The Shooting Stars Old Jack's Boat

Good day to you.

# This is the place to be For Salty Dog and me

# Down by the harbour we'll be there

# Round every corner there's something to share

# Give us a cheer Our friends are here

# Just Salty Dog and me. #

Ha-ha, come on, Salty!

# This is the place to meet

# Down at the end of the street

# Seagulls flying up in the blue

# There's always a cup of tea waiting for you

# Out in the sun, having some fun Just Salty Dog and me

# Haul away, haul away Sing the song of the sea

# Hoist the sail, I'll tell you a tale of Salty Dog and me

# This is the place to go

# And these are the people we know

# The village is busy with things to see

# And there's the Rainbow down by the quay

# There's stories to tell, join us as well, just Salty Dog and me. #

MOBILE PHONE BLEEPS

SEAGULLS CALL

There she is, the Rainbow!

Well, what have you got for us today, me dear?

STEAM WHISTLE

Hey-hey! Come on, Salty.

JACK HUMS ABSENT-MINDEDLY

Here we are.

TIMBERS CREAK

STEAM WHISTLE

There!

Now, you settle yourself down, girl.

Today, Salty, is nap day. Ha-ha!

I'm going to sit in my chair

and have a well-deserved snooze.

Yeah?

No jobs to do. Everything in the village is quiet.

Perfect! Ah!

HE SIGHS

-Are you ready with that switch, Sam?

-Almost ready, Ernie.

Ho-ho! Jack's going to love this!

As soon as you're ready, we'll give him a call.

-It'll be a wonderful...

-Surprise?

-Absolutely! Hee-hee!

Ready!

Great! Let's give it a go.

WHIRRING

Ha-ha!

Huh?! What? What?!

'Jack? Jack!'

Ernie?

Jack! How are you doing?

What? Well, my lights just came on.

Is this anything to do with you?

It is! We've managed to make a little contraption.

When Ernie needs to speak to you by speaking tube...

I just press a button

'and then all your lights come on'

and you know it's me!

But I, I didn't want my lights on! I'm trying to have a snooze!

Oh.

Ah.

Can you switch 'em back off?

Er... (Can we?)

(I've no idea!)

Can we get back to you on that one, Jack? Over and out!

Right. Thanks, Ernie(!)

Huh! I'm not going to get much peace today

with the lights going on and off.

Oh! Do you know, it's like that time

we had a visit from the shooting stars.

Do you remember, Salty?

Oh! You settle down, I'll tell you the story.

This will wiffle your whiskers!

Once upon a twinkly time we set off from Staithes,

waved goodbye to Whitby and disappeared over the horizon.

Well, late that night, we were gliding along

and everything was silent and still,

with just the duf-duf-duf-duf-duf of the engine.

# Just Salty Dog and me

# Sailing on the sea

# Staring at all of the stars in the sky

# Asking 'em questions and wondering why

# Heading home soon by the light of the moon

# Just Salty Dog and me. #

Ha-ha-ha!

But then, boof-whoosh!

And I looked up.

There was a shooting star.

It fell across the sky

zooming down, down, down towards the horizon.

"Look, Salty", I said. "Shooting stars are lucky.

"You should make a wish." Ha-ha!

Salty wished for a nice, juicy bone

but then, all of a sudden, whoosh!

I saw a second shooting star. Whoosh!

And then a third. Whoosh! And then a fourth!

And, whoosh! Shooting star number five!

I looked into the distance where the shooting stars had landed

and I could see a glowing light twinkling on the water.

"Salty," I said, "this is mysterious."

"Let's take a look."

As we got closer, the air got brighter

until it was as bright as day,

even though it was still the middle of the night.

And then I saw where the light was coming from.

Five little shooting stars

were bobbing up and down just on top of the water.

They were shining so brightly

that they lit up the waves and the clouds

and everything in between.

And they were giggling!

They sang,

# "Ha-ha-ha, hee-hee-hee!

# "Shooting stars from the sky are we!" #

And they went shooting off!

They went whoosh! Heading for land, burning as bright as can be.

I said, "I'd better keep an eye on them."

And then I fired up the engine

and Salty and I zoomed across the waves as fast as we could.

We reached the village but the shooting stars had got there first.

They danced and bobbed and jiggled all around the houses

and the whole village became as bright as day.

The shooting stars sang,

# "Ha-ha-ha, hee-hee-hee!

# "Watch us shine so joyously!" #

Miss Bowline-Hitch, oh! She came out in her pyjamas.

She said...

Good morning, Jack! Oh, dear me! I'm late!

I must get to work! I'm busy-busy!

I said, "But it's not the morning. It's ten past midnight."

But how is that possible?

..Said Captain Periwinkle.

It's as bright as day! What do I do? Is it day or is it night?

Pip and Olive appeared in their bedroom window.

Is it morning?

..They said. And then I saw Ernie.

He was standing in the street in his dressing gown.

I'm running late, Jack! I didn't hear me alarm go off!

I said, "Well, no wonder! It's ten past midnight!"

Don't be daft! It's as bright as day! And I'd better sell me fish!

Fresh fish! Lovely fish! Everybody! Wake up!

And then Emily ran past, in her nightie, saying...

Good morning, Jack! I'm ever so late!

I didn't realise it was daytime!

I said, "It isn't! It's ten past midnight!"

And Emily said...

Don't be daft!

I've got to sell my lovely ice cream on a sunny day like this!

Well, I looked around. Everyone was up and about.

All of them in pyjamas and nighties and dressing gowns

and all looking round, confused, saying...

What time is it? Is it day or is it night?

I called out, "Listen to me, everyone!

"It's the middle of the night!

"All the daylight is coming from them!"

Everyone looked up.

And there were the five little shooting stars

dancing about and singing,

# "Ha-ha-ha, hee-hee-hee!

# "We are shining brightly!" #

Miss Bowline-Hitch said...

Oh, no! I'm too tired to be busy-busy!

And Ernie said...

Oh, no, I'm going to be exhausted in the morning!

And the whole village started grumbling. Sam said...

We're so tired, we want to sleep!

Can't you turn the light off, little shooting stars?

Now the shooting stars looked a little bit sad. They sang,

# "Oh, dear, dear, oh, woe is me!

# "Don't you like our shining spree?" #

-And everybody said...

-No!

I felt a little bit sorry for the shooting stars.

I said to them, "You think you're being nice and kind,

"lighting everything up, but people like a bit of darkness now and then.

"They need the night so they can get some sleep, cos sleep is lovely.

"Once you've had a good sleep,

"you're all refreshed for the next morning.

"So I think it's best if you go shooting back up into the sky."

And all the villagers shouted, "Yes, please!"

But then the shooting stars looked even sadder. They sang,

# "Oh, dear, dear, a small hiccup!

# "Stars fall down but can't go up!" #

I said, "Does that mean you've got to stay down here?"

And they said, "Yes, it's true. Poor little us.

"Now we're stuck with all this fuss."

I looked all round, and I don't mind admitting, I was worried.

I said to myself, "What can we do? What CAN we do?"

And then I saw it.

The Rainbow. My lovely old boat.

The answer to all our problems.

I called out, "This way, little stars!

"Gather yourselves in my fishing net."

Well, the shooting stars did what I asked, and then,

with Salty's help, I scooped them into the funnel of the Rainbow.

Then I stoked up the engine,

building up more and more power, until she was fit to burst.

And then I pulled down on the whistle.

WHISTLE

And with a great big puff of smoke, the stars went, whoosh!

They flew out of the funnel and all the way up, up, up into the sky,

back where they belonged.

All the light disappeared and suddenly it was night-time again.

The villagers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew-hoo-hoo!" They looked up at the sky and called out...

-Thank you, little stars. Bye-bye!

-Bye-bye!

And far up above, the distant stars twinkled.

And I could hear their tiny voices carrying through the night air.

# "Ha-ha-ha! Bye-bye-bye!

# "Thank you, Jack We had to fly!" #

And then I looked at all the people in their pyjamas. I said, "Come on.

"Come on, you lot. Time you were back in bed. Ha-ha!

"Good night, everybody!"

-And the whole village said...

-Good night!

Then everyone went back to bed.

Soon, all you could hear was the sound of snoring.

I looked around.

Everything was peaceful and still.

The people were back in their beds and the stars were back in the sky.

Just as it should be. "There you are. All back to normal," I said.

It was quite it was quite an adventure. Don't you think, Salty?

Salty? Salty!

There was no reply. I looked around.

And guess what? Hoo-hoo-hoo!

Salty was fast asleep.

RAINBOW WHISTLES

There. Try that.

Er, we think we can switch your lights off now, Jack.

Thanks, Ernie.

MACHINE WHIRRS

You've done it!

Marvellous! We've done it!

Good! Just...one small problem.

I can't switch the lights back on again.

Oops!

Technical hitch, Jack. We can't seem to switch your lights back on again.

-Oh, really?

-Sorry, Jack.

Don't worry, you two, this is just perfect.

Yeah, but you've hardly got any lights!

Like I said, it's just perfect.

Yeah, but, Jack, what we can actually do is, we can switch

'the polarity and the feathers will go the other way round, so...'

Ha-ha! Now, time for that nap, I think.

Hmph! See you soon! Ha-ha!

Oh. Ah, peace at last.

Ah!