In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we meet a little boy named Tommy who is stuck at home with the chicken pox on his birthday. It seems like the day isn't going to be much fun, until his uncle turns up with a stinky old pair of shoes that just so happen to possess magic powers! Relax, get sleepy, and let's begin.
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:13
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:19
Speaker 1: a dream. Today's list of new subscribers is another whopper.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: I just can't get over it. Having you all joined
00:00:26
Speaker 1: the Cocoa Club is so very special. With all your support,
00:00:29
Speaker 1: we really are over the moon. So thank you today, Xana,
00:00:35
Speaker 1: Alice and Melody, Sally jd Iolo, Bronwyn and Ari Annewyn, Miles,
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Emma and Tavia, and finally to Anastasia. Oh, in fact,
00:00:49
Speaker 1: happy birthday to you, Anastasia, for just like the boy
00:00:52
Speaker 1: in tonight's story, it's going to be your special day tomorrow,
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Coco and I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating.
00:01:00
Speaker 1: Poor Tommy in our story tonight is not having a
00:01:03
Speaker 1: great time unfortunately, well not yet, things might change. He's
00:01:09
Speaker 1: a bit down because he's stuck in bed on his birthday. Luckily,
00:01:13
Speaker 1: before he starts feeling too sorry for himself, his uncle
00:01:17
Speaker 1: brings him a special birthday gift, two stinky old trainers
00:01:21
Speaker 1: from an antique shop. However, he tells Tommy they're actually
00:01:27
Speaker 1: magic shoes. Let's see if he's right. Since we're thinking
00:01:31
Speaker 1: about shoes and feet. Let's start our bedtime relaxation there,
00:01:37
Speaker 1: lie back in bed and wriggle your toes, spread them out,
00:01:42
Speaker 1: bunch them up, curl them over, make them really move.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: That's it. Point and flex your feet too, and maybe
00:01:51
Speaker 1: circle them around ah, and then circle them the other
00:01:56
Speaker 1: way too. I bet they're feeling a bit weary now,
00:02:00
Speaker 1: so let them come to stillness and let them relax
00:02:05
Speaker 1: anyway they want to. Oh, and breathe out. Breathe in
00:02:10
Speaker 1: slowly and then out again. Hopefully your feet now feel
00:02:16
Speaker 1: all tingly and relaxed and very happy, and your mind
00:02:20
Speaker 1: feels calm and still too. It's now time for me
00:02:26
Speaker 1: to begin. Tommy's Magic Shoes by Jane Thomas. Tommy was
00:02:37
Speaker 1: busy feeling very sorry for himself. Well, you would probably
00:02:42
Speaker 1: be feeling very sorry for yourself too if you were
00:02:45
Speaker 1: stuck at home in bed with chicken pox. And you
00:02:49
Speaker 1: would be feeling extra sorry for yourself if you were
00:02:53
Speaker 1: stuck at home in bed with chicken pox, and it
00:02:56
Speaker 1: was your birthday, the one day of the year when
00:03:00
Speaker 1: all about you and none of your friends are allowed
00:03:03
Speaker 1: to come near. This was the last day Tommy had
00:03:07
Speaker 1: to stay in his room tomorrow he'd be able to
00:03:10
Speaker 1: go outside again. But tomorrow was a Monday, which meant
00:03:14
Speaker 1: he would just go back to school. What was the
00:03:18
Speaker 1: point he thought to himself, of having his birthday on
00:03:21
Speaker 1: a weekend If he wasn't able to have a party
00:03:24
Speaker 1: or do anything. It would be years until his birthday
00:03:27
Speaker 1: fell on a weekend again, a many forever until he
00:03:31
Speaker 1: didn't have a school day for a birthday. His mother
00:03:34
Speaker 1: had slipped a birthday cake around the door for him,
00:03:38
Speaker 1: eight candles lit and dancing in the breeze from the
00:03:41
Speaker 1: open window, waiting for him to blow them out. They
00:03:45
Speaker 1: had all stood outside his door, his mother, his older brother,
00:03:49
Speaker 1: and his little sister, singing Happy Birthday as loudly as
00:03:52
Speaker 1: they could, with Henry the dog barking and howling along
00:03:56
Speaker 1: with them. Tommy couldn't decide who he missed the most.
00:04:01
Speaker 1: He missed the playing football with his brother. He missed
00:04:04
Speaker 1: helping his sister set up everything for her Teddy Bear
00:04:07
Speaker 1: tea parties. And he missed throwing the ball for Henry
00:04:12
Speaker 1: and being licked all over and snuggled and snuffled by
00:04:16
Speaker 1: the big goofy dog. After Tommy had blown the candles out,
00:04:21
Speaker 1: his mother reached around the door to collect the cake
00:04:24
Speaker 1: and cut him a big thick slice. There was two
00:04:28
Speaker 1: layers of chocolate sponge with lots of cream in the middle,
00:04:32
Speaker 1: and on the top were freshly sliced strawberries. About half
00:04:37
Speaker 1: way through the slice, his face and hands getting quite
00:04:41
Speaker 1: covered in chocolate and cream, his mother tapped on the door.
00:04:45
Speaker 1: I have a real treat for you, Tommy, she said.
00:04:50
Speaker 1: Tommy shut his eyes and hoped with all his might
00:04:54
Speaker 1: that maybe she had counted the number of days wrong,
00:04:57
Speaker 1: and actually he was allowed out of the room to day.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: After all. He crossed his fingers behind his back for
00:05:04
Speaker 1: good measure. That always helped bring some extra luck. Your
00:05:09
Speaker 1: uncle Fred's coming to visit, his mother said, and he says.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: She went on that he's got a very special present
00:05:18
Speaker 1: for you. Tommy didn't say anything. He looked at the
00:05:23
Speaker 1: closed door and rolled his eyes. Don't roll your eyes
00:05:29
Speaker 1: like that, his mother said. How did she know he
00:05:32
Speaker 1: was rolling them? How did she always know? He's come
00:05:37
Speaker 1: a long way to see you. And I'm sure it'll
00:05:40
Speaker 1: be an excellent present this time. I'm sure of it.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: I feel it in my bones. Tommy wasn't sure how
00:05:47
Speaker 1: to reply, so instead He climbed back into bed and
00:05:51
Speaker 1: pulled the blankets right up to his chin. He stared
00:05:55
Speaker 1: at the ceiling and thought of the various presents Uncle
00:05:59
Speaker 1: Fred had given him over the years. The thick wooly
00:06:03
Speaker 1: gloves with the left one missing three of the fingers.
00:06:07
Speaker 1: The kit to make a MODELAA plane, only when he'd
00:06:10
Speaker 1: got to adding the wings he realized they weren't there.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: The magician's kit that had only half a pack of cards,
00:06:18
Speaker 1: and the bottom third of the ten Top Tricks booklet
00:06:21
Speaker 1: had been cut off, so he could start a lot
00:06:24
Speaker 1: of tricks but not finish them. Uncle Fred always found
00:06:29
Speaker 1: presents in junk stores. Tommy knew that junk stores were
00:06:33
Speaker 1: really treasure troves, and if you looked hard enough, you
00:06:36
Speaker 1: could find some amazing things in them, But Uncle Fred
00:06:40
Speaker 1: seemed to have a knack for finding everything that was
00:06:43
Speaker 1: absolutely useless. There was one good thing about his uncle, though,
00:06:49
Speaker 1: and that was listening to his stories. He had spent
00:06:54
Speaker 1: years traveling all around the world. Because of him, Tommy
00:06:59
Speaker 1: had learned about amazing places and he couldn't wait to
00:07:02
Speaker 1: visit them himself. One day. He would definitely go to
00:07:06
Speaker 1: the festival in Spain where people wore white shirts and
00:07:10
Speaker 1: threw tomatoes at each other. That sounded like a lot
00:07:14
Speaker 1: of fun. And there was a festival in Thailand where
00:07:18
Speaker 1: people threw water at each other for an entire day.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: Uncle Fred had also been to a festival in India
00:07:26
Speaker 1: where people threw every color of powdered painted each other
00:07:30
Speaker 1: until they were covered from head to toe in a swirling,
00:07:34
Speaker 1: whirling rainbow. Come to think of it, Uncle Fred seemed
00:07:39
Speaker 1: to go to a lot of festivals that involved people
00:07:42
Speaker 1: throwing things at one another. Tommy had seen photographs of
00:07:47
Speaker 1: the Amazonian jungle have an endless sea of green, the
00:07:52
Speaker 1: trees wrapped with vines, and bright blue and red parrots
00:07:56
Speaker 1: flying high in the branches. He had seen pictures of
00:08:00
Speaker 1: the sands of the Sahara Desert golden and red peaks
00:08:04
Speaker 1: glowing in the evening sun. Uncle Fred had shared paintings
00:08:10
Speaker 1: he had brought back from Australia, patterns of colored dots
00:08:14
Speaker 1: showing kangaroos leaping in among great curving sweeps of green
00:08:19
Speaker 1: and yellow. He had been sent postcards showing the Great
00:08:23
Speaker 1: Barrier reef with fish and coral that seemed to exist
00:08:28
Speaker 1: in colors he had never seen before, and others from
00:08:33
Speaker 1: the highlands of Scotland with ancient castles that had stood
00:08:37
Speaker 1: for a thousand years or more. Tommy longed to visit
00:08:42
Speaker 1: a real castle one day. Of all the things he
00:08:47
Speaker 1: wanted to see in the world, a castle was at
00:08:50
Speaker 1: the very top of the list. He didn't really mind
00:08:54
Speaker 1: which castle, as long as it was a real one,
00:08:58
Speaker 1: an old one, and he could imagine men clunking along
00:09:03
Speaker 1: the stone corridors in suits of armor and women in
00:09:07
Speaker 1: wide skirts and pointed hats. He hoped that one day,
00:09:12
Speaker 1: when he was old enough, his uncle Fred would take
00:09:15
Speaker 1: him to Europe and together they could tour for weeks
00:09:18
Speaker 1: on end castle after castle, imagining the lives that were
00:09:24
Speaker 1: lived all those centuries ago. He was just beginning to
00:09:29
Speaker 1: forget that he had chicken pox and that he was
00:09:32
Speaker 1: stuck in bed all alone on his birthday when he
00:09:35
Speaker 1: heard another knock at his door. Tommy, his mother said,
00:09:40
Speaker 1: are you awake? All things considered, Tommy decided a visit
00:09:46
Speaker 1: from his uncle, even if he was carrying another useless present,
00:09:51
Speaker 1: was better than no visit at all. So he called
00:09:55
Speaker 1: back and said, yes, he was awake. The door o
00:10:00
Speaker 1: opened wide, and in Strode his uncle Fred a long
00:10:05
Speaker 1: purple coat flapping around him as if he were part magician.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: You can't come in, said Tommy, waving his arms to
00:10:15
Speaker 1: show the spots. Look, I have chicken pox, Uncle Fred,
00:10:20
Speaker 1: get back, His uncle laughed and kept on coming. He's
00:10:26
Speaker 1: already had chicken pox, his mother called from behind the door,
00:10:30
Speaker 1: closing it gently. As Uncle Fred sat down on the
00:10:34
Speaker 1: edge of the bed, the purple coat fell in soft
00:10:39
Speaker 1: velvet folds across the blanket. Uncle Fred grinned at Tommy
00:10:45
Speaker 1: and handed him an elaborately wrapped present with complicated bow
00:10:51
Speaker 1: piled next to complicated bow. Tommy shook it carefully and
00:10:56
Speaker 1: heard something bang around inside the box. What is it?
00:11:02
Speaker 1: He asked? Don't you think you should just open it
00:11:07
Speaker 1: and find out? As Tommy started to unwrap the yards
00:11:12
Speaker 1: of blue ribbon, his uncle told him about his latest trip.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: He had been visiting Argentina, living in Buenos Aires for
00:11:21
Speaker 1: months and learning how to tango. He stood in the
00:11:24
Speaker 1: center of the room and swept around an imaginary woman
00:11:29
Speaker 1: held in his arms, dipping and turning, sliding and whirling
00:11:33
Speaker 1: to the unheard music. He told Tommy all about Santelmo,
00:11:39
Speaker 1: the oldest part of the city where he had found
00:11:41
Speaker 1: a small apartment that looked out onto a square. Every Sunday,
00:11:46
Speaker 1: he said, there was an antiques market in the square,
00:11:50
Speaker 1: with people coming from far and wide to share their treasures.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: He had spent hours rubbing lamps in the hope's genies
00:11:59
Speaker 1: would emerge, and peering into windows to see if magic
00:12:03
Speaker 1: talking faces would suddenly appear, But he said he had
00:12:08
Speaker 1: triumphed in the end. A stall holder, a tiny old
00:12:12
Speaker 1: woman with a dark red shawl wrapped around her shoulders,
00:12:16
Speaker 1: had convinced him that what Tommy had there in the
00:12:20
Speaker 1: box was the most amazing gift of all. And in
00:12:26
Speaker 1: that moment, Tommy finally unwound the final ribbon and the
00:12:30
Speaker 1: paper fell away to show a simple cardboard box. He
00:12:35
Speaker 1: closed his eyes and silently wished with everything he had
00:12:40
Speaker 1: that this would be the one time Uncle Fred had
00:12:44
Speaker 1: managed to find the perfect present. Opening his eyes, he
00:12:49
Speaker 1: reached into the box and poured out a plain blue shoe.
00:12:55
Speaker 1: The box still had some weight to it, so he
00:12:58
Speaker 1: reached in again and called out a second plain blue shoe.
00:13:03
Speaker 1: Tommy looked for the problem. There was a left shoe
00:13:07
Speaker 1: and there was a right shoe, and they both matched.
00:13:12
Speaker 1: That was a good start. They had clearly been worn before,
00:13:16
Speaker 1: and whoever had sold them hadn't bothered to do a
00:13:19
Speaker 1: very good job of cleaning them. And leaning in closer,
00:13:23
Speaker 1: Tommy took a tentative sniff and realized that the seller
00:13:26
Speaker 1: had done a terrible job of getting rid of the
00:13:28
Speaker 1: smell inside. He pulled back and coughed. Well, sorry about that,
00:13:34
Speaker 1: said Uncle Fred. A bit of a whiff, isn't there.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: But it's worth it their magic shoes. Tommy raised an eyebrow.
00:13:45
Speaker 1: He had spent an entire summer learning how to raise
00:13:49
Speaker 1: a single eyebrow, and it had been absolutely worth it
00:13:53
Speaker 1: for moments like this, An awful lot can be conveyed
00:13:57
Speaker 1: when you raise just the one eyebrow he had found. No, okay,
00:14:03
Speaker 1: you think I'm nuts, said Uncle Fred. That's fine, but
00:14:08
Speaker 1: I'm telling you these are magic shoes, the lady promised me,
00:14:16
Speaker 1: and I would have checked for it myself, only they
00:14:19
Speaker 1: didn't fit my feet, not even close. I thought they'd
00:14:24
Speaker 1: be perfect for you. Try them on, won't you. Tommy
00:14:29
Speaker 1: wasn't quite sure he wanted to put his feet into
00:14:32
Speaker 1: something so smelly, but he climbed out of bed and
00:14:35
Speaker 1: went over to the dresser. To grab some socks for
00:14:39
Speaker 1: good measure. He pulled on a second pair, hoping his
00:14:42
Speaker 1: uncle wouldn't notice. The shoes fit perfectly. Tommy bounced on
00:14:48
Speaker 1: his toes a little, taking exaggerated steps this way and that,
00:14:52
Speaker 1: to see if his feet felt good in them. They were,
00:14:55
Speaker 1: without a doubt, and most comfortable shoes he had ever worn.
00:15:01
Speaker 1: Come on, let's test them properly. Into the garden, we go,
00:15:06
Speaker 1: said Uncle Fred, jumping up and striding across to the window,
00:15:10
Speaker 1: purple coat floating behind him. And before you say we can't,
00:15:16
Speaker 1: he said, it's perfectly safe. I've put a ladder by
00:15:20
Speaker 1: the window for you to climb down, so you don't
00:15:23
Speaker 1: need to walk through the house, and and your brother
00:15:26
Speaker 1: and sister are staying safely indoors. You need some fresh air. Besides,
00:15:33
Speaker 1: it's your birthday. Let's go. He opened the window and
00:15:39
Speaker 1: pointed down towards the ground. Tommy peered out, and sure enough,
00:15:45
Speaker 1: there was a ladder. Balloons had been tied to every step,
00:15:50
Speaker 1: and at the bottom was a huge Happy Birthday banner
00:15:54
Speaker 1: pinned in place on the grass with the help of
00:15:57
Speaker 1: some obliging flower pots. Tommy's uncle went first and climbed
00:16:02
Speaker 1: down a few steps, waiting for Tommy to swing his
00:16:06
Speaker 1: legs over the window sill and follow him down. Together,
00:16:10
Speaker 1: they descended a step at a time, Tommy suddenly feeling
00:16:15
Speaker 1: a little bit silly in his favorite dinosaur pajamas, but
00:16:20
Speaker 1: at the same time very happy to feel the sun
00:16:23
Speaker 1: on his face. Once more, right, said Uncle Fred. Let's
00:16:30
Speaker 1: test these shoes. Then all you have to do is
00:16:35
Speaker 1: say I wish I could and fill in the sentence,
00:16:41
Speaker 1: and the shoes will make it happen. Tommy's mind went blank.
00:16:47
Speaker 1: Have you ever found that, in those moments when something
00:16:51
Speaker 1: wonderful can happen and all you need to do is speak,
00:16:55
Speaker 1: you suddenly can't think of anything at all to say.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: He looked down at the shoes and tried to think
00:17:02
Speaker 1: of something really good that he could do. Nothing was
00:17:07
Speaker 1: coming to him. It was probably because he'd been ill,
00:17:11
Speaker 1: he thought to himself, and sitting around in his room
00:17:14
Speaker 1: all day quite alone, had stopped his brain from working properly.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: He'd missed talking to people. He'd even missed talking to
00:17:25
Speaker 1: the birds on the way to school and asking the
00:17:28
Speaker 1: cows in the field how they were doing, and waving
00:17:32
Speaker 1: at the postman as he went by On his bicycle.
00:17:36
Speaker 1: Then Tommy remembered his uncle showing him the tango moves
00:17:41
Speaker 1: he'd learned, and he had his very first wish. I
00:17:47
Speaker 1: wish I could dance, he said. Nothing happened. Of course
00:17:52
Speaker 1: it didn't. His uncle had maybe managed to get a
00:17:56
Speaker 1: pair of something at last, but they couldn't possibly be
00:18:01
Speaker 1: magic shoes. Just because there was a left one and
00:18:06
Speaker 1: a right one didn't mean they would suddenly turn him
00:18:09
Speaker 1: into a ballerina. Give them a chance, Tommy said his uncle.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: Come on, try and dance a bit. Get them started.
00:18:22
Speaker 1: I need some music. I can't just dance, said Tommy.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: So his uncle disappeared inside and came out with an
00:18:30
Speaker 1: old radio, where he sat and twiddled the knob for
00:18:34
Speaker 1: a while until some music started pouring out. The music
00:18:39
Speaker 1: was as old as the radio itself, with rock and
00:18:42
Speaker 1: roll sounds suddenly crackling their way out through the ancient
00:18:47
Speaker 1: speaker and into the garden. Tommy felt his left shoe
00:18:52
Speaker 1: start to tap. He looked down and saw his right
00:18:57
Speaker 1: shoe twitching. He wasn't sure what to do, but he
00:19:02
Speaker 1: jumped up in the air and waited to see what
00:19:04
Speaker 1: happened when his feet hit the ground. As it was.
00:19:08
Speaker 1: They barely touched the ground at all. Tommy's feet flew
00:19:13
Speaker 1: across the garden, spinning his body round and round, making
00:19:18
Speaker 1: him leap across the flower beds and slide his way
00:19:22
Speaker 1: past the rockery. His whole body shook in perfect time
00:19:27
Speaker 1: to the music, and his feet danced as if they'd
00:19:32
Speaker 1: been dancing this way for years. He danced over the dahlias,
00:19:37
Speaker 1: he flashed past the fuchis, and he tapped and pirouetted
00:19:42
Speaker 1: and moon walked his way over the little bridge that
00:19:46
Speaker 1: ran over the duck pond. As the music came to
00:19:50
Speaker 1: an end and the presenter started talking, Tommy's feet slowed down.
00:19:57
Speaker 1: The shoes seemed to almost be breathing on their own,
00:20:01
Speaker 1: the tongues hanging out and panting, tired from all the dancing.
00:20:07
Speaker 1: Inside the house, his brother and sister and mother watched
00:20:12
Speaker 1: through the window and clapped and cheered. Tommy hadn't known
00:20:17
Speaker 1: they were there, and he turned to wave at them.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: A huge smile stretched across his face. What's next, asked
00:20:27
Speaker 1: his uncle, his face glowing with excitement. I knew they'd work.
00:20:33
Speaker 1: I just knew it, he said. They're amazing, said Tommy.
00:20:39
Speaker 1: The best and most brilliant, incredible, fantastic, wonderful, awesome shoes
00:20:47
Speaker 1: of all time, forever and ever and ever and ever.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: I'm going to try soccer next. Uncle Fred dashed over
00:21:00
Speaker 1: to the shed and rummaged around, emerging a few moments
00:21:04
Speaker 1: later carrying a soccer ball. I wish, said Tommy, leaving
00:21:10
Speaker 1: a dramatic pause for a proper build up to his
00:21:13
Speaker 1: big moment. I wish I could play soccer better than
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Ronaldo and Messy and Beckham all rolled into one. Uncle
00:21:27
Speaker 1: Fred stood in the goal at the end of the
00:21:30
Speaker 1: garden and waved his arms around. He bounced up and down,
00:21:35
Speaker 1: ready to dive in any direction. Tommy took a run
00:21:40
Speaker 1: up and kicked the ball, sending it flying into a
00:21:44
Speaker 1: perfect sweeping curve into the top corner of the net. Gold.
00:21:51
Speaker 1: He yelled and ran around the garden, arms outspread, leaning
00:21:56
Speaker 1: his head back and feeling the victory. He tried again
00:22:01
Speaker 1: and again, putting the ball further back and at angles
00:22:06
Speaker 1: that should have been impossible, but every time he kicked
00:22:10
Speaker 1: the ball it found the back of the net. He
00:22:14
Speaker 1: tried it with his left foot, and he tried it
00:22:17
Speaker 1: with his right foot. He tried it with no run
00:22:20
Speaker 1: up at all, and he tried it with the longest
00:22:23
Speaker 1: run up he could manage in the garden every single
00:22:27
Speaker 1: time he scored. I wish I could climb to the
00:22:33
Speaker 1: top of any tree, Tommy said, And suddenly he was
00:22:38
Speaker 1: able to shimmy up even the tallest trees that swayed
00:22:42
Speaker 1: back and forth in the breeze. He said, hello to
00:22:46
Speaker 1: the squirrels on the way up, and how do you
00:22:49
Speaker 1: do to the sparrows on the way down. I wish
00:22:54
Speaker 1: I could jump as high as the house, Tommy said,
00:22:58
Speaker 1: And there he was jumping up and looking down on
00:23:02
Speaker 1: the rooftops and seeing all the gardens lined up in
00:23:06
Speaker 1: the distance. He saw mister and Missus Bell from next door,
00:23:11
Speaker 1: sitting in deck chairs and drinking cups of tea that
00:23:14
Speaker 1: they spilled the moment they saw him waving at them.
00:23:18
Speaker 1: He saw mister Dingle and his dog Boxter, and Baxter
00:23:23
Speaker 1: barked and barked when he saw Tommy flying high with
00:23:26
Speaker 1: the birds, and then barked and barked some more because
00:23:31
Speaker 1: mister Dingle stood there open mouthed and quite forgot to
00:23:35
Speaker 1: throw the ball again for Baxter. Tommy spent hours in
00:23:40
Speaker 1: the garden dancing and kicking soccer balls and climbing trees
00:23:46
Speaker 1: and jumping high into the sky, and finally, just as
00:23:51
Speaker 1: the sun was starting to set, he had one last wish.
00:23:58
Speaker 1: I wish I could go back to bed, he said,
00:24:03
Speaker 1: And the shoes guided him over to the ladder and
00:24:06
Speaker 1: slowly and carefully walked him back up the rungs and
00:24:11
Speaker 1: led him over the window sill and back towards the bed.
00:24:17
Speaker 1: His uncle followed him and took off the shoes, swinging
00:24:22
Speaker 1: Tommy's legs over and covering him up with the blanket.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Now that wasn't such a terrible birthday, was it, said
00:24:31
Speaker 1: Uncle Fred, And he didn't mind at all that Tommy
00:24:35
Speaker 1: didn't reply, because, being tired out from all the dancing
00:24:40
Speaker 1: and jumping and climbing and playing, Tommy was already fast asleep.
00:24:48
Speaker 1: Uncle Fred picked up the shoes and put them back
00:24:52
Speaker 1: in the box, placing them beside the bed so that
00:24:56
Speaker 1: they'd be the first thing Tommy saw when he woke
00:24:59
Speaker 1: in the morning. He didn't want Tommy to think that
00:25:03
Speaker 1: perhaps it was all just a dream, because it wasn't.
00:25:08
Speaker 1: It had been magically, wonderfully, impossibly real. So Uncle Fred
00:25:16
Speaker 1: went over to the window and softly oh so gently
00:25:21
Speaker 1: drew the curtains, he tiptoed across and turned off the light,
00:25:28
Speaker 1: opening and closing the bedroom door as quietly and carefully
00:25:33
Speaker 1: as he could, so there was just one very small,
00:25:38
Speaker 1: almost silent click as the door shut behind him, and
00:25:44
Speaker 1: Tommy slept and dreamed of running faster than the wind
00:25:49
Speaker 1: through fields, and dancing his way across the tops of oceans,
00:25:56
Speaker 1: and climbing his way to the tops of taller and
00:26:01
Speaker 1: taller trees to look out at the views easing their
00:26:06
Speaker 1: way into the distance before him. It turns out, you
00:26:11
Speaker 1: see that there is magic in the world, just sometimes
00:26:18
Speaker 1: you need to wait a while for the perfect moment
00:26:22
Speaker 1: and for it to find its way to you.