The Rainbow Broom Growls Jolly Phonics · Step 3, Unit 7: /oa/ mixed

A note comes to The Rainbow Tower just as the sun turns gold. The Rainbow Queen reads it out. 'The Wind Princess will visit us! She will be here when the sun comes up.' Kate gasps. 'When the sun comes up? Wow! That is so soon!'

All the team rush to help. They grab mops and rags and buckets. They zoom up the steps. They zoom down the steps. 'Make it all glow!' calls Kate, her arms full. 'From the bedrooms to the front step!' But Kate still needs one broom. The big one. The magic one. The one that growls.

The Rainbow Broom sits in its dark corner. It looks so mad. 'Come on,' says Kate. 'We have a big job to do.' The broom growls. A real growl! It jerks back so fast that Kate trips. Her hands are empty. 'Fine,' says Kate. She grabs at it. The broom slides left. Kate dives right. The broom is just too mad.

Then the broom shoots up and zooms fast, and Kate holds on! 'Stop, broom, stop!' she yells. Her feet swing past a shelf with glass plates. Her foot hits a gold cup. It spins. It does not fall. And the broom does not slow down.

The broom bursts out a window and up into the sky. Kate lets go, flies, and lands right on top. She grips it tight. 'I said stop!' The broom bucks and twists, but Kate holds on. She pulls it down, down, down, and they crash on the hilltop in a heap. Below them, a crowd looks up, mouths wide open.

Kate sits up and gets a good look at the broom. 'Oh no.' The Rainbow Broom is gray with dirt. Cobwebs hang from it, and a little bug swings from its pole. Kate groans. Now she sees why. After each big job, she just puts the broom back in its dark corner. She never gives it a bath. 'So that is why the broom is so mad,' Kate says. 'I would be mad too.'

Kate takes the broom inside and sets it in the tub. 'Hold still,' she says. 'Time for a bath.' She soaks it and scrubs it with soap. Pink foam floats up and pops on Kate's nose. The broom shivers. Then it sighs. Then, at last, it stops growling.

Next, Kate grabs a big tool and pulls it slowly along the broom. Tug, tug, tug! One by one, the stripes glow. Yellow. Green. Blue. Each stripe shines more than the last. The broom looks down at itself. Its eyes go wide. Then it grins. A real grin. The kind that starts small and then fills its face.

The broom shoots up, and this time Kate is quick. She grabs on, and up they go to the grand rainbow high in the sky. Dust and grime sit on it like a gray coat. 'Time to make it glow!' Kate shouts. They sweep the red stripe. They sweep the yellow, the green, and the blue. The broom hums a happy tune and flicks the dust into the clouds.

Kate wipes her brow and looks down. All the land shines. Then a shout comes from the hillside below. Silver wind swirls down from the clouds. It is the Wind Princess! Her long blue locks stream behind her. 'She is here!' Kate gasps. 'She is here right now!'

The Rainbow Queen stands at the top of her tower as the grand rainbow blazes. 'Come, old friend!' she calls. The Wind Princess gazes up at the rainbow and holds a hand to her chest. 'It has never had such a glow.' Kate looks up too, and a grin fills her face.

The Wind Princess turns to the team. 'What a grand job,' she says, gazing up at the rainbow one last time. Kate beams. Then she looks at the broom, still bright and happy in her hands. She grabs a soft cloth and wipes it until all its stripes glow. 'There,' she says, tucking it into its own spot on the shelf. 'Clean broom, happy broom.' From the shelf, the broom gives one last happy grin.