It can be hard for three people to live in a small apartment in Tokyo, mostly unable to go outside, especially if one of the people is a demanding three year-old. So I have been trying many different ways to keep a small child amused. One way has been to make up stories with him. We start with, “Once upon a time”, and continue from there. Mostly I continue the story, but my son makes things up too.
Here is an example of a story which my son and I came up with together. Can you guess which bits were created by a three year-old?
The Little Sumo and the Moon Cola (part 1):
Once upon a time, the little sumo, who was three years old, was walking the streets of Tokyo with Mummy and Daddy.
“I’m thirsty,” said the little sumo.
“Okay,” said Daddy. “Let’s stop at a vending machine and buy something to drink.”
So they all walked until they came to a vending machine. If they hadn’t been so thirsty, they probably wouldn’t have noticed the vending machine. That’s because it was grey, and was the same colour as the wall behind it.
Mummy looked at the drinks on sale in the vending machine. There was Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Dr Pepper, and Moon Cola. Mummy read the list of available drinks aloud. “That’s a shame! They don’t have any water, or drinks the little sumo would like,” she said.
“I want moon cola!” said the little sumo.
“I’ve never heard of moon cola,” said Daddy. “It might be interesting to try it.
So they decided to buy some moon cola, and give it a try.
Mummy gave the little sumo a coin to place in the vending machine. The coin was round and silver, and the light sparkled from it. The little sumo put it into the slot in the vending machine.
Mummy pressed the button for the moon cola, but nothing happened. “That’s strange,” she said. “The moon cola is not coming out of the machine.”
“Try and get your money back then,” said Daddy. “It must be sold out.”
But the money was not returned either. The vending machine seemed to have swallowed it up, and was not going to give it back.
“Let me try!” said the little sumo. And he pulled on the front of the vending machine.
It opened, like a door!
Inside, there was no cola to be seen, and no money. But there was a little square space, like in an elevator.
The little sumo stepped inside. Mummy and Daddy went inside too, to have a look around.
Just thenthe door closed behind them! For a moment it was dark, but soon a pale grey light began to shine inside the little box. Then they could hear a voice – a sort of shiny, metal, vending machine voice – and it was saying, “Five, four, three, two, one…”
“Oh dear,” said Mummy. “I hope we will be all right.”
*
I don’t want to make this blog post too long. So I’ll post the second part of the story next week. I hope the family will be all right. I wonder if the little sumo will ever find his moon cola?
Vocabulary:
a vending machine–a machine which sells things such as food and drinks
to sparkle – to shine brightly with flashes of light
“That’s a shame” – That is very unfortunate, or regrettable
a slot – a small, narrow space for inserting something such as a coin
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