BB? in a children’s story …

Reproduced with permission of copyright holder.

The Adventures of Bob, Boo and Baby Ben

A Nana Lovely and DanDan Good Story

Leprechaun Juice

Bob, Boo and Baby Ben went to stay with their grandparents. They were going into town to watch the festival. This would be a normal weekend for any child, except that Bob, Boo and Baby Ben’s grandparents were… superheroes. Nana Lovely and DanDan Good acted like average elderly people most of the time, but when their Bad Vibes Machine went off, Nana Lovely and DanDan Good leaped into action.

This weekend there was a festival in a nearby town and Bob, Boo and Baby Ben had gone to watch all the morris dancers. After they’d watched the parade and a few different teams dance, Nana Lovely said it was time for lunch. Everywhere was full up with all the people from the festival but they managed to find an empty table at a local Irish Cafe, ‘The Crock of Gold’.

“Why’s it called the Crock of Gold,” asked Bob.
“Because the people who own it are Irish, and they believe that there’s treasure at the end of the rainbow,” said DanDan Good.

“What rainbow?” asked Boo.
“Any rainbow,” said Nana Lovely. “Not that I can see one today. It’s far too nice a day for a rainbow.”

“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

“So what do you boys want for lunch?” asked Nana Lovely. “Shall we get some drinks first?”
“I’ll have a blackcurrant juice,” said Bob.
“That sounds good,” said Nana Lovely. “I think I’ll have one too.”
“I’ll have an orange juice,” said Boo.
“That sounds good,” said DanDan Good. “I think I’ll have one too.”
“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

Their drinks came quickly.

“I needed that,” said Bob.
“Watching morris dancing is thirsty work,” agreed Boo.
“Goo goo gah gah,” joined in Baby Ben.

“Ooh, look at your tongue, Bob,” said Nana Lovely. “It’s turned purple!”
Bob laughed and stuck his tongue out again.

“What about me?” asked Boo. “Has my tongue turned orange?”

He stuck his tongue out. Everyone stared.

“What’s wrong?” asked Boo.
“Your tongue,” said Bob. “It’s green!”
“But you were drinking orange juice. How can that be?” asked Nana Lovely.

Orla Brams, the owner of the cafe, came over to see what was going on. “Oh my, that’s odd. Never mind young man, we can make this better,” she said. “Follow me.”

So Boo followed Orla Brams to a room out the back.

“That’s more than just odd,” said DanDan Good. “Something’s not right here.”

“You’re right, “ agreed Nana Lovely. “We should be prepared for anything. Maybe we should go and see what’s going on.”

But just at that moment, Orla Brams reappeared at their table.

“Your young man is perfectly fine now. Perhaps you’d better come to the back room to collect him. Please follow me.”

Nana Lovely and DanDan Good led Bob and Baby Ben to the back room where they were in for a big surprise. Boo was there, but now he was all green, with a beard, and a funny little suit and hat. In fact, he looked for all the world like…

“A leprechaun!” exclaimed Nana Lovely. “What on earth have you done to him?”

Orla Brams smiled. “Just a little potion. It makes him stronger and more willing to work hard. The fact he is now a leprechaun is just our little fun!”
“But why?” asked Nana Lovely. “What are you going to do with him?”
“He’s going to help us find the crock of gold,” said Orla Brams as she opened a door to a large warehouse and gestured to hundreds more ‘leprechauns’ like Boo. “Along with all of them.”

The leprechauns were lined up, waiting to go outside. At the sound of a bell, the outside doors opened and an army of leprechauns marched out under the biggest, brightest rainbow Bob and Baby Ben had ever seen.

“Where did that rainbow come from?” asked Bob. “It wasn’t there earlier.”
“Goo goo gah gah,” agreed Baby Ben.

Orla Brams laughed. “I know how to make a rainbow and have re-created one here for my purposes. Each time the bell rings, a mixture of rain and sunshine mix together in this machine and a huge rainbow shines out of the end. It takes a long time for the mixture to be just right and the rainbow doesn’t last very long so we have to be ready with a new set of leprechauns every time the bell rings. They then have to find the end of the rainbow and start digging. We have hundreds more already out there trying to find the gold. And we will carry on sending more and more out until we get that crock of gold,” said Orla Brams, her eyes glinting in the dark.

“Are these all children?” asked Nana Lovely.
“Oh yes,” said Orla Brams. “We tried the potion on all ages but it seemed to work best with the younger children. Just like your young man.”
“So what about their families? You’re not just going to let us go now, are you?” asked Nana Lovely.

“Oh no. Not that anyone would believe you if you told them any of this, but no, you’re not going anywhere. There is a family room for you to, er, rest in. Come this way.”

“We have no choice,” whispered Nana Lovely to Bob and Baby Ben. “Just do what ever she says, and we’ll come up with a plan to save Boo later. Trust me.”
And with that Nanna Lovely patted both Bob and Baby Ben on the back and they followed Orla Brams to the family room, where they found thousands of sleeping relatives.

“Why don’t they just wake up?” asked Bob.
“Because they can’t!” laughed Orla Brams, and she sprinkled some fairy dust over the group.

Immediately they began to yawn and slowly sank to the ground in a deep sleep.

“Sleep well,” grinned Orla Brams, as she left the room.
DanDan Good’s right eye opened slowly. He looked about him carefully to make sure they were alone.

“It’s ok. She’s gone,” he said.

Nana Lovely sat up and looked around. “Thank goodness we prepared ourselves for a fairy dust attack. But turning children into leprechauns. How are we going to fix this?”

DanDan Good sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this. We need something magical. And it needs to be powerful to change all these people back to how they were.”

Bob and Baby Ben sat up. “How come we’re not asleep?” asked Bob.

“I thought she may try something like that,” said Nanna Lovely, “ so I put a protective patch on your backs. No fairy dust can get through that.”

Some music started up outside and they could hear the clash of sticks and the tinkle of bells.

“I can hear morris dancers,” said Bob.
“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

Nana Lovely recognised it. “It’s the Beerbelly Bedlams. I rather enjoyed watching them dance this morning. They’re based here in this town, you know. I’ve seen them before…” she trailed off, lost in thought.

DanDan Good smiled. “What have you remembered?” he asked.

“The last time we saw them they did that ‘magical’ dance. The one that ends with all their sticks pointed up in between the dancers to make an arch.”

“The fairy arch?” said Bob
“That’s it!” said Nana Lovely. “We’ll get them to do their Fairy Dance.”
“Do you really think it’s magical?” asked DanDan Good.
“I don’t know,” said Nana Lovely. “But it’s got to be worth a go. This is what we’ll do…”

And she explained her plan.

There was a window in the family room, but it was very small, so Bob and Baby Ben climbed out, leaving Nana Lovely and DanDan Good to sort out Orla Brams and the leprechauns.

“Hello,” said Bob.
“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

“Hello,” said the leader of the Beerbelly Bedlams. He was a tall, beardy man with a very loud voice.

“My brother’s in a bit of trouble,” said Bob. “We need your help. Can you do your fairy dance? Not here. Round the back of this cafe.”

The tall man agreed and led the Beerbelly Bedlams round to where the warehouse doors opened on to the rainbow.

“I hope this works,” said Bob. “Is this dance really magic?”

The tall man smiled a magical smile. “It’s that time of day. Can you feel it? There’s magic in the air…”

And the Beerbelly Bedlams started their dance.

Inside, DanDan Good heard the music and smiled.

“Good lads,” he said. “Come on Nana Lovely. We’ve got work to do!” They slipped out of the family room and headed back to the warehouse.

The Beerbelly Bedlams danced their magical dance. It was indeed magic. With every clash of the sticks sparks flew until the sky was aflame with flashes of light. As the dance reached its climax, DanDan was ready. As soon as the music stopped he rang the bell and opened the door to the outside. Hundreds of leprechauns were lined up ready to march outside. But instead of walking out under a rainbow, they now walked out into a magical fairy arch. And what a fairy arch it was. One little leprechaun would enter but, out the other end, came a little boy or girl. Again and again this happened until no more leprechauns were left in the warehouse. Just hundreds of little children, confused and wondering where their mummies and daddies were. Including Boo.

“Don’t worry,” shouted Nana Lovely leading a large group of people from the family room. “Here are your parents. A little sleepy still, but here for you.”

“Hello,” said Boo.
“Hello,” said Bob.
“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

“Brothers!” said Nana Lovely.
“They love each other really,” said DanDan Good.

Suddenly into the warehouse burst Orla Brams.
“What is going on here? Did I hear the bell ring? Why did the door open? It isn’t time! The rainbow isn’t ready!”

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the huge crowd of people in front of her. And no leprechauns.

“Ah,” she said. “That’s a shame. Now I’ll have to stop you all.”

“Oh no you don’t!” shouted Boo and he grabbed one of the Beerbelly Bedlams’ sticks and pointed it straight at Orla Brams.

Sparks flew and everyone watched as Orla Brams turned slowly into a leprechaun herself.

“A fitting end,” said Nana Lovely. “Come on. Let’s put her in the Super-Powered Mobility Scooter and we can drop her off in Ireland. She can while away her years making shoes with all the other leprechauns.”

Just before they left, Bob, Boo and Baby Ben went up to the Beerbelly Bedlams.

“Thanks for saving us,” said Bob.
“I never knew you guys were really magic,” said Boo.
“Goo goo gah gah,” said Baby Ben.

The Beerbelly Bedlams just smiled, and danced away.