Andrew's Invitation Old Jack's Boat

Hello, there! How are you today?

Salty and I have a tale or two to tell you about this beach

and the rockpools and all the magical things

that have happened here.

# Come with me, we're off to the sea

# To where I used to play

# Looking back when I was a boy and the fun we had each day

# Over the cobbles and through the streets

# Playing in the sun

# Friends to meet with games and treats

# Adventures just begun

# Stories from a magical world washed in by the sea

# Meet the rockpool creatures there It's amazing what you see

# Looking back when I was a boy

# Shrimps and starfish Crabs and snails

# In twinkly Rockpool Tales. #

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

# Those lovely Rockpool Tales. #

TOOT!

HE HUMS A TUNE

Here's your post, Jack!

Oh, thank you! Ha-ha-ha!

Ah! Lovely! What's this all about, then, Salty?

Eh?

Oh! Well, I never!

It's an invitation.

It's my friend Sam's birthday party this afternoon.

And that's perfect, because it means I've got time to tell you a story.

And it's a story about a party invitation.

One that went missing.

Yes. Oh! It all happened when I was a boy.

In a twinkly time long, long ago.

Hello, Sue!

I used to run down to play on the beach as often as I could.

Meeting up with my best friends, Little Ernie and Little Sailor Sue.

One afternoon, Little Sailor Sue and I were looking

for shells on the beach and we were wondering where Little Ernie was.

I spotted a familiar shape over by the rocks.

That's Ernie. What's he doing?

He was flapping his arms in the air and jumping from rock to rock,

as if he was chasing something.

Well, Sue and I decided that Ernie probably needed some help,

so off we dashed.

When we got there, Ernie was looking muddled.

It must be here somewhere!

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

A party invitation.

"A party invitation," Ernie replied.

The wind had blown it out of his hand. Whoosh!

And he'd chased it and chased it, but it got away.

Now I can't find it anywhere!

So Ernie hopped off to find the lost party invitation,

looking in every rockpool as he went.

Sue and I looked in the rockpool near to us,

and as we gazed deep down into the glittery waters,

a magical world appeared before our eyes.

One bright morning, Andrew the anemone

was bouncing across the sandy bed of the rockpool

when he heard a "plop" sound from up above.

Something had landed in the rockpool.

He looked up and he saw a strange object

floating on the surface above him.

"That needs investigating," he said to himself.

So he swished his way through the water and plopped out

next to the strange object,

and right next to Reginald, the great wise limpet.

"Wow!" said Andrew. "What's that?"

"I have no idea," said Reginald, in his grand voice.

"But it came from the sky, so I imagine it's a kite with no tail."

"Isn't it a bit small to be a kite?" he said.

"A proper kite would fill this whole rockpool."

"Then it must be a very tiny kite

"flown by a very tiny person,"

said Reginald, wisely.

"I imagine they weren't big enough to hold onto it and it flew off."

You like flying kites, don't you, Salty?

Oh-ho, she does, honestly! Ha!

Anyway, Andrew swam carefully over to the tiny kite

floating in the water and he inspected it.

He saw there was an opening on one end, and carefully,

he wriggled under the opening to see what was inside.

And inside was another piece of paper.

It was decorated with balloons and said,

"You are invited to a party."

Well, it wasn't a kite, was it? WOOF!

Yeah, that's right, Salty.

Yes, Andrew had clambered inside an envelope

and found a party invitation.

Ha!

Just then, Andrew felt the envelope move

and he felt himself start to rise up in the air.

He wriggled back to the opening of the envelope and peeped out,

and there he saw the rockpool below him,

with Reginald looking up at him with a surprised look on his face.

"I told you it was a kite," called Reginald.

"It must be. You are flying away, up in the sky."

And it was true.

Andrew and the party invitation were flying.

Andrew was being carried by none other than our old friend

Brenda the stork.

Brenda had scooped Andrew and the envelope up from the rockpool.

"Dear me," said Brenda, muttering to herself.

"Did I drop an envelope?

"Now it's all wet and I shall have to dry it in my nest."

With a flap of her great wings, she skimmed off through the sky.

Inside the envelope, Andrew was rolling

and tumbling all over the place.

Which was actually quite fun!

Well, eventually, Brenda arrived at her big nest,

which she'd built on one of the chimneypots in Staithes

with twigs and grass.

She hung the soggy envelope up to dry.

"Brenda? Brenda?" called Andrew. "I'm in here!"

But Brenda hadn't heard him

and had already set off and was now a little flappy dot in the sky.

Oh, dear. Not good, is it, Salty, eh?

SALTY WHIMPERS

Andrew looked out of his soggy envelope hanging on the line.

He wanted to be down in his rockpool,

but his rockpool was a very, very long way down. Oh!

And then, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Andrew had a brilliant idea.

Brenda would be delivering more letters later,

and he was going to get himself delivered

right back to his lovely rockpool and all his friends.

He nuzzled himself down in the envelope,

which was drying in the sun.

Eventually, Brenda flapped back over and inspected the envelope.

"Well, that looks dry enough to deliver," she said.

And she plucked the envelope off the washing line,

popped it into her bag and flew away with it.

Andrew peeked out of the envelope as the wind whooshed past him.

He looked down and he saw his rockpool far below.

And this was really the clever bit of Andrew's plan.

He wriggled to the end of the envelope

and then he bounced out of the bag

and, like the pilot of an airplane,

he started to fly the envelope this way and that way.

And it swooped and dived on the sea breezes

until, with a gentle plop,

Andrew landed right back in the rockpool. Oh!

"Welcome home," said Reginald.

Well, Andrew smiled and smiled and smiled.

He was home.

He dived down under the water and went to tell his friends

all about the incredible adventure he'd had that bright, sunny day.

Sue and I looked up from the rockpool as we heard Ernie shout...

There it is!

He had spotted the envelope floating in the far corner of the rockpool.

It was his party invitation.

We fished it out and handed it to him proudly.

But Ernie, he looked upset.

Thank you, but it's all wet now. It's ruined.

"Who was it for?" asked Sue.

"It was for you two," Ernie said.

I was inviting you to my party on the beach.

We looked at each other and we smiled.

Ernie, we don't need an invitation now, you've just invited us.

Ernie thought about it and he smiled, too.

Oh. I suppose I did.

THEY CHUCKLE

And with that, we took the soggy invitation back to the beach

to start the party.

And we stayed on the beach for the rest of the day,

until it was time to go home.

And the tide came in and covered the rockpool

like a great seaweedy blanket.

Anyway, we are off to Sam's party now.

All right, do you want to come?

Come on. Come on, girl. That's it. Good girl. Come on.

Oh! Why don't you join us for some more Rockpool Tales next time?

Goodbye. Come on, girl.

WOOF!