A Wand for the Big Bubbles

Click, clack. Click, clack. Knut and Dinkabel walked across the stone ceiling. Their magnetic boots held on tight to the rock. Far below their feet, soft lavender clouds floated in the air. Down was up, and up was down. Blue water splashed and trickled upward like tiny fountains. Knut smiled. His pink heart-shaped head felt warm and bright. Dinkabel smiled too. Her square head bobbed as she walked, and her bright rainbow skin looked cheerful in the soft light.

Beside a hanging rock, Dinkabel stopped. She pointed with her rainbow finger. "Look, Knut!" she said. "There is a little hole in this rock."

Knut leaned forward. His cozy space suit made a quiet swishing sound. Inside the dark little hole sat a folded piece of paper. Knut reached out with his pink fingers. He pulled the paper out of the stone. Crinkle, crinkle went the paper. He unfolded it flat against his knee.

"It is a map!" Knut said happily.

Dinkabel leaned in close. Her gentle round eyes opened wide. The map was drawn in bright blue ink. It had round drawings that looked just like the giant shiny bubbles floating outside. Next to the bubbles, the paper had little pictures. One picture showed a stick. Another picture showed a bubble going pop! When the bubble popped, the drawing showed a swirling rainbow door. Right beside the door was a picture of their round dome home.

"The map says we need a magic wand," Dinkabel said. She tapped the drawing of the stick. "We must pop the bubbles. Then the rainbow door will open and take us home."

Knut looked up at the floating bubbles. He looked down at his empty hands. He did not have a magic wand. Where could they find a wand on an upside-down planet? He checked the map again. Blue ink footprints led right into a big forest of upside-down trees.

Knut and Dinkabel started walking again. Click, clack, click, clack went their boots on the stone ceiling. Soon they reached the woods. The trees were upside-down! Their big brown trunks grew out of the ceiling above, and their bushy green tops hung down toward the purple sky. Soft green leaves brushed against Knut's shoulders. The leaves felt cool and damp.

"We need to look for a wand," Knut said. He peered under a big mossy rock. There was only a tiny purple pebble.

"Nothing here," Dinkabel said cheerfully. She looked behind a tall hanging mushroom. There was only a drop of blue water trickling up into the sky. They walked deeper into the strange woods. They looked high, and they looked low.

Then Knut stopped. He saw something under a patch of green ferns. The ferns hung down like little green fans. Underneath them, lying right on the ceiling floor, was a stick. It was long. It was brown. It was very smooth and straight.

Knut bent down. He picked up the brown stick with both hands. It felt smooth and cool against his pink palms. It was not too heavy, and it was not too light. It felt just right.

"Dinkabel, look!" Knut said. His warm aura glowed a little brighter. "I found a stick!"

Dinkabel ran over. Her boots went click, clack on the rock. She touched the smooth brown wood. "It is a very good stick," she said, clapping her hands. "It looks just like the wand on the paper map!"

Knut held the stick up high. Swish, whoosh! He gave the stick a gentle wave through the cool air. Out past the green trees, a giant bubble floated by in the lavender sky, waiting to see what the new wand would do.