The Tennis Ball Old Jack's Boat

Go on, Salty.

# 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 rock pool 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

# Those lovely Rockpool Tales. #

Oh, where is it, Salty?

I know I've seen it somewhere.

Hello. We're trying to find the one thing I need for today's story

and it should be here somewhere in all this old sport stuff.

I don't know.

Where are you going?

Oh, oh, you clever girl.

You've got it, haven't you? You clever dog. She's got it.

That is my old tennis ball.

Ah, good. Now I can tell you the story

about the time we used that old ball for a game of cricket

on the beach.

It all happened when I was a boy,

in a twinkly time long, long ago.

In those days 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.

Ernie had planted pieces of driftwood upright in the sand

to be our stumps.

Sue had her cricket bat with her

and I was trying to knock over the driftwood with my tennis ball.

I ran up and bowled the ball.

Whack!

Sue sent the ball whizzing across the sand.

"Come on, Sue," I said.

"You've been in bat all day."

She was really very good.

Ernie threw the ball back to me and I bowled the ball again,

this time as fast as I could.

Sue took a big swing at it and, whack,

the ball sailed up in the air and disappeared,

plop, in the middle of the rock pools.

Well, we dashed over to find it

but there are a lot of rock pools in Staithes.

It was going to be a long hunt.

"Perhaps it's down here somewhere," said Sue.

So, we knelt down and gazed deep down into the glittery waters

and there a magical world appeared before our eyes.

One morning, Sally the starfish popped her head

out of the rock pool for a quick look around.

Floating nearby on the surface was a large round thingummybob.

"What is that?" she asked Reginald the great, wise limpet.

Reginald looked at it for a moment and sighed.

"It's a tennis ball.

"The blobfish who live out in the big wide sea like to play catch.

"Their tennis balls are always landing in the rock pool."

"Wow," thought Sally.

"I must tell my friends."

And she dashed off.

Now, down below, another rock pooler had also spotted the tennis ball.

"Oh, we can't have that," he said.

It was Bertram, the butterfish.

"Very untidy. It'll have to go.

"Buster, get the honker. There's a job to do.

"Buster!"

And he bustled off.

Soon there was a clinking and a clanking sound

and a strange machine was wheeled out.

It was the seagull honker.

SALTY BARKS Yes, I know, Salty.

We know it was just an old car hooter, really, don't we?

Anyway, it was being pushed by Bertram and it was very heavy.

"There, that should do it," said Bertram.

He looked up at the tennis ball floating above and then

he looked over at the top of a rock where Buster the crab

now stood with a small boulder.

"Ready when you are," called out Buster.

"Push," shouted Bertram.

Buster pushed the boulder and it dropped straight down with a plip

right onto the squishy end of the seagull honker.

It gave a "too-choo"

and shot a huge jet of air upwards through the shell.

The jet of air hit the tennis ball and with a "la-loop"

it popped out of the rock pool and landed on the rocks nearby.

"There," said a very satisfied Bertram.

"Job done."

Meanwhile, Sally had dragged her friends away

from a game of hide-and-seek to show them the tennis ball.

Andrew the anemone and Belinda the blenny gazed up.

The tennis ball was gone.

"Are you sure you saw something?" said Andrew.

"Yes," said Sally

but she had no idea where it was now.

Well, Andrew and Belinda decided to head back to their game

and Sally was left all alone.

Now, at that moment a cheeky seagull landed beside the rock pool.

It saw the tennis ball and thought it might make a tasty treat

so it tipped its hat... SALTY BARKS

Yes, Salty, all the seagulls in Staithes have hats, don't they?

It's funny that, yes.

Anyway, it picked the tennis ball up in its beak

and flapped off into the sky.

But the tennis ball was way too big for the seagull's beak

and after a moment he squawked and dropped it.

The tennis ball tumbled back down and landed, splosh,

back in the rock pool.

Sally looked up.

"Oh, the tennis ball, it's back," she shouted

and she dashed off to tell her friends.

Well, Bertram heard Sally's shout, too,

and he looked out of his doorway and sighed.

"Oh, Buster," he called.

"It's back. Get a bigger bolder."

Once again Bertram and Buster wheeled the seagull honker outside.

This time, Buster heaved a medium-sized boulder

right onto the squishy end.

There was a mighty "sha-boosh"

and the tennis ball was sent spinning out of the rock pool.

It landed on a seaweedy piece of sand far away.

"There," said a very satisfied Bertram.

"Job done."

Meanwhile, Sally had brought her friends back to see the tennis ball.

"There. Look," smiled Sally.

"But where is it?" Asked Belinda quietly.

They looked up.

The tennis ball had gone.

"It was there.

"I'm sure it was," cried Sally.

Andrew and Belinda shook their heads and went back to their game.

Sally didn't know what to do.

Now, the tennis ball didn't stay long on the seaweedy piece of sand

because a little girl called Sue found it

and Sue was practising her cricket shots.

She threw the ball up in the air and, whack,

hit it with the cricket bat.

It sailed up, up, up into the air

and do you know where it landed?

Yes, you're right. Yes, right back in the rock pool where it started.

Splosh.

Oh, Reginald closed a weary eye.

There were a lot of tennis balls landing in his rock pool today.

Down below, Sally heard the splosh of the tennis ball landing

and she looked up.

"It's back!" she yelled.

"My tennis ball is back."

This time, Andrew and Belinda came rushing over and they saw it, too.

SALTY BARKS Yes, I know, I know, Salty.

You're not the only one who gets excited about tennis balls.

"Wow," said Andrew.

"You were right. That's amazing."

Sally was very pleased.

"It's come back to see me," she smiled.

But just as she was speaking,

"Heave!"

They all heard the sound of Buster giving his mightiest heave.

This time he was pushing a huge boulder.

It landed with a mighty "floop" on the squishy end

of the seagull honker and

"fwoo-shoo",

a jet of air hit the tennis ball

and it flew out of the rock pool high,

high in the air and landed far, far away

in the big wide sea.

"Perfect," said a very satisfied Bertram.

"That's got rid of it once and for all."

"No," cried Sally. "My tennis ball.

"It's gone forever."

Well, although Bertram was only trying to keep the rock pool tidy,

he didn't like to see Sally looking sad.

"You know, Sally," he said.

"Tennis balls don't really belong in rock pools.

"Why don't you go and see where it is now?"

So, Sally swam up to the surface,

crawled onto the rocks using all of the suckers on her little arms

and she sat gazing out to sea.

"I'll never see it again," she sighed.

But then, there was a distant "boing"

and suddenly the tennis ball flew up in the air.

Sally stared and do you know what you saw?

SALTY BARKS Yes, that's right, Salty. Yes.

She saw two very, very happy blobfish playing a lovely game of catch.

They had got their ball back again.

So, Bertram's seagull honker

had been helpful after all.

Well, Sally was thrilled.

Yes, the tennis ball was doing what tennis balls do best,

bouncing and whizzing around

and the two blobfish,

they were having the time of their lives.

"My tennis ball has gone to a very happy home," smiled Sally

and she watched the blobfish play catch

all day long until the sun finally dipped down into the sea

and disappeared behind the horizon.

Now, while we had been gazing into the rock pool,

do you know what had happened?

A seagull had found my tennis ball,

picked it up in his beak

and flown off into the sky.

"Look," shouted Ernie, "That's the tennis ball."

As it flew over the beach, it let out a squawk and, of course,

it let go of the tennis ball.

You knew that was going to happen, didn't you? Yes, of course you did.

The tennis ball dropped right onto the driftwood

we were using as stumps and knocked it down.

Well, Ernie and I almost fell over laughing.

"I think you're finally out," I said to Sue.

"Well, I'm not sure that's in the rules," she replied

but she was laughing. too.

So she let me and Ernie have a go at batting

and we played and played until the tide started to come in

and covered the rock pool like a great seaweedy blanket.

OLD JACK LAUGHS

Go on, Salty.

She's been wanting to do that all day.

So, why don't you join us for some more Rockpool Tales next time?

What a good girl. Good girl.

Goodbye.

Come on, then.

Are you ready? Are you ready?

Go on, Salty.