Shiny Gold Stars Grandpa In My Pocket

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

Come down, Grandpa!

Grandpa!

'Uncle CJ, Auntie Jules and Josh had gone out for the day,

'so I was with Grandpa.

'We were playing with my doll's house

'that used to belong to Mr Whoops.'

This is the butler. He welcomes visitors and takes care of them.

We should have a butler.

That would be good. And what can I do for you, Miss Elsie?

A glass of orange juice and a jammy jumbly, please.

LAUGHTER

-I have a box of more doll's things upstairs!

-Right.

'Then, guess who turned up?'

-Coo-ee!

-Oh, no!

Only me!

'It was Great Aunt Loretta, Grandpa's sister.'

Are you all by yourself? Good job I popped in to keep you company.

Yes(!)

'Then, the phone rang.'

I'll get it.

Loretta speaking, how many I help you? You're kidding me?!

Shiny gold stars? Yes, Mr Dinky!

Ooh! Hoo-hoo! You can come round right now!

Well, what is it? Who's Mr Dinky?

He's from the Sunnysands tourist office.

He's coming to inspect us

to see whether we deserve some shiny gold stars!

Excellent! We should get at least three, maybe even five.

I think we deserve more than that. I can see rows and rows of them.

We'll be like those big hotels.

'Today, Great Aunt Loretta was dreaming of

'hundreds and hundreds of shiny gold stars!'

Now, if we're going to be like those big hotels,

then we need to make some big changes.

What do you mean, big changes?

Well, big hotels have big things in them.

Big, bright things!

We need to get rid of all the scruffy little things.

And that includes you!

-Shoo-shoo-shoo!

-Poor Wulfy!

-That's not fair.

-And you, Grandpa.

-We can't have little old men cluttering up the place.

-Let me go!

-I'll let you go when Mr Dinky's gone.

-(Get my cap. It's upstairs.)

'I knew why Grandpa needed his cap, so he could shrink.'

In you go, Grandpa.

Have a little lie-down.

I locked him in. I think it's for the best.

'Great Aunt Loretta put the key to Grandpa's room in her bag.'

Come along, Elsie, to the Pigsty! There's a lot of work to be done.

'So I had to go to Great Aunt Loretta's Pigsty,

'which is where she lives,

'and put all her stuff in the sitting room.'

There! Now, if this doesn't get us lots of shiny gold stars,

I'll eat my cardigan.

Everything's so big and...

Beautiful! Just like the big hotels.

'Then the doorbell went.'

Ooh! That'll be Mr Dinky now.

Oh, stand up straight, Elsie. You need to look big, too.

'While she went to let the hotel inspector in,

'I grabbed Grandpa's cap and got the key to his room.'

-May I present Mr Dinky!

-Hello.

This is Mr Dinky, who's come to give us lots of shiny gold stars.

'This was my chance to get Grandpa out of his room.'

Golly gosh! Everything in this room is very big.

Oh, yes, sir, Mr Dinky, sir.

Ooh, yes. That's our motto. Big is beautiful!

So, how many shiny gold stars for our decoration?

-None.

-None?

'But Great Aunt Loretta wasn't giving up.'

You stay right there, sir, Mr Dinky, sir. I'll be straight back.

'She left Mr Dinky to have a good look round.'

Too big! Way too big!

Well done, Elsie! How are things going with Mr Dinky?

Any shiny gold stars?

No. Great Aunt Loretta's sure he likes big things.

I think she's got it wrong.

Wouldn't be the first time. Sounds like she needs help.

The only way to do that is by being small.

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

'You know what happens when Grandpa shrinks.

'He runs and jumps about all over the place.

'And I can never catch him.

'He loves driving Jason's toy car.

'And the Sunnysands train.

'Sometimes he gets into Josh's helicopter

'and flies all around the room.

'But today, he only needed to get upstairs,

'so I put him in my pocket.'

That's quite big.

'Mr Dinky was busy looking at everything.'

Enormous!

Oh, no! What has she done to the place?

Gigantic!

That's so big, I need some fresh air!

'He rushed to the balcony.

'As soon as Mr Dinky had gone, I took Grandpa out of my pocket.

'Then I put the key back in Great Aunt Loretta's bag.'

Loretta has got it wrong. Mr Dinky doesn't like big things at all.

I expect he only likes little things.

Oh, no! We'll never get any shiny gold stars now!

Oh, yes, we will.

But I've got to think of a plan.

'But just then, Great Aunt Loretta came back.'

Here we are, Mr Dinky, sir. Where is he?

On the balcony. He's not feeling good.

It's a good job I made some green gloop

and a giant mackerel and cold custard baguette!

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

Yum!

It's OK, Elsie, I've thought of a plan. But I want your help.

So, how many shiny gold stars

for my big glass of delicious, home-made green gloop?

'Mr Dinky poured the gloop into the pot plant.'

-None.

-Well!

How many shiny gold stars

for my giant mackerel and cold custard baguette?

'He threw it off the balcony.'

-None.

-Well, I never!

You're impossible to please, you are! I give up!

'Great Aunt Loretta started packing up.'

I'm taking everything back to my Pigsty.

I've had enough of that Mr Dinky and his shiny gold stars!

'All this time, we were busy with Grandpa's plan.

'Decorating one of the guestrooms

'with little things from my doll's house.'

-Perfect! Now, you go and get Mr Dinky. You know what to say?

-Yes.

-What are you going to do, Grandpa?

-You'll see.

'I ran onto the balcony.'

Excuse me, Mr Dinky,

would you like to see one of the guest bedrooms? It's quite small.

Is it? Well, in that case, perhaps I'll take a teeny, tiny peek.

'So I led Mr Dinky to the guestroom.'

This is our room of little things.

It's beautiful! I love it!

'I left Mr Dinky to have a good look around.'

Small!

Tiny!

Teeny tiny!

Welcome to Mill on the Marsh, sir.

Golly gosh! A little butler!

'Of course, really, it was Grandpa.

'He'd dressed up in the butler doll's clothes.'

You're the smallest butler I've ever met!

Thank you, sir. Small is beautiful.

That is our motto.

It's my motto, too! I love all these little things!

Perhaps sir would like to give them a shiny gold star.

Oh, I would! Lots of them!

'And Mr Dinky started sticking shiny gold stars on all the little things.

'Grandpa's plan had worked!'

Would sir care for a little lie-down now? A little snooze perhaps?

Oh, yes. A little snooze would be perfect. Thank you.

'So Mr Dinky lay down on the bed.'

(Let's leave him now. I'll get changed and meet you in the kitchen.)

(OK.)

'I went back to the sitting room.'

Where's the dreadful Mr Dinky?

-Having a little lie-down.

-Huh!

Oh, that reminds me, I suppose I'd better let Grandpa out.

-No! It's OK. I'll do it.

-Oh.

Ooh!

'Grandpa crept into the room, ran cross the floor

'and jumped into Upsy-Downsy.

'And down he went.'

PING!

Cap off, Grandpa, quick!

We did it, Elsie! Shiny gold stars galore.

Teamwork, I call it!

Yes, Grandpa, teamwork!

THEY LAUGH

'We went back upstairs to wait for Mr Dinky

'to finish his little snooze.'

That was a wonderful little snooze!

And this room looks much better

now you've got rid of all the big things!

-Don't you like big things?

-I hate big things.

Well, you might've said!

This is far and away the best little hotel in Sunnysands!

Ho! It's so small, it's divine!

And as for your little butler, I could've put him in my pocket!

-Little butler? What little butler?

-Never mind, Loretta.

Shiny gold star for you,

and you, and you!

Shiny gold stars for everyone and everything!

Oh, thank you, Mr Dinky.

The Mill on the Marsh is very proud.

I must be off. Lots more hotels to visit. Goodbye!

-Goodbye!

-Bye, Mr Dinky.

-Bye!

-Bye!

-Bye!

Whoo! Hoo-hoo-hoo! You see? Ha-ha!

I told you we'd get hundreds!

Mind you, he was bonkers.

Little butler indeed!

Teamwork!