Vaila looked out the window and saw that it was raining. At her house, Sophie looked out the window and saw that it was raining. At her house, Georgie looked out the window and saw that it was raining. And at his house, Herc looked out the window and saw - that it was raining.
“Never mind,” said Vaila’s Daddy.
“It will soon stop,” said Sophie’s Mummy.
“And when it does,” said Georgie’s Mummy.
“We might have a wonderful surprise,” said Herc’s Mummy.
Vaila, Sophie, Georgie and Herc, all went to the window and waited for the surprise - but all they could see was rain, rain and then, some more rain.
Over at Sam’s house, he looked out the window and saw that it was miserable outside. It made him feel a bit miserable INSIDE, but no more miserable than he already was, because he’d hurt his leg dancing, and even if it was sunny he wasn’t allowed to go outside and run around. He was to sit still, and let his leg heel.
“When will it stop raining?” Said Sam.
“When the clouds go to sleep,” replied Sam’s Daddy, wisely. “Now you just concentrate on getting your leg better by sitting as still as you can."
This was not good news to Sam. But at least it wasn’t sunny outside, if it was sunny outside then he’d be extra jealous, because he wouldn't be allowed to go out and play out in it anyway.
He thought about what options he had. He couldn’t play out of doors, he couldn’t play indoor either because he had to rest his leg. He didn’t have a TV… or a computer. He did have some books, but he was sure he’d read them all already. He decided he only had one option left: He decided to make a wish.
Sam hadn’t made that many wishes before, because he wasn’t even quite sure who you wished to. Was it the fairies? Was it the elves? Was it the dragons? Did you make one wish to some and other wishes to others?
He thought that the thing he’d like most was to see his friends Vaila, Georgie, Sophie and Herc. What if they could just appear? And he’d like it to stop raining. And he’d like to be able to run around on his leg. And he was hungry. He’d love a cake.
Well that was a lot of wishes, thought Sam. Maybe he was being greedy, and surely not one magical creature would be in charge of all those wishes.
He decided that the most important was to see his friends. Then he wouldn’t care about the rain and he wouldn’t care about his leg and he wouldn’t care if he was hungry.
So he closed his eyes and imagined an elf with a big book that had lists of everyone’s friends in it.
“Please, good Elf” wished Sam, concentrating very hard. “My name is Sam. And if you check against my name you’ll see the names of my friends: Vaila, Georgie, Sophie and Herc. I’d love to see them very, very much but my leg is hurt and I can’t leave the house. Thank you. Sam.”
Slowly, Sam opened his eyes. But the room was just the same.
At her house, Vaila stared out of the window. The rain stopped. At her house, Sophie stared out of the window. The clouds got lighter. At her house, Georgie looked out of the window, the sun broke through! And at his house, Herc stared out of the window - the sky showed patches of blue!
“Muuuum!” shouted Vaila, Sophie, Georgie and Herc - all their own houses. “It’s stopped!!”
“Well that means,” said Vaila’s Daddy.
“That if you go outside,” said Sophie’s Mummy.
“Then you might find,” said Georgie’s Daddy.
“The surprise I promised!” said Herc’s Mummy!
Vaila, Sophie, Georgie and Herc all rain outside. The grass and the path were still wet from the rain, but the warmth of the sun spread across their faces.
And there it was - the big surprise. A rainbow!
Back at Sam’s house, things had taken a turn for the worse. Sam looked out of the window and saw that not only had it stopped raining, there was a big, beautiful rainbow up in the sky.
“Daaad!” said Sam. “This isn’t fair!”
“Just you sit still and let you leg get better and never mind about rainbows!” said Sam’s dad.
Meanwhile, Vaila, Sophie, Georgie and Herc, all walked out onto their street and saw each other.
“Can you see it!” Vaila shouted.
Herc’s mum laughed from the doorway. “And guess what you find at the of a rainbow,” she called.
“GOLD!” they all screamed.
“Then run off and find it,” said Herc’s mum.
Vaila, Sophie, Georgie and Herc all ran off in the direction of the rainbow. They crossed the Bridge of Spires, and headed towards the meadows.
“You know what’s under a rainbow?” said Georgie.
“Gold,” said Herc.
“No, no. Gold’s at the end. You know what’s UNDER it?”
“What?” said Vaila?
“A banquet,” said Georgie.
“What’s a banquet,” said Herc and Vaila.
“Like a feast, but even better,” said Sophie.
“And you can have whatever you like to eat. Anything.” confirmed Georgie.
“Well I like the sound of that more than the gold,” said Herc. “I’m hungry. Gold or blanket?”
“Banquet! Not blanket!” said Vaila. “And I’m hungry too. Banquet?”
“Banquet!” said the others.
But now the rainbow was in the opposite direction! They ran as fast as they could, back over the Bridge of Spires, and back into town.
“It’s getting closer”
They chased and they chased until they got to the outskirts of town, and found themselves out of breath but directly beneath the rainbow.
A strange, golden light filtered down and landed on —
“Hey! That’s Sam’s house!” said Vaila.
Sam’s house was bathed in golden light. They all walked up cautiously, and knocked on the door.
It took a minute, but then Sam answered - holding a big cake - his mouth totally full.
“Oh! Hello!” said Sam. “You won’t believe what’s just happened!”
He led them indoors to his sitting room, where he’d been sat for two days waiting for his leg to get better. But now, it was full to the ceiling of cakes and chocolate and rice pudding and candysweeties.
The gang didn’t wait to ask where it had come from, and just got stuck in.
Sam ran around, chasing a cloud of blue cotton candy.
“Hey!” said Georgie. “I thought you’d hurt your leg?”
“Well it’s amazing,” said Sam, jumping off the couch and catching the cotton candy cloud in both hands, “It’s amazing what magic a rainbow, and seeing your friends, can do.”
And you know what? High, high above them, an Elf closed his big book and smiled to itself. “Well, that’s certainly true, Sam” it chuckled.
“That’s certainly true.”
