THE PUDDLE PIXIES - CHAPTER 7 - BIG JACK LITTLE JACK

In New Puddlington, the preferred form of transport is the puddalo. However, if the Puddle Pixies want to visit their friends at other puddles, it is not always possible to use the puddaloes, as the channels of water in between the puddles often dry up.

And so, the New Puddlington Council decided to start a bus service. They bought a selection of vehicles from the Pixie Bus and Coach Company. There were double decker roofmasters, special buses with open tops (for use in warm weather and longer trips to the seaside); some single deckers which were suitable for most routes, and, best of all, several bendy buses for use on the longer, winding routes.

So that the pixies could easily see which bus was coming along, and where to wait for it, instead of numbering the buses, they were painted in different colours, one colour for each route, and the bus stops were painted to match. The Bendy Buses were painted in stripes of rainbow colours, as befitted the pride of the New Puddlington Bus Fleet.
Puddle Pixie Jack was extremely interested in buses of all kinds. Some days he would just sit outside, watching the buses coming and going, and noting down which colours he had seen, where they were going and whether they were running to timetable. He had a special notebook for this purpose, which he always kept in his pocket.

Often he would go for a ride on a bus, just for something to do.

One day he was sitting by the Brown Reed Puddle waiting for the yellow bus which would take him home to the Fairpuddle. He looked at his watch, and discovered that the bus was already five minutes late, which was most unusual for pixie buses. Suddenly he heard a flapping of wings overhead, and a messenger pigeon wearing a rainbow coloured Bus Company hat flew down and perched on top of the yellow bus stop beside Jack. Clearing his throat, he announced:

‘The Pixie Bus Company is sorry to inform all passengers for the 5pm bus to the Fairpuddle that it has broken down and has had to go back to the
garage for repair. There is no replacement available, so the next bus
will be in two hours’.

And with a shake of his beak, off he flew to the next stop. Jack scratched his head. ‘What shall I do’ he thought, climbing on to a large white rock to get a better look round. ‘Mum will be getting worried if I am much later’.

Then, he felt the strangest sensation – he was being lifted gently into the air!
Closer and closer came the clouds, and, when he dared to look down, the puddle seemed very far below. Looking up, he saw a strange sort of crystal roof above him, and heard a very loud voice saying:

‘I DO BELIEVE IT’S A PIXIE!’

Jack put his hands over his ears, for the voice was so loud it made his head ache to listen. Through the crystal, he saw what looked like a very large pair of eyes looking down at him. ‘No need to shout’ Jack said crossly. ‘SPEAK UP boomed the voice ‘I CAN’T HEAR YOU!’ ‘Hmm’ thought Jack ‘This conversation is not getting very far!’

Now, because Jack was interested in absolutely everything, including the smallest of flowers and the tiniest of insects, he always carried a magnifying glass in his pocket. He got is out and peered through it. Being a Magic Pixie Magnifying Glass, if you looked through the green tinted side, things became larger, as you would expect. However, if you looked through the yellow tinted side, everything appeared smaller. And, best of all, if you unscrewed the tip of the handle, there should be some of the very special magic pixie dust hidden inside! Of course, this was a very useful feature for the Puddle Pixies, who were very small compared, say, to humans; so small in fact that humans couldn’t see them very well, and often things seemed so large they couldn’t make out what they were, and noises seemed much louder too.

Jack hoped there was still some of the dust left, and unscrewed the end carefully. Great! There was still quite a lot of the wonderful dust inside. Carefully he poured a little into the palm of his hand, saying a magic rhyme:

Pixie dust, Pixie dust,
Here in my hand
Make this voice quieter
Let me understand!

as he sprinkled it onto the yellow side of the magnifying glass. When he held it up to his eyes, the loud voice became softer, and through the lens he could see the face of a young boy about his own age, staring back at him.

‘Are you a Pixie?’ asked the boy. Jack replied: ‘Yes, I am a Puddle Pixie. Are you a human?’ ‘Yes I am’ said the human boy. ‘My name is Jack’. ‘But that’s my name too’ said Puddle Pixie Jack, looking quite astonished.‘That’s amazing’ said Human Jack. ‘We shall have to call each other Big Jack and Little Jack. What are you doing here?’

So Big Jack sat down by the side of the puddle, carefully holding Little Jack in his hand. Jack told his story of how he had been out riding on the buses, then his bus had not turned up and he had suddenly been lifted up into the air by a big rock!

Big Jack laughed so much his glasses fell off. Little Jack laughed too, and his glasses fell off as well, which made them laugh even more! Both boys suddenly noticed how very alike they looked too. After chatting for a while, they realised that they had a great deal in common as well as their names – for Big Jack loved buses too, and often went bus spotting in the Human World. He usually wore glasses, and like Little Jack, carried a magnifying glass so that he could study interesting little things as he went along, although of course his was just a human glass, which could only make things larger.

And, nicest of all, they found that they both loved music, and both played the guitar and keyboard!

Eventually, both Jacks thought it must be time to go home. Little Jack told Big Jack that he still had about an hour to wait for the replacement bus to take him back to the Fairpuddle.
‘Bye then, Big Jack’ Little Jack said to his new friend. ‘I shall just have to sit here and wait for the next bus’. Big Jack laughed. ‘No you won’t’, he said. ‘Let me take you. It shouldn’t take long as my legs can take much bigger steps than yours. Just show me the way’.
So off they went together, with Big Jack carrying Little Jack balanced carefully in the palm of his hand. Within just one minute, following Little Jack’s directions, they had arrived at Little Jack’s house near the Fairpuddle.

They said a fond farewell, and promised to keep in touch. For ever after that, whenever there was a school holiday or just a nice day, Big Jack would appear at the Fairpuddle and wait for his friend to come out to meet him. Then off they would go exploring, and Little Jack saw many interesting sights and had many great adventures travelling on the human buses.

The other Puddle Pixies soon got used to seeing Big Jack, who looked like a huge giant to them, and looked forward to his visits; and although they were afraid of him at first, they soon became his friends too.

So you see, folk may look different, but they are often the same as you when you look just a little closer!