Sit! Sit! Sit! UFLI Foundations Lesson 87

The Rainbow Queen gets a letter just as the sun turns bright and gold. She reads it with a smile. 'The Wind Princess will visit, and she will be with us by sunrise!' Kate freezes. 'Sunrise? We have just one night!'

The fairies grab mops and rags and buckets. They rush from room to room. 'Make it all sparkle!' calls Kate, racing along the hall. But there is one helper Kate still needs. Shine. The big one. The one that glows with rainbow light. The one with a very bad temper. It might give Kate a real fight.

Shine sits in the corner, cross and still. 'Let's go,' says Kate, reaching for the handle. 'We have work to do.' Shine grumbles. It yanks itself away so hard that Kate gets nothing. Shine dodges left. Kate darts right. This is going to be a fight.

Shine shoots up high like a rocket, and Kate is still holding on! 'Stop, Shine, stop!' she yells, her feet swinging past shelves and glass globes. Her feet strike a globe. It wobbles. It spins. It does not fall. Shine does not stop.

Shine bursts from the window and into the sky. Kate dives right on top and holds on tight. Shine bucks and twists, but Kate holds on with all her might. She tugs it lower and lower until they land in a heap on the hilltop. Below them, the fairies go still with fright.

Kate sits up and gets a close look at Shine, and the sight makes her gasp. Its rainbow strands are tangled and gray, with cobwebs stretching from end to end. Kate feels sad. 'I left you in the dark corner and forgot you,' she says softly. 'You have a right to be mad.'

Kate sets Shine in the bathtub. 'Hold still,' she says. 'This might tickle.' She runs soapy water over the handle and over every strand, one by one. Pink bubbles float up and burst against Kate's nose. Shine shivers. Then it sighs. Then, very softly, it goes still.

Kate sits on the seat. She sweeps along each strand, one by one, slow and soft. The stripes glow again. Orange. Yellow. Green. Each stripe brighter than the last. Shine holds still. Then it smiles, and its face lights up bright.

Shine shoots up high, and this time Kate holds on tight. They fly up to the grand rainbow. Its stripes are dim with dust and grime. 'Let's make it sparkle!' Kate yells. They sweep the red stripe, then orange, yellow, green, and purple. Shine dances across each one, bright and light, flicking dust into the sky.

Kate wipes her face and looks up. The kingdom sparkles in the sunlight, and a glad yell goes up from the hill. A swirl of silver wind curls from the sky. There is the Wind Princess, drifting low with her locks streaming behind her. 'She is with us!' Kate gasps. 'She is really with us!'

The Rainbow Queen is at the top of her hall, arms open wide, as the grand rainbow blazes high. 'My old friend!' she calls. The Wind Princess holds a hand to her chest. 'I have never seen it glow so bright.' Kate is on the grass, looking up with a big grin.

The Wind Princess turns to the fairies. 'What a grand sight!' she says, looking up at the sparkling rainbow one last time. 'Thank you, one and all.' Kate smiles wide. Then she gets a soft cloth and wipes Shine, strand by strand, until every stripe gleams. 'A clean Shine is a happy Shine,' she says, tucking it into a snug spot on the shelf. From the shelf, Shine winks.