what you want?

OK. Come on, Callum.

'I saw that Grandpa had gone, so I wondered what he was up to.

'At that moment, I found Grandpa's clothes. Oh, no!

'He was running around the toyshop in his pants! But then, I saw him.'

Yee-haw!

'He was dressed in the cowboy doll's clothes.

'I went outside and left him to work his magic.'

Well, now. Who's this, as pretty as a picture?!

-Me?

-Yes, you, ma'am!

You got cheeks like rosy apples and lips like cherries so red.

Who are you?

Little Billy McNee, the size of a flea, that's me!

Wha... A real teeny-tiny talking cowboy! Ooh-er!

# A cowboy's life is a life so free Under the prairie sky!

# With the sun so bright it's the life for me

# I'm a prairie boy, am I

# Going to saddle my horse Going to raise my hat

# Good day to you, ma'am Now how's about that

# Going to dance the night away

# 'Neath the prairie sky

# Giddy-up giddy-up, yee-haw giddy-up Giddy-up and away

# Giddy-up giddy-up, yee-haw giddy-up

# Giddy-up all day

# With a hoedown yodown Never, ever slow down

# Dance the night away

# Giddy-up giddy-up, yee-haw giddy-up Giddy-up hooray!

# A cowgirl's life is a life for me Under the sky so blue

# If you weren't so small we'd have a ball

# I'd dance the night with you

# Going to saddle my horse Going to raise my hat

# Good day to you, sir well, how about that?

# Going to dance the night away 'Neath the prairie sky

# Giddy-up giddy-up yee-haw giddy-up

# Giddy-up and away

# Giddy-up giddy-up yee-haw giddy-up

# Giddy-up all day

# With a hoedown yodown never ever slow down

# Dance the night away

# Giddy-up giddy-up yee-haw giddy-up

# Giddy-up hooray! #

'And while I carried on dancing with Great Aunt Loretta,

'Grandpa got back into his own clothes.

'And put the cowboy clothes back on the cowboy.'

DOOR CHIMES

'Then Caroline, Callum and Mr Callminder came back.'

-I never knew dancing could be so much fun!

-And dressing up?

-And cowboys!

-And cowboys and dressing up!

One more time, Josh.

'We were still dancing and Grandpa got into my backpack.'

Come on!

'Then Mr Callminder handed Caroline his phone,

'which pleased everyone.

'The Callminders went off to Miss Smiley's cafe for ice-cream

'and Mr Whoops came back to the shop,

'so Great Aunt Loretta came home with us in Queenie.'

I'm just popping upstairs, Josh.

'When we got home, I ran upstairs as fast as I could.

'Grandpa jumped out of my backpack.'

Cap off, Grandpa, quick!

-We did it, Josh! We helped Caroline and Callum choose.

-Yes, we did.

-And what do we call that?

-BOTH:

-Team work!

Ooh, fancy! You're not having a lie down, Grandpa.

-I've had a day of it, looking after Mr Whoops's shop.

-Have you really?

There was a teeny tiny little cowboy doll and he talked and he sang.

Gave me quite a fright.

I bet he sang, # Giddy-up giddy-up, yee-haw giddy-up

# Giddy-up and away

# Gi... D... # How do you know that?

Oh, from my cowboy days, Loretta. From my cowboy days.

Don't you...

# Giddy-up giddy-up Yee-haw giddy-up... #