“Could you set the table now?” said Mummy.
“I can’t,” replied the Little Sumo. “I’m trying to catch a mosquito.”
Daddy walked into the living room. “What do you mean? I can’t hear any mosquitoes in here. Mosquitos make a kind of Nyaaang noise when they fly past your ear. Did you hear a Nyaaang noise?”
The Little Sumo thought about it. “Huuumh,” he said.
“Huuumh?” said Daddy. “Does that sound mean that you are thinking about my question?”
“No,” said the Little Sumo. “That’s the noise I heard when something small flew past my ear. It made a Huuumh noise, not a Nyaaang noise.”
Mummy came in from the kitchen, carrying a big bowl of salad. “I’ve never heard of a mosquito that makes a Huuumh noise,” she said. “Maybe you imagined it.”
“I did not imagine it!” exclaimed the Little Sumo. “If I imagined a noise, I would imagine a Whooklakloo, or a Pfthlimnani noise, not a Huuumh noise.”
“Well, anyway,” said Daddy. “I’m getting hungry.”
“Yes, me too.” said Mummy. “Go and fetch the chopsticks.”
The Little Sumo knew that when Mummy and Daddy were hungry, they would not be willing to listen. So he ran out of the living room to get the chopsticks for everyone. Then he had a good idea. Whooklakloo! he thought. What a good idea! And before he went to the kitchen to fetch the chopsticks, he quickly went over to his toy box and picked out one important item that he would need to use to find the mosquito.
Mummy and Daddy were munching on their salad, and chatting about their work. The Little Sumo sat quietly in his high chair, sometimes eating his salad, and sometimes stopping to listen hard for the mosquito. The secret item he had taken from his toy box was hidden in his pocket.
“I accidentally sent an email to the wrong person,” said Mummy, and Daddy laughed.
The Little Sumo ignored them, put a carrot into his mouth, and thought about the problem. He had heard that mosquitoes liked to suck people’s blood. Blood is red. He chewed his carrot. So then maybe if I leave out something red for the mosquito, it will fly towards it, he thought.
Carefully controlling his chopsticks, he picked out a single bright red mini tomato from his salad bowl, and placed it on his paper napkin on the table.
“What’s wrong with your tomato?” asked Mummy.
“It’s dirty,” said the Little Sumo. “It’s got something on it.”
“Oh,” said Mummy. “I thought I had washed everything carefully enough. Just leave it there until you have finished your dinner then.”
The Little Sumo heard a Huuumh noise go past his ear. He looked at the mini tomato, and he thought he could see something tiny land on it. Quickly, he pulled the item out of his pocket, which was a magnifying glass. The Little Sumo knew that if you put a magnifying glass over something small, it looks bigger. So he put the magnifying glass over the mini tomato.
“Hey, what are you doing?” said Daddy. “Concentrate on eating your salad. It’s not play time now.”
But the Little Sumo wasn’t paying much attention to Daddy. He was staring through the magnifying glass. Under the magnifying glass, he could see a little doughnut-shaped flying ship. Three little legs were attached to the bottom of the doughnut ship, and these were touching the mini tomato. Just then a door opened in the body of the doughnut ship, and a green head came out. Three blue eyes stared through the magnifying glass and up at the Little Sumo from the green head. And as the Little Sumo watched, the green head seemed to get bigger. Maybe the little alien is growing, he thought. Or maybe I am shrinking!
*
Oh dear! Is the Little Sumo going to be kidnapped by a mosquito sized alien? Will Mummy be angry if he doesn’t finish his dinner? Find out next time in part 2.
Vocabulary:
to set the table – to prepare forks, plates etc. on the table before dinner
to fetch something – to go and bring something back
to munch on something – to chew something steadily and noisily
to shrink – to become smaller
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