Speaker 1: That afternoon, a soft rain was falling outside the window,
the kind that goes tap tap on the glass. They
could not run in the garden, so Dash, Ziggy, Lily,
and Sky went up to the attic. The attic was
a room at the very top of the house, full
of old boxes, dusty hats, and forgotten things. So boring
to sit still, said Dash, who was fast as lightning
and could not stay seated even for one minute. Then
his eyes lit up. I have an idea. Let's make
a race track. In a flash, they dragged the big
boxes into a row. Ziggy stacked them up to make
hurdles to jump over. Lily rolled out an old rug
to make the lane. Sky set three hats on the floor,
one big, one medium, and one small. These are the
finish lines, said Sky in her sweet voice. Dash took
off running right away, jumped the first box, tripped on
the second, and ended up with his head inside a
giant hat. I can't see anything, he laughed, spinning around
like a top. The others laughed so hard they could
barely breathe, and it was right at that moment that
they heard a familiar sound, chew choo, chew chew from
behind the boxes popped out a shiny little train, its
wheels spinning merrily. It was Toby, the magic train. Toby
whistled happily and said, hello, my friends, all set to play,
we'll run and race the whole bright day. I'll take
you where the valleys gleamed with golden trails, a shining dream.
The children clapped their hands and hopped aboard. Where are
you taking us, Toby asked dash, But the little train
only whistled and set off through the boxes down a
tunnel of light. When it stopped, the children stepped off
with their mouths wide open. They were in a huge valley.
High above their heads. So many shooting stars crossed the sky,
leaving golden trails. Those trails lit up the valley like
the big lights of a stadium. How wonderful, whispered Lily.
But something was strange. The valley was full of little folk,
small soft creatures with long ears. But they were all
sitting on the ground, dull and sad. Nobody was playing,
nobody was laughing. Why are you so sad? Asked sky.
Coming closer, one little creature sighed, Our valley is special
because it has an echo. Do you know what an
echo is. It's when you shout a word and the
mountain sends it back to you. If you say hello,
the valley answers hello, Hello, Hello. But now it doesn't
answer any more, said another little creature. When we shout go,
no well done comes back without someone to cheer for us,
we lost the wish to run. Dash frowned. A valley
with no races seemed like the saddest thing in the
whole world. Just then they heard a terrible clatter boom, clang, ton,
ton ton. Something was rolling down the hill shrieking. It
was a little pot, a dented little pot that banged
its lid like a drum and bounced along hopping. It
smelled of freshly made pancakes, a smell so good it
made your mouth water. The little pot stopped by flipping
upside down, spilled all its batter on the ground and
made a big yellow splotch. Then it set itself upright
and cried, I am Drummer, and I have a splendid plan,
a talking pot, laughed Dash, and one that can cook
all by itself. Of course, said drummer, all proud, I
make the best pancakes in the valley. Too bad, I
always spill them. But I have a plan. I'll organize
the great relay. Do you know what a relay is.
It's a race where you don't run alone. You run
a little bit, then you pass a stick to a
friend and he keeps goin for you. That way, the
whole team wins together. Horay, shouted Dash. I love to run,
I'm in. But organizing the relay with Drummer was a
very funny disaster. First, Drummer wanted to give the start. Ready,
set go, he shouted, and in all the excitement, he
banged his lids so hard that the lid shot up
into the air like a frisbee, flew over Ziggy's head
and got stuck hanging on a branch. My lid, shrieked Drummer,
rolling after it and bumping into a rock. Ouch ouch ouch.
Ziggy jumped, climbed up and got the lid back. Got it,
he said, But when he brought it back, Drummer hugged
it and knocked over another pot of batter, this time
all over Lily's shoes. Now I smell like a pancake,
laughed Lily, shaking her foot. They tried to run anyway,
Dash took off like a rocket, jumped the hurdles made
of round stones. But not one of the little folk
wanted to run after him. They all stayed sitting sad.
It's no use, said a little creature. The valley won't
cheer for us anyway. Without the well done, there's no
fun in it. Dash stopped. He was sweaty and a
little out of breath. He looked at the dull little folk.
Then he looked at the sky full of shooting stars,
and he thought. He thought of when he ran back
home and his mom, Kate would shout, go, Dash, you're
the best. Those words put wings on his feet. That
was what was missing here, not the echo. What was
missing was someone to cheer first. I figured out the trick,
shouted Dash, and his eyes shone like the stars. The
valley doesn't answer because nobody starts. We all wait for
some one else to cheer. But if I start, maybe
a chain will begin. He turned toward the saddest little creature,
the one sitting apart with its ears down. Dash took
a breath and shouted, with all the voice he had,
go you're so strong. I'm cheerin for you. The little
creature jumped. Nobody had shouted something kind to it for
such a long time, its ears stood up. Then little
by little it smiled, and that smile gave it such
joy that it stood up, turned to its neighbor and shouted,
go run, you're the best. And then the most beautiful
thing happened. The neighbor smiled and passed it on to another,
and that one to another, just like the relay stick.
The cheering passed from creature to creature, from voice to voice,
like a but tawn flying from hand to hand. It works,
shouted Lily, Kindness gets passed on, just like in a relay.
Now the whole valley was shouting cheers. And then the
little miracle happened. The mountain woke up when a little
creature shouted run, the valley answered, run, run run. The
echo was back. The echo, the echo is back. Everyone
jumped for joy. Now they really could do the great
hurdle relay dash was in the front row. Fast as
the wind, they set off, with everyone cheering. Ziggy jumped
the hurdles with his long legs. Lily never gave up,
tough as always, Sky ran along, smiling and passed the
baton gently. It was the fun unniest noisiest race any
one had ever seen. Drummer, all excited, wanted to run too,
and of course he spilled his batter right in front
of Dash, who slipped, slid on his bottom, and landed
smack against the finish line of hats, which rained down
on his head one after another, the big one, the
medium one, and the small one. Hi won and I
got dressed too, laughed Dash. Under the pile of hats,
the shooting stars shone brightly, the lids flew, the valley
boomed with well done, and everyone laughed, holding their tummies.
When the party calmed down, Sky noticed something in a corner.
A tiny puppy was curled up all alone. He wasn't scared,
he was just sad. What's wrong, Sky asked him, sitting
down beside him. I can't sleep, said the puppy in
a tiny voice. At night, I have bad dreams, and
then I'm afraid of the dark. I really wish I
had a nice dream. Sky was touched and her heart
grew warm. She looked at her friends. Can we do
something for him? Dash had an idea right away. The
shooting stars they carry dreams. If we put one in
a box, we can give em a glowing dream to
keep close at night. They ran to grab one of
the boxes from the attic, the ones Toby had brought
along with them. They waited for a shooting star to
come down low, and Ziggy, with a huge jump, caught
it in mid air. They put it in the box.
The box began to glow with a golden light. Warm
and gentle Sky tied it closed with a bow and
handed it to the puppy. Here it's a glowing dream.
When you're afraid of the dark, open the box just
a little. The light of the stars chases the bad
dreams away. The puppy opened the box, a soft light
lit up his little face, and for the first time
in a long time, he smiled. He snuggled up, closed
his eyes, and fell asleep, peacefully hugging his box of stars.
The whole valley went oh with tenderness, and the valley
answered sweetly, Oh oh, oh, did you see, said Dash softly,
so as not to wake the puppy. One kind word
woke up another, and then another. Kindness is like a relay.
All it takes is for some one to start, and
it never stops. It was time to go home, they said,
good bye to the happy little folk, and to Drummer,
who waved them off by spilling his last batter all
over his own wheels and rolling away as happy as
could be. Toby the Magic Train was waiting for them
with sparkling wheels. When they were all aboard, he whistled
and said, what wonderful children, so kind and so bright.
One little smile fills the world with light. Kindness is
a race that we all run together. Start it yourself,
and it lasts forever, and among the golden trails of
the shooting stars. The little train carried them back home,
while outside the rain had stopped and the sky was
filling up with tiny lights.