Anna and Roy both loved the sea. Roy liked the smell of the seaweed and the fossils you could find on the beach. Whilst Anna liked watching the seagulls spiral above her, and standing with her back to the oncoming waves, and feeling them break around her.
So their perfect day out was to leave their homes in the New Town, cross over the river Gurgleglug using the Bridge of Spires, walk right down to the airport, and then along the coastal road to Hudson Beach.
If it wasn’t the weekend, then Hudson Beach was normally quite empty: Just a huge stretch of sand over a mile long, and about three playgrounds wide. The sand was softer than a blanket up by the dunes. And then, once you got closer to the sea, it was slightly rougher - good for getting your grip when the water washed over you, and for finding shells.
On this particular day, Anna and Roy were walking right down by the shore, making their way all the way to one end of the beach and back again, when Anna looked out at the old pier.
“It’s such a shame,” she said. “Nobody ever does anything to rescue that old thing.”
It was true. Hudson Beach Pier had once been a wonderful place for everyone. With cafes on it, and arcades full of the best computer games - and even an amusement park. It had over five thousand lights on it. And at night it would light up like a spaceship from another galaxy.
But two years ago a huge storm had battered the pier, and broken it. So that now it was impossible to walk from the beach out to the end.
And because nobody could get on it, nobody had fixed the poor cafes and amusement arcades and rides. And during the next winter, after the winter that brought the first storm, there was even more high winds. And the windows got broken, and lots of the old lights blew down.
“I wish,” said Anna, “that I could go back in time and go back on that pier just once more. And then build a machine that made sure the storm never happened.”
Roy was staring at something up by the sand dunes. “Well I don’t have a weather reverser machine,” he said. “But we could use that over there…”
Anna and Roy approached the old boat and looked over it. It was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. But at least that meant it was light enough for them to drag down to the water. They climbed in as the boat began to float and then both took one oar each and paddled out towards the pier.
Up close, it looked huge and daunting. The big rusty metal supports looked like huge robot legs, all covered in slimy seaweed and shells.
Anna spotted some metal stairs towards the pier’s end, that must have once been used for people to walk down on to pleasure boats. They pulled up along side the platform at the bottom, used a very straggly piece of old rope to secure their little craft, and headed up the steps together.
There they were! Standing on Hudson Beach Pier! Almost certainly the first people to do so in two years! It felt like they had a theme park all to themselves!
They noticed a door to one of the arcade pavilions had blown open so it was easy to walk inside. But as soon as they did so, they felt overwhelmed.
The old games machines stood silent, and the huge ceiling stretched up and around and over them. In the centre of the pavilion the floor changed from carpet to wood. “The old dance floor!,” said Anna. “I used to dance on here with mummy and daddy!”
As the memories came rushing back, Roy dashed out onto the middle of the wooden dance floor and spun around. “Let’s dance!” he said, and Anna ran, laughing, out to join him. They danced and danced around the huge empty floor, imagining the room was full of lights and applauding spectators.
They took a bow to the invisible audience, and then - catching their breath - returned outside.
The rollercoasters and rides were at the very end of the pier. “Ohh! I used to love this one,” said Roy, pointing at a rollercoaster. “The Dancing Squirrel! It was brilliant!”
Anna had walked over towards the side of the pier where a large windmill stood with its blades locked up. She undid the bolts, and the windmill - with a creak - began to turn again. Faster and faster, until it was running as smoothly as it used to! It seemed happy to be free to spin again!
As it spun, something very peculiar happened. Music started playing in the amusement arcades, and the lights on the Dancing Squirrel rollercoaster began to flash into life.
“It’s the electricity windmill!” said Roy! “It powers the pier! You’ve got it working again!”
At that moment, the train on the Dancing Squirrel rollercoaster came crashing around the corner, lights ablaze, and stopped in the station. Anna and Roy jumped on and it pulled itself up the first big hill and then toppled down and around all the twists and dips and turns as Anna and Roy screamed with amazement and fright!
But not only did they have the Dancing Squirrel to go on as many times as they liked… They had EVERY ride to go on, and go on them all they did until the sun began to set and they climbed into their little boat to paddle back to shore.
That night in her room, Anna laid out a large piece of paper and began to draw Hudson Beach Pier in all it’s glory.
“We must bring the pier back so everyone can enjoy it,” she muttered to herself. And then texted the same to Roy.
A few seconds later, Roy text back:
‘It would be a dream come true.’
That night, both Anna and Roy both had dreams of the pier being repaired, and then reopening to huge crowds, and everyone riding on the Dancing Squirrel.
The next morning at Half Hitch school, Anna saw Roy in the playground.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“I’ve been thinking, too,” said Roy.
“You first,” said Anna.
“No, you first,” said Roy.
They both paused and then said together:
“I think dreams should always come true.”
And it was at that moment that Anna and Roy decided, that no matter how difficult it was going to be, they would reopen the pier on Hudson Beach.
