Speaker 1: That morning, the sky was gray like a wooly blanket,
ziggy lily. Sky and Dash were in the garden building
little towns of pebbles. But the wind kept blowing away
the leaf roofs, and nobody could finish anything. Ugh huffed
Dash to day, nothing is working at all. Then all
of a sudden, the gray opened up, like a curtain
from the sky. Lots of colorful petals began to fall, pink, yellow, blue,
and they smelled of flowers and spring time. It was
a rain of petals. The children lifted their hands to
catch them, and they laughed because the petals tickled their noses.
And in the middle of that sweet smelling rain, they
heard a sound they knew, chew, chew. It was Toby,
the magic train, all shiny with petals on his roof.
He opened his little door and said, come aboard, dear friends,
Come quickly, hop up close and ride with me. There's
a golden place that waits for you, beside the sparkling sea,
where the waves bring little shell bells ringing soft and clear.
And someone's crying, dreaming of a home to hold them near.
The children looked at each other, curious some one's crying
asked Lily, and her blue eyes grew very careful. They
hopped up quickly, and Toby set off fast as the
sweet smelling wind. The little train left them on a
beautiful beach, curved like a crescent moon, with golden sand
that sparkled. This is golden Crescent Bay, sky red on
a wooden sign. The waves came in slowly and left
shells on the shore that, touching each other, tinkled like
little bells. Far off out in the sea, there were
three pointy rocks, one beside the other. Those are called
the three Brothers, said Ziggy. But behind the three brothers
there was a light, little mist, like whipped cream on
the water, and from that mist came a soft, soft
sound some one crying. Lily didn't think twice. She ran
to the shore. There's some one out there among the waves,
rocking back and forth, there was a little wooden boat.
Her sail was a bit crooked, and she had two
sad little eyes painted on the front. She really was crying. Hello,
said Lily softly, Why are you crying? My name is Nina.
The little boat answered in a tiny voice. I went
out for a ride. But then the fog came and
now I can't find the way home. My home is
Lantern Harbor, but it's hidden back there where you can't
see anything. I've lost my smile because a boat with
no home doesn't know how to smile any more. Sky
put a hand on her heart, poor thing, she whispered.
Even Dash had gone quiet, and Dash was almost always cheerful.
It was right at that moment that splash, a spray
of water soaked everyone from head to toe. Hey cried.
The children. Out of the water leaped a dolphin who
was laughing, doing flips and spinning around in a spiral
like a spinning top. Strangely, he smelled of watermelon and salt. Surprise,
I'm Splash, said the dolphin, and with his tail he
quickly hid something in the sand, looking for a shiny shell.
I have a very special one, but guess where I
put it? He he splash, jumped, splashed, and played tricks.
He hid Dash his bucket under a wave, then tickled
Sky with the tip of his tail. At first the
children laughed, but Nina, the little boat was still crying,
all alone among the waves. And then Splash stopped. The
playful dolphin looked at Nina. He saw her real tears,
and something inside his golden heart told him it was
no longer the time to joke. He stopped laughing, swam
slowly toward the little boat, and spoke to her in
a gentle voice. Don't cry, little one. I know the
sea like my own fins. I'll take you home myself.
Then he swam back and dug in the sand. He
pulled out a shiny, pink shell. This is my shell compass,
he explained. If you hold it just right, it shows
you the way to the harbor. I hid it for fun.
I'm sorry. What does compass mean? Asked Dash, puzzled a
compass said, Splash is a magic thing that always tells
you where to go, even when you're lost, like a
friendly little arrow. Ooh, they all said together, and they
felt a little bit bigger. But there was a problem.
Splash explained that Nina was stuck in a shallow a
spot where the water is low and the sand holds
the boat tight. To free her, some one has to
go into the water and push her out. Then, following
the shell compass, we crossed the fog together. The children
looked at the water near by. It was deep dark
and the waves were a little higher. Ziggy took a
step back, Sky squeezed her hands together. Dash, who was
usually afraid of nothing, said quietly, I deep water scares
me a little. There was a silence, only the tinkling
of the shells and Nina's soft crying. And then Lily
looked at the little boat. She looked into her sad
little eyes. She felt her heart beating hard, thump, thump, thump,
because she, too, just a little, was afraid of that
deep water. But then she thought of Nina, alone in
the fog, with no home and no smile. Lily took
a big breath. Then she did the bravest thing of all.
She smiled at Nina, a real smile, warm, the kind
that says, don't be afraid. I'm here, Nina. She said,
Now I'm going to take you home. Look what a
big smile I'm giving you, and the little boat, seeing
that smile, stopped crying. For a moment. Lily clenched her fists,
counted one, two, three, and dove into the deep water. Splash.
Her heart was beating so fast, the water was cold
and came up to her shoulders. For a moment, she
really was scared, but splash swam right up beside her
and did a funny flip right on her nose, so
that Lily burst out laughing and her fear melted like
sugar in the water. Well done, said the dolphin. Now
let's push together. Lily put her hands on Nina's wood
and pushed. She pushed with all her might come out
of there. Seeing her so brave, the others came forward too.
Ziggy went into the water up to his knees and
reached out a hand. Sky held him by his shirt
so he wouldn't slip. Dash with a big breath, just
like Lili's went in too. If you can do it,
I'll try two all together. One, two, three. They pushed,
and Nina, with a little pop, broke free from the
shallow We did it, they cried, But the celebration didn't
last long because in front of them was the fog,
thick and white, hiding everything. Nina trembled. I'm still afraid
of getting lost, she said. Not with this, said Splash,
and he gave the shell compass to Lily. Hold it
to your ear. You'll hear it sing louder toward the
way home. Lily held the shell to her ear. Inside
she heard a sweet song, like the sea whispering. She
turned to the right, the song grew soft. She turned
to the left, toward the fog. The song grew loud, clear, Sure,
this way home is this way. So off they went,
splash in front, pushing Nina with his nose, Lily with
the singing shell, and the other three keeping the rhythm.
They went into the white fog where you couldn't see anything.
But then in the middle of the white a little
light came on, then another, then another one more. The
lanterns cried sky, her eyes shining. The harbor is lighting
up for Nina. One after another, the lanterns of the
little harbor lit up like warm little stars to show
the way for some one coming home. And at the
far end of the fog appeared the little harbor, cozy
and welcoming with its wooden dock and golden lights. Nina
glided into her harbor, and then the most beautiful magic
of all happened on her wood. Slowly, slowly, the smile
came back, a wide, happy wooden smile. I'm home. I'm home,
Thank you, Lily, thank you every one. And Nina's smile
was so happy that it spread to everyone Ziggy laughed,
Dash did flips like Splash. Sky had eyes a little
shiny with joy, and Lily, all wet and happy, smiled
more than anyone you see, said Splash, giving Lily a
gentle tap with his fin Your smile changed Nina's whole day,
know her whole life. Splash said good bye with three
spiral flips and one last spray of watermelon and salt.
And in that moment among the lanterns, it was heard again, Chew, chew.
Toby the magic train had arrived to take them home.
He opened his door and said, well done, dear children.
What kind hearts you carry? Deep and true? You gave
a home to one who cried, What joy for me?
And you A smile you give is like a treasure, tiny,
warm and gold. It turns a sad gray day to sunshine,
worth more than can be told. The children climbed aboard,
waving to Nina and Splash until they couldn't see them
any more. And while Toby raced through the evening among
the petals and the lanterns, Lily looked at the sea
and smiled again because she had discovered something wonderful that
when you're a little bit afraid a smile given to
someone can give you all the courage in the world.