Three weeks ago, Kit and his younger sister Kaolin had read about a competition in the Horsmarlonerpool Trumpeter newspaper to see who could send in the best story. It could be about anything, so they’d both planned out an exciting adventure about a family of octopuses who lived deep in the Albion Sea. Kaolin had typed it up, and then they’d e-mailed it in on their pooter. I mean their computer.
Then, just yesterday, there was an announcement in the newspaper saying that they’d won first prize. And TODAY that prize arrived outside their house in a big truck. It was an enormous trampoline.
Well at first their mummy and daddy had said “Well how’s that going to fit in our garden? It will take it all up!” But when they’d seen the neighbors looking, and Kit had reminded them that they’d won a prize, both their mummy and daddy changed their tune and proudly said to the neighbors “Yes, we’ve won a prize” before taking the huge boxes through the house to the garden.
At first, Kit and Kaolin played on their trampoline a lot. It was fun to bounce around - and it was a very bouncy trampoline. But after a few days of bouncing, they bounced less. And then sort of stopped. To be honest, they’d got a bit bored of bouncing.
“Why aren’t you bouncing on our prize?” asked their Daddy. “It will just rot away if you don’t use it.”
But that wasn’t true. Trampolines don’t rot away just if you don’t use them for a while.
But after a couple of weeks, after some jumping about in the rain and mowing the grass and digging up plants had all splattered the poor trampoline a bit - it was true that it looked a little bit mucky.
“Why don’t you clean our prize,” said mummy. “All the neighbors will think we don’t like it.”
Well - Kit and Kaolin did look after their things generally, so one sunny afternoon they filled two buckets with warm soapy water and two sponges and started soaking down the legs of the trampoline with suds.
“Kit,” said Kaolin after a while. “Remember when we washed mummy and daddy’s car and the sprites appeared? The cleaning sprites?”
Oh yes, Kit remembered alright. The cleaning sprites had appeared once they’d started washing the car - and they’d made it glow. So today, as their sponges spread the soapy bubbles all down the trampoline, they hoped that the Sprites might visit again.
And sure enough, very slowly, Kit was sure that he began to see a face in the metal that he was cleaning. And at the very same time, Kaolin was certain that she could begin to see a face in the metal that she was cleaning.
And she spoke first. “Are you the sprites,” Kaolin asked. “Are you the cleaning sprites?”
The face in the metal looked at her. “It’s good to see you again,” said the Sprite.
“And,” began Kit, “are you all here?”
Well as soon as he’d asked the question, both he and his sister saw - like the last time - hundreds and thousands of little faces behind the first sprite, going deep into the metal.
“And will you let us help?” asked the main Sprite.
“Sure!” said Kaolin. “Yes, please!”
There was a murmur of excitement from all the thousands of cleaning sprites that made the soapy water on the legs of the trampoline bubble.
But then Kaolin remembered her manners. “Oh. But first,” she said. “What’s your name?”
The first cleaning Sprite smiled. “Brillshine” he said.
“Well, Brillshine,” said Kit. “Away you go!”
Suddenly, the whole trampoline began to glow. And not just the legs, but the springs, and the netting, and the round circular base and even the bouncy material in the middle. It was as if the cleaning sprites had got themselves into every last atom of it.
And within a minute it looked ten times as clean as when it first slid out of the big boxes.
At that very moment, Mummy and Daddy came into the garden and stopped and stared at the trampoline.
“Well. You’ve done a good job,” they said.
As if drawn to it my magic, or maybe just because it was so shiny, both Mummy and Daddy climbed up onto the trampoline for the first time. And holding hands, they did their first big bounce.
But now something extraordinary happened. The springs were all so clean, in fact the whole thing was so clean, that it worked far better than it should do. And instead of just bouncing a few feet into the air, Mummy and Daddy were rocketed up out of the garden, though the sky like a firework, and into the high, fluffy clouds.
Kit and Kaolin stared at each other. “We’d better go and get them,” said Kaolin. And nervously, they both climbed onto the trampoline - held hands - and BOUNCED.
It felt like the best and scariest rollercoaster in the world. The wind against their faces as they hurtled upwards - at over four hundred miles an hour - up through the clouds and then - hanging in the air so they could look around before falling back - and with a ‘plumph’ landed on a cloud next to mummy and daddy.
To their surprise, Mummy and Daddy weren’t freaking out at all. The clouds were so soft and comfortable that they’d both gathered some up as a pillow and gone to sleep.
But that meant that it was Kit and Kaolin’s job to get them back down. They looked through the clouds and saw that their house and garden was so far below that they could barely see the trampoline. This would have to be a very, very good shot.
They waited for a slight breath of wind to blow them back over the garden and… “Now!”
They dug away the cloud around and underneath their Mummy and Daddy and then they both - silently - fell towards the ground. Kit and Kaolin watched helplessly from the cloud as their mummy and daddy slipped quickly through the sky and - BOUNCED! A direct hit on the trampoline! And if mummy and daddy were in the right position…
“Let’s go!” said Kaolin and she and her brother slid through the hole and fell breathlessly back to the trampoline and bounced and bounced up and down over a hundred times with their very confused - and now very awake! - mummy and daddy.
“We really must get rid of that thing,” said Daddy that evening. “It’s dangerous.”
But then, there was a knock on the door. Mummy answered it. A very smart looking lady stood there. “Hello,” she said. “My name is Athena Mintsauce. I’m a reporter with the Horsmarlonerpool Trumpeter newspaper. I understand you have a very, very bouncy trampoline?”
Well Kit and Kaolin’s mummy smiled proudly.
“Who is it?” asked Daddy from the kitchen.
“It’s a reporter,” said Mummy. “From the Trumpeter. She wants to write about our prize.”
“Our what?” asked Daddy, arriving at the door. “Oh our prize! Yes! Well this way, this way. Do come in, do! Let us show you how clean we keep it. That’s the secret you see.”
Kit and Kaolin looked at each other and smiled. They knew they had a very special trampoline indeed, and knew that they’d be keeping it for a very long time.
