The red ghost

As the days were getting shorter, little Tommy noticed that it was starting to get dark outside before his daddy came home from work. He sat at the kitchen window of their flat, looking down at the streets, waiting for his daddy.

It was a particularly rainy day, and his mummy was stirring the sauce for the chili sin carne. As their little kitchen didn’t feature an extraction fan, the windows were steamed up and the whole flat smelled of feel-good food.

Little Tommy had used his sleeve to wipe a part of the window and had his nose pressed against the surface. His mummy was humming a pop song, when Tommy suddenly turned round to her, his eyes wide with shock.

“What is it?” Tommy’s mummy asked.

“ I saw a ghost,” little Tommy whispered. “A Red Ghost.”

His mummy put her spoon down and walked over to the window. “Where is it?”

“He’s gone,” little Tommy said, “he was on a bicycle.”

“Well, if he’s gone, we don’t need to worry about him, do we?” his mummy said. She picked some rosemary, which was growing in a terracotta pot in the windowsill, and returned to the cooker.

As Tommy’s father was waiting for the lift to get up to the third floor, he took off his red poncho. In the lift, he rolled up the poncho and put it in a bag.

“Daddy, daddy,” little Tommy ran up to his daddy and hugged his legs. “Did you see the ghost too?”

“A ghost?” his daddy lifted an eyebrow and kissed his wife

“Tommy saw a red ghost on a bicycle, just before you arrived.”

“Why are you home so late, daddy? Was the ghost chasing you? Are you okay?”

The daddy smiled, lifted Tommy on his lap and confessed that yes, he had seen the red ghost. And yes, the ghost had been chasing him, but little Tommy needn’t worry, as daddy was so much faster the ghost would never be able to catch him.

As it was autumn, the next day was equally rainy. Tommy had opened the window and was leaning out so that he would be able to spot his daddy sooner.

“Mummy, mummy, come quickly,” he begged.

His mummy rushed over. “What is it, darling?”

“It’s the red ghost again,” Tommy said, pointing at his daddy’s poncho. “And I don’t see daddy anywhere!”

Relieved, his mummy started laughing. “Don’t worry, silly,” she said, “you know your daddy is quicker than the ghost! He’ll be here any minute, I promise.”

Tommy couldn’t understand why his parents weren’t worried about the imminent threat of the red ghost. When it rained yet again a third day, Tommy positioned himself at the window even before his mummy started cooking. Tommy was waiting and waiting, and feared that the ghost had caught up with his daddy. When he spotted the red ghost, he leaned out of the window even further, and recognized his daddy’s bicycle – but there was no sign of daddy. Little Tommy decided there was no time to call for his mummy. He reached for the terracotta pot with the rosemary plant and dashed it, with all his might, at the red ghost down below.

The rosemary hit the ghost right on the head.
But Tommy’s daddy never came home again.

The wishing well

Once upon a time in a country far, far away, there was a magic wishing well on a green hill. Every time the princess passed the well, she took a gold coin from her purse and dropped it into the well. While the money travelled to the mystical depths, the princess whispered a wish.

From the dark shrubbery, two gleaming eyes watched the princess lean over the edge of the well. It was a greedy goblin who wanted to marry the princess so that he could rule over her father’s kingdom. Two times now, the goblin had proposed to the princess. The first time, he had offered her a set of silver handcuffs on a velvet cushion. The second time, he had appeared at her palace with golden handcuffs on a cushion of silk and down. Both times, the princess had turned him down gently. “Sorry,” she had said, “but I am not in love with you.”

The angry goblin had wagged his bony finger at her. “The third time,” he’d said, “I will make you an offer you cannot decline.”

From that moment onwards, the goblin started following the princess wherever she went. He followed her to charity dinners, to car shows and, eventually, to the wishing well. He hid in the thicket and watched her take a coin from her clutch.

“I wish that all stray dogs in the country will find a loving home,” the princess said. “I hope that their families will feed them and children will cuddle them, and all they have to do in return is protect their home.”

The following days, the goblin noticed less and less stray dogs in the streets and, soon, he read in the national newspaper that the number of burglaries had gone down drastically now that all homes were protected by dogs.

The second time the princess and the goblin passed the well, it hadn’t rained for weeks. The drought was threatening the livelihood of thousands of farmers. As the princess flipped a coin into the well, she asked for rain.

Before the princess reached her castle, rain started coming down in thick sheets. She saw all the farmers dance on the land, letting the rain soak their clothes and thanking the clouds for saving the crops.

“So the well really works,” the goblin said to himself. He spurred his horse to return to the wishing well, emptied his wallet into the well and wished for the princess to fall in love with him.

When he appeared at the court for a third time, the goblin offered the princess a set of rusty hand cuffs. “Majesty,” he said, “now that you have lost your heart to me, will you marry me?”

“Why, no,” she responded. “What makes you think my feelings have changed?”

“I paid the well to make you fall in love with me!”

“You silly thing,” the princess said. “Isn’t it obvious when you compare your wish to mine? The wishing well doesn’t understand selfish requests. It can only make good wishes come true.”

Illustrate my stories & WIN!

"Most people think there are only seven Canarian Islands,” says the old fisherman, “but they are wrong. There are eight.”

That's how The Ghost Island starts, one of the stories I wrote for Fly Thomas Cook Kids Club. I'm well chuffed about being published by Thomas Cook, and guess what - they're running a drawing competition to promote them!

Let one of my travel stories inspire you, upload your artwork onto your own blog and post a link to it on Red Ted's Art Blog and who knows, your illustration might be published alongside my story!

Apart from world fame, you can also win a Kid’s Travel Kit including a VTech Kidizoom Plus Multimedia Digital Camera, a Trunki Tiger suitcase, Kidz Gear Wired Headphones for Kids, a quality doodle book, Crayola shark fin case, sunscreen and goggles!

Here's my attempt to draw one of the crucial scenes from The Magic Mirror. Don't worry - I won't quit my day job ;)

Terms & Conditions

1) Open to UK entrants only

2) All entrants must link to their post on http://www.redtedart.com/2011/07/11/get-crafty-and-win/ by Thursday 28th July, 8pm British Summer Time

3) All blog posts must include information about the Thomas Cook site and the competition, as well as a craft relating to one of the Thomas Cook Stories

4) The reserves the right to select a winner and their decision is final

5) Thomas Cook reserves to right to use any images of your crafts or drawings in their promotional materials (even if you did not win)- should your craft or drawing be selected your child’s name and age will be credited.

GOOD LUCK!