Daisy Dawson at the Beach by Steve Voake Read Free Book Online Page B

Harry. “Throat clear, eyes clear, head clear. And my beak’s all bibbly-bubbly. Thanks, Daisy!”
    “No problem,” said Daisy. “Now promise me you’ll go easy on those crusts.”
    “Promise,” said Harry, and flew off to do a figure eight around the chimney pots.
    “You could come and watch us fly around the park if you like,” said Flapperton. “I’m going to show Harry how to do loop-the-loops.”

    “Normally I’d love to,” said Daisy, “but I’m going to the beach today.”
    “The beach? That’s near the ocean, isn’t it?” Daisy nodded. Flapperton was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “I met some swifts once who told me stories about the ocean. They used to fly thousands of miles to distant lands. And one day, when they were skimming across the ocean, they flew through a rainbow and the whole sky was alive with colors. Can you imagine anything more wonderful?”
    “It sounds nice,” agreed Daisy.
    “The thing is,” said Flapperton, “although I practice every day, I know I’ll never be able to fly as far or as high as they do. But I still dream about it, Daisy. I still dream about flying through rainbows.”
    As he looked at her, Daisy saw the bright sky reflected in his eyes.
    “Will you tell me about it?” he asked. “When you come back, will you tell me about all the things you’ve seen?”
    Daisy smiled. “Of course I will,” she said.

    She watched him fly away across the rooftops, then closed the window and clapped her hands together.
    “Time to start packing!” she said.

After they parked at the site, Mom and Dad started to unpack the van.
    “I’ll be finished soon,” Mom said to Daisy. “Then we can go down to the beach for a swim.”
    “Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Daisy.
    “You could fetch some water,” said Dad. “Then I’ll put on the kettle and make us a nice cup of tea.”
    The campsite was on a cliff top overlooking the ocean. It was a hot, blue day, and as Daisy watched the sun sparkling on the water, she imagined running across the sand toward the waves. She guessed that most people were already on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine.
    She had just turned on the tap to fill the bucket when she heard a little voice say, “Look. It’s a magical cloud lady.”

    “Are you sure?” asked another voice.
    “Yes. She fills a cloud with rain, puts it up in the sky, and then it comes down
blib-a-loober-lub.
Like that.”
    Daisy turned off the faucet and looked around.
    “Why did she stop?” asked the second voice.
    “Because she doesn’t want it to rain a lot. She just wants it to rain on the heads of the mean foxes who will say, ‘I’m not going out rabbit hunting in this weather,’ and stay inside and not come and eat us all up.”
    As Daisy peered beneath the trees, two baby rabbits danced out of the shadows and stood blinking in the sunlight.
    “Hello,” said Daisy, getting down on her hands and knees so as not to scare them. “What are your names?”
    “I’m Rabsy,” said the slightly taller of the two, “and this is my sister, Raberta.”
    “Hello, Magical Cloud Lady,” said Raberta shyly. “Thank you for making it rain on the mean foxes.”
    Daisy smiled. “My name is Daisy Dawson, and I don’t make it rain on the foxes,” she said. She held up the bucket to show them. “This is to put water in so people can drink it later.”
    “Like a cloud,” said Raberta.
    “Well . . . yes, I guess so,” agreed Daisy. “But clouds live up in the sky, and this one’s going back to my campsite.”
    “Won’t it mind not being up with all the others?” asked Rabsy.
    “I don’t think so,” said Daisy. Then, an idea struck her. She took her camera from her pocket and snapped a picture of the sky. She turned the camera around and showed the picture to the rabbits.

    “She caught them!” squeaked Raberta, hopping about with excitement. “She caught the clouds in her magical cloud catcher!”
    “Shake them out so