Dad said “Wow! You kids should see this.” Jack and Poppy looked up and Jack asked, “See what, dad?”
Dad waved his phone and said, “I’ve just been reading about a big sound and light show that’s on tonight. When it’s dark. There’s going to be amazing lights. We should go!”
Poppy said she would like to go and dad said, “Let’s see what Mum thinks.” So they went out and found Mum and she said, “Great idea. But dad and I are booked. We’re going to aunty’s tonight.” Dad said, “Opps. I’d forgotten about that.”
So Jack said maybe he and Poppy could go on their own to the sound and light thing. Mum looked at him and at Poppy and then at Dad. She wasn’t sure. But dad was smiling and nodding.
So that’s how it happened. They all had an early tea, Mum gave them two torches, and she and dad went off to aunty’s. As they drove away mumm called, “Be careful kids.” “We will!” Jack and Poppy called back.
Then Jack and Poppy slipped through the garden gate, down the footpath, around the corner and onto the hill. “Poppy, this is going to be really great,” Jack said. “There’ll be so many amazing lights to see.”
Poppy said, “It’ll be so good!” And up they went. Higher and higher. Jack asked how high they’d need to go to see the lights. Poppy said, “I don’t know. But let’s go to our secret lookout place. That’s up high.” Jack grinned. “Perfect! We can see lots of things from there.”
The daylight was slipping away now so they turned on their torches. Darkness slowly came closer and closer all around them. Like an old friend. Their torches made big yellow circles on the grass and little bushes and they bobbed and ducked and wobbled and made dark shadows. “This is fun, Jack,” Poppy said.
Jack spotted their secret lookout first. “There it is!” he shouted and started running ahead. Poppy grinned and crashed and smashed her way behind him. “Wait for me, Jack, you old racer!” she called. But it wasn’t far and they arrived and flopped down on the soft grass. They put out their torches and looked.
It was night now. Everywhere all around them was dark. They were up high in their secret lookout and they could see right over the town. They saw tiny twinkling yellow and orange spots. Poppy said they were houses and stuff. There were long lines of light too. “Those are the roads,” she told Jack. He nodded, but he was puzzled. He said, “Poppy, where’s the sound and light thing? I don’t see it.”
Actually, Poppy was puzzled too. Because she couldn’t see a sound and light thing either. Even when she was looking and looking. But just then … pop! Away out in the darkness, over on the other side of the town, a little puff of fireworks shot up into the sky, red and yellow. Like an exploding star. Jack and Poppy went “Ohh” but then nothing else happened. There were no more fireworks. Jack said this was a bit disappointing. And Poppy said she was expecting something more impressive. But … pop! … another puff of exploding went up into the dark, away in the distance. Then, no more.
So Jack said, “Do you think that was the show dad read about on his phone?” Poppy said she didn’t know what to think, but she thought the show would have been bigger.
Then Jack sat up quickly. He said, “Poppy, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we run back down the hill and tell mum and dad and they’ll drive us over to the other side of town and we can see those fireworks up close. Maybe when we see them up close they’ll be big and beautiful.”
Poppy screwed up her eyes and gave Jack a big-sister-look. She said, “Jack. Think about it. Mum and dad went out to aunty’s. They’re not at home now.”
Poor old Jack. His shoulders sagged and he let out a little sigh. “Oh, dear,” he said. “I really wanted to see the sound and lights. But now we can’t.” Poppy patted him on the shoulder and stood up. She was about to say ‘Let’s walk home’ when suddenly she noticed something in the other direction. “Jack!” She grabbed Jack and pointed. “Look!” Now he stood up too and he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Poppy!” he said. “That’s amazing!”
And the two of them gripped each other’s hand tight and looked and stared and their eyes got bigger and bigger and their mouths dropped open and they couldn’t find words to speak!
The sound and light thing had come into view. Because they were had stood up, and turned around a bit, they could see it. And it was magnificent!
It was below them, down in the town. But close to their hill. Almost right under their feet. They couldn’t hear any sound because the gentle gentle wind was blowing in the wrong way. But they had a perfect view of the lights.
There were yellow and red lights, and exploding flower lights that shot high in the air, and great big pencils of white light waving. (“Like glow sticks,” Jack shouted.) Some lights were dancing and other lights were bobbing and ducking. There were small lights and great big lights. Some of them were swirling and birling and not standing still.
And Poppy said this was the most amazing thing. “Better than anything I imagined!” she shrieked. She and Jack looked and stared and grinned the broadest grins that spread right across their faces.
Then after some time the lights slowly stopped performing. The exploding flowers and long white pencils turned off. The moving and shimmering lights faded to black. The jumping and whirling stopped. Once again there was just dark night, and little dots of light from the houses.
Jack and Poppy could hardly believe what they’d seen. They stood in the darkness still grinning and smiling. Then Poppy said, “Jack, we’ve got to run and tell mum and dad. It was a bravura [bravu-ra] performance!”
Jack nodded and turned on his torch. The two of them dashed down the hill with their torches bobbing and splobbing patches of yellow light ahead of them. They bashed and crashed through the long grass and little bushes to the bottom, along the footpath, through the gate and flung open the back door. “Mum! Dad! It was amazing!”
Mum and dad were sitting drinking a quiet coffee in the lounge and dad said he knew they’d like it. Mum reached over and poured two cups of hot chocolate, and she said, “Tell us about it.” And they all sat down together and Jack and Poppy told them what had happened.
Mum said, “You two are just like the shepherds the night when Jesus was born.” Jack knew the story about the shepherds, because Mum and Dad read them Bible stories at bedtime, but he was a bit puzzled. So he asked her ‘How’. And Mum said, “What I mean is they saw those amazing sounds and lights in the sky and raced down to find out more. And then they told people.”
And Poppy said, “I wonder if the lights they saw were as amazing as ours.” Mum said she didn’t know, but she did know it was probably about time for bed. Dad picked up his phone and nodded and gave Jack and Poppy a special night-time hug. A big arms-wrapped-right-around-you hug.