In part 2, the Little Sumo and his family tried to get on a bus to Koenji, with their balloons. But the first bus had a roaring lion in it, and the second bus had a hissing snake. So they waited for the doors of the third bus to open.
*
“Ook! Ook! OOK!” came the noise from inside the bus.
“My goodness,” said Daddy. “What can that noise be?”
“It’s a gorilla!” said the Little Sumo. “Mummy, Daddy: I don’t want to get on this bus!”
*
They let the bus doors close without getting on. The sounds of the gorilla faded as it drove away.
“Let’s take a taxi,” said Daddy. “That should be less scary than a bus.”
So Mummy found a taxi which had a yellow light shining from it, showing that it was available for hire. The three of them got in the back, and put their balloons on the floor by their feet, while they fastened their seatbelts.
“Let’s count all the vending machines we pass on the way to Koenji,” said Mummy.
The Little Sumo liked vending machines. He had just counted to seventeen vending machines when the taxi arrived at Koenji. “Why are there so many vending machines in Tokyo?” he wondered. “What would happen if they all turned into evil robots and started attacking people by shooting cans of cola at them?”
Mummy paid the driver, and unfastened the Little Sumo’s seatbelt. “Let’s go to the little park with the swings and the slide!” she said.
So they all picked up their balloons and got out of the taxi. Then they headed towards the little park. It was a very small park, and surrounded by tall buildings. It was one of those funny little Tokyo parks which don’t have any grass – just fun things to climb up or slide down, or spin around on.
They all passed between two tall buildings and reached the entrance of the park. Then Daddy suddenly stopped.
“ook! Ook! Ook!”
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
There was a huge gorilla playing on the tyre swing, swinging back and forwards. And there was a long snake sliding and slithering down the slide. Because his body was so long, his head reached the ground before his tail had left the top of the ladder. And there was an enormous lion, who was sitting in the sandbox. As his tail flicked back and forth behind him, a little cloud of sand rose into the air.
For a moment, the Little Sumo was scared. Then he noticed the birthday cake, and the party poppers, and a colourful sign which was hanging beside the jungle-gym. “H – A – P – P – Y,” he read.
“It say’s, ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMMY SNAKE.’ Isn’t that nice?” said Daddy. “It must be the snake’s birthday.”
The Little Sumo walked forward with his balloon, and gave it to the snake. The snake looked very happy, and curled himself round and round the balloon, making his body like a basket to hold it. Mummy gave her balloon to the lion, and Daddy gave his to the gorilla. They were very happy too.
Everyone stayed and played together in the park. The Little Sumo built a sandcastle with the lion, and pushed the gorilla back and forth on the tyre swing, and let the gorilla push him. And he slid down the slide with the snake. He enjoyed some delicious cake. Eventually, when it was time to go home, everyone – Mummy and Daddy, and the Little Sumo, the lion, and the snake, and the gorilla – all got on the bus together to go to their homes.
Vocabulary:
to slither – to move smoothly over a surface with a twisting motion, like a snake
to flick something –to move something with a quick and sudden movement
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