“ Phew…but I am very tired now” said Raspos.
He and Melba, his best friend, a rat, are on their way home from a hard days’ work. “I am going just going to eat, take a looonnngggg bath and then I am going straight to bed.” Raspos thought to himself.
“Look who is coming in our direction.” said Melba. It is Alice, the garden fairy. She is flying directly in their direction and lands right in front of Raspos and Melba. She has a very important letter in her hand.
“Guess what I am holding Raspos?” Alice said
“Alice, I don’t have time for any games now, I am tired and want to get home to catch up some sleep, I work hard and cannot fly where I want to be, otherwise I would have been home by now and not standing here, reasoning with a fairy.” said Raspos in an angry voice.
“Ok, Ok!!” said Alice. “This in my hand is an invitation to you, from the Queen of Mars herself. You see, today is her birthday and she is inviting all the gnomes to her party tonight. The party will take place on Mars. Isn’t that exciting?”
“Really Alice? You came all the way to give me an invitation, to Mars, for a birthday party? Can’t you see how tired I am? I just told you…I want to go home and sleep!!!”
“Did you hear anything of what I’ve just said Raspos? It is a birthday party on Mars? Have you ever been to Mars”?
“No, but I am t…” Raspos tried to explain.
“No buts Raspos, go home, go put on your best clothes, brush your teeth and comb your hair, I will pick you up in half an hour in the Garden valley. The Mars fairies will pick us up there."
“Can Melba go with?” Raspos asked as Alice flew away.
“I am not a gnome.” said Melba. Raspos just laughed and Alice disappeared.
Raspos and Melba started their journey home again, as Raspos only had half an hour to get ready. He was so tired that he didn’t know if half an hour would be enough.When they got home, Raspos took a quick bath, brushed his teeth, put on his best clothes and combed his hair. He even cleaned his dirty shoes and went to the Garden valley.
Once there, Alice quickly came to him. “Isn’t it amazing how many gnomes pitched up to go to the party?” Alice asked. “They either like the Queen very much, or are just very anxious to see Mars.” Raspos said to himself.
“We are all just waiting for the star of Mars to appear.” one of the fairies announced to the crowd. The star of Mars is the shiniest star in Garden valley.
When the star of Mars appeared and the reflection of light shined on Garden valley, everybody stood and watched as the Mars fairies made their way down on a golden ladder.
“We are here, and we came to fetch you for the best party ever.” shouted the Mars fairies to the visitors
They grabbed the gnomes’ hands and quickly climbed up the ladder. Quickly, before they could even think of staying behind, everyone was on Mars. There was a big surprise waiting for all of them. A big table, with food, sweets and drinks, was packed out for everyone to eat. As the gnomes and fairies started to eat, the Queen of Mars stepped out of her castle, beautifully dressed in a long, white dress.“Welcome to Mars, I hope everyone will enjoy it with me. The party may begin.” she said.
As Raspos only has one friend in Garden valley, he asks Alice if the two of them could stick together for the evening. After getting something to eat, they walked around on Mars, looking at everything that is different to Garden valley. They saw big rocks, no grass and everything was dull.
“Why is everything so dull on Mars?” Alice asked. “It never rains here and I am glad that I am not one of the Queens' Mars fairies having to look at a boring place the whole day” said Raspos.
As they walk further, looking around at things they’ve never seen, they get to the golden ladder they came up with. Looking down, Alice saw some movement on the ground. It was the evil garden gnomes, climbing up the golden ladder. The evil garden gnomes are working for King Crawl, the most evil King in the history of gnomes.
“We have to warn the others.” said Alice.“Yes, go tell the Queen she must send all of the Mars fairies to the ladder.” shouted Raspos. Alice flew away and quickly an army of Mars fairies was guarding the golden ladder.
“Listen!” said Raspos, “ divide into groups of ten and stand guard by the top of the ladder. These evil gnomes can see very good in the dark, but if we can blind them by using your fairy dust we can capture them and find out what they are trying to do.”
Quickly the fairies divided into their groups and stood guard at the top of the ladder. As soon as the evil gnomes got the top, the fairies sprinkled their fairy dust and captured them.
Unfortunately, when they thought they had just captured all of the evil gnomes, one of them got to the top of the ladder without Raspos or any of the fairies seeing them. As Raspos and Alice were the last two walking behind the captured evil gnomes, Raspos suddenly felt someone pulling on his arm. When he looked around, an evil gnome grabbed both Raspos and Alice and threw them down the ladder. Raspos and Alice felt how the ground of Garden valley came closer and closer and closer…
To be continued.......
