Kim Takes a Strange Ride Jolly Phonics · Step 3, Unit 4: /ai/ mixed

Day after day, Kim's mom sits at her big wooden loom and sings. Her hands fly fast on the yarn. Red and blue and yellow bloom under her hands, like flowers in the sun. Kim likes the song. But she likes to look at the loom more.

'Mom, teach me,' says Kim. She asks this all the time. 'Not today,' hums her mom. 'Today, stay on the rug and rest.' So Kim flops down and tugs the blanket up to her chin. The song curls round her like soft yarn. In no time at all, Kim naps.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Kim wakes up with a jump. She yanks the blanket up high. 'Go away,' she says. Tap! Tap! Tap! Loud, so loud this time. Like tiny wooden fingers tapping at the doorway. Kim frowns. That sound is not going to stop.

Kim pads out past the doorway and into the street. Tap! Tap! Tap! The sound skips on and on. Each time Kim turns a corner, the sound turns first. 'Wait!' Kim calls. But the tapping will not wait. It wants Kim to follow.

Kim peeks past a big wooden doorway, and there it is. A loom. Just like her mom's loom, but old and strange and dusty. Yarn hangs down from the frame in long loose strips. And the loom is shaking. Tap. Tap. Tap. 'The loom?' gasps Kim. 'Did the loom make all that sound?'

Kim sits down and lays her hands on the frame, just the way her mom does. The loom wakes up! Yarn shoots out this way and that, spinning and twisting. A bright rug begins to form under Kim's hands, red and blue and green, like a rainbow. 'I did not do that!' yelps Kim. 'I did not do it at all!'

Then the loom lifts off the ground! It rises like a kite in a gust, up past the rooftops, up into the sky. Kim grips the frame tight. A tiny little beast clings to the wood by her side. 'Hang on!' Kim yells. Is she telling the little beast, or is she telling herself? Kim can not say.

A song fills the sky. It is her mom's song, here, there, all over! Notes float in the clouds, and the loom rides the tune like a wave. A huge pink bird glides up by Kim's side, as if to ask, 'First ride?' Kim grins so wide her cheeks hurt. Cloth streams out at her back like a cape. Hail, Queen Kim, queen up in the sky!

The loom tips its nose down. Down, down, down! 'No, no, no, no, no!' Kim wails. They crash into the sea. Foam swirls all round her. The little beast lies flat on the wood. It looks so upset. Down they sink, into the deep, dark sea.

Whoosh! Kim bursts up past the waves, arms out wide, riding the white surf. Fish leap round Kim, pink and green and yellow, spinning like they want to play. Kim yells with glee. She is wet. She is flying. Kim wants to stay up here all day!

The loom takes Kim up high, and the sky blooms. Flowers swirl. Shapes glow and pop, vivid pink, jade green, bright blue. Kim lifts her arms and lets it all spill over her. 'More!' she yells. And the little beast nods. Yes! More!

The shapes fade away. Kim wakes up on the rug. The blanket is in a twist round her legs. Mom sits on the seat, singing that same soft song. 'Mom,' says Kim. 'That song! It takes me far, far away!' Mom smiles and keeps singing. 'Yes, little one. That is why I sing it.'