It was 9:00 p.m. Kayley and Hannah were finally in bed. They’d had a full day of summer activities. It was still quite warm out and hard to sleep. The window was open and a breeze was blowing into their rooms. Soon Kayley was asleep. Hannah was still wide awake, twisting and turning, trying to sleep. Finally she closed her eyes and laid still, but her imagination was running wild.

She was lying on her back imagining she was flying. She leaned left and her bed made a sharp left turn. She leaned right and it veered to the right. She put her head back and raised her legs and it began to climb high in the air. Then she lifted her head up and lowered her legs and she descended. When she clenches her hands into a fist she accelerates. The harder she squishes the faster she goes. When she relaxes her hands she slows down and stops. She thought to herself, “Hey, this is weird.”

Hannah opens her eyes and looks at the clock on the wall. It is 10:45 p.m. She must have fallen asleep and was dreaming. The dream felt so real. She thinks maybe I should see if my bed can really fly? Hannah laid still on her back and clenched her fists really hard. Everything went black and quiet. Suddenly her bed began to move. She leaned back and raised her feet and she began to fly. She gently passed right through the wall and outside up towards the stars. It was cool, but not that cold, as she still had her bed covers on.

She clenched her fists to go faster and leaned right and circled her house. Wow she thought, I’ve got a Magical Flying Bed! She flew down the street and around the playground and then back around her house. Hey this is great! I better go back to my room and tell Kayley. Hannah carefully flew in amongst the houses and back into her bedroom. She jumped out of bed and ran to wake up Kayley.

“Kayley, Kayley, wake up and come for a ride,” she said. Kayley opened one eye and asked, “What are you talking about Hannah?” Hannah said, “My bed can fly!” Kayley said, “I think you are dreaming,” then she rolled over and went back to sleep. Hannah shook her again and said, “No, no, really, come and see.” Kayley rolled over again towards Hannah and said, “Okay, if it will make you quit bothering me I will come and take a look.” Kayley got out of bed and walked into Hannah’s room and jumped on the bed with Hannah. Hannah said, “Ready Kayley? pull up the covers and hold on tight.”

Hannah patted Kayley on the head and said, “Don’t be scared big sister.” Hannah slowly lifted her legs and tilted her head back and clenched her fists really hard. Suddenly the bed rose up off the floor and sped off into the darkness of the night. Kayley yelled, “Wow, your bed really can fly!” Hannah said, “I told you Kayley. Where do you want to go?”

Kayley said, “Let’s go way up high and look at the stars.” Hannah then clenched her fists even harder and leaned back and raised her legs and they flew high above the clouds and up towards the twinkling stars.

After about ten minutes they noticed a real bright light in the sky that they thought was a star and headed towards it. As they neared it they realized that it was not a star but a sign. The sign read, “Toy Land”.

Hannah slowly relaxed her hands and slowed the bed down and they descended into “Toy Land.”. They flew through some bright lights and misty fog and then landed on a narrow runway just above what appeared to be a small town. They came to a stop. They both sat up in their bed and looked around.

Suddenly a large Penguin appeared and said, “Welcome to Toy Land, my name is Penny, I am the manager of Toy Land. Where are you girls from?” Hannah answered, “We are from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada.” Penny said, “Oh, the great fishing and Salmon Capital of the World, as I recall, we have kids from all over the world flying their beds here to Toy Land. Park your bed over by the other beds and come join the rest of the kids. The only rules here are you have to have fun and not play for more than one hour.”

Hannah then drove her bed up a bit and parked it with the other beds that had arrived earlier. Kayley and Hannah looked at each other and said, “Wow!” They had never seen anything like this before. It was a small city of nothing but toys and kids, all playing together and having fun.

Every kind of toy was there. The city was alive with lights, sounds and the laughter of hundreds of kids having fun. Kayley and Hannah introduced themselves to some of the other children and soon they were all having fun playing with all the different toys. There were toys from all over the world.

Then Hannah remembered that they could only stay for one hour. She found Kayley and they both then headed back to their bed. On the way back to where they parked their bed they met Penny again. Penny said, “Thanks for visiting us here at Toy Land and be sure to visit Bubble Land before you head home for the night.” Hannah asked, “Where is Bubble Land?” Penny said, “Fly up past the brightest star in the north, then head east for about twenty minutes and then go due south and you will see a large round star shaped like a bubble.” “Thanks Penny,” said Hannah.

Then Kayley and Hannah got back into their bed, held on tight and Hannah tilted her head back, raised her feet and made a tight fist and away they went. Swooosh! up into the darkness of the night, but then into the bright surrounding star light. “Let’s check out Bubble Land” said Kayley.

After about half an hour of flying in amongst the stars Hannah managed to find a star that looked like a big bubble. She relaxed her hands and they began their decent into Bubble Land.The bed shook as it entered the large bubbly gates and then it slowly glided down calmly to a wide shiny soft runway.

Upon landing they were immediately met by a large rabbit. The rabbit said, “Welcome to Bubble Land. My name is Wilbur and I‘m the manager.” Hannah said, “I‘m Hannah and this is my sister Kayley. We are from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. Penny from Toy Land told us that we should visit Bubble Land.” “Oh yes, Penny is a dear friend of mine,” said Wilbur. “How is she doing?” Hannah replied, “As far as we saw she was doing well. She is a very nice person.” “Park over there next to the wall and come join the rest of the kids in Bubble Land,” said Wilbur.

Hannah and Kayley slid out of their bed and went and looked down onto the city of Bubble Land. “Wow, double wow,” said Hannah. There was a whole city of nothing but bubbles. Little ones, big ones, all shapes and sizes. There were kids inside the bubbles floating around. Then Wilbur came over and handed Kayley and Hannah a special bubble blower and a cup of magic bubble solution. He said go and have fun, but remember everyone is only allowed to play for one hour. Kayley and Hannah ran down the walkway into the city and joined the kids making bubbles.

Kayley blew a huge bubble and Hannah jumped inside it and floated around the city until it shrunk down and gently landed on the sidewalk. Then Hannah blew a bunch of small bubbles and Kayley climbed up them like steps and then floated down to the sidewalk on the last one. Everyone was having fun, but soon an hour was approaching and they headed back to their bed.

Just prior to take off Wilbur came over to wish them a safe flight. Wilbur said, “Before you go home tonight, if you have time you should visit Candy Land. That is a favourite stop for all the boys and girls around the world.” Hannah said, “Where is it?” Wilbur replied, “Just fly east about seventy two kilometres, then turn south just before you get to Jupiter. You will see a big candy cane shaped star. That will be Candy Land”. “Okay thanks Wilbur” said Hannah.

Kayley grabbed the side of the bed tight and Hannah leaned back, raised her legs and clenched her fists and they lifted off and were away up into the night sky. It was a bright star lit night, but at times it was bumpy as the temperature changed the higher they went. They were making good time flying in between stars and planets. The bed sheets were flapping hard like a seal out of the water.

Suddenly Kayley yelled, “Hannah watch out for the Space Station” Hannah said, “Yes I see it and will slow down and pass on the right”. “Hannah handed Kayley some binoculars and said, “Do you see anything that looks like a Candy Cane?” Kayley said, “Yes, turn left about 500 meters and start descending”. Hannah lightened up on her grip and the bed started its downward glide into Candy Land. There was a fair bit of turbulence as the bed approached the runway. There was a cross wind blowing making a conventional landing tricky. Hannah leaned left and side slipped the bed a bit to counter the wind. After a few bumps and bangs Hannah managed to land the bed safely onto the red liquorice landing strip. They then taxied to the side of the terminal where other beds were parked.

Soon a cow appeared and approached the bed and said, “Good evening, I’m Millie Moo, the manager of Candy Land. Welcome!” Hannah said. “Thank you, my sister and I are from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada”. Millie Moo said, “Great fishing in your city I hear.” “Yes for sure” said Hannah.

“Anyway, there will be a shuttle here shortly to take you to Candy Land. The only rules are that you can only stay for one hour and must eat all the candy on site. You can not transport any candy out of Candy land,” said Millie Moo.

A large chocolate bus soon appeared and Kayley and Hannah jumped on board. It was full of other kids from different parts of the world. The driver was a Peacock named Dexter and he announced that the trip to Candy Land would be about 10 minutes, so please help yourself to any candy or other treats that you find in the bus.

Kayley and Hannah looked around and discovered that the seat belts were made of liquorice and the cushions were made of Jello. The whole bus was loaded with chocolate bars and special treats. The chocolate bars hung down from the roof of the bus and along both inside walls. Kids were going wild grabbing and eating all the candy. Finally the bus slowed and stopped. Then Dexter took a big bite of a candy cane and said, “Have fun kids, see you back here in an hour.” The bus emptied quickly as all the kids hurried into Candy Land.

The entrance to Candy Land was through the middle of a big chocolate doughnut. As they walked through it Kayley stopped a minute to lick the chocolate icing off the bottom of her slippers. Once inside all they could say was, “WOW, WOW, WOW!” It was a whole city made of candy. There were hundreds of kids singing, dancing and eating candy. There were a couple of different bands playing and cartoons being shown on a huge screen. They walked down a little path made of jelly beans with a liquorice hand rail and reached up and grabbed some cotton candy from a tree and shiny chocolate treats off a bush.

Then it began to snow, but it was not snow flakes coming down, it was little coloured marshmallows gently floating down from the sky. Hannah started running around catching them in her mouth before they hit the ground. Kayley was filling her pockets with candies and chocolates that she found along the edge of the path. There was a small mountain with different coloured snow on it. They walked closer to take a look. They found it wasn’t snow at all, it was different flavours of ice cream. There was a small little dog that lived in a box at the bottom of the mountain giving out big spoons to all the kids so they could slide down the mountain on the spoon and sample each flavour when they got to the bottom. One of the kids said the dog’s name was “Pop Tart.”

Around the corner was a huge lake of many colours. At first they thought it was water, but found out it was different flavours of Jello. Kids were jumping up and down on it and eating it at the same time. Kayley and Hannah joined the rest of the kids in the Jello jumping party.

Soon it was time to go back to the bus. Everyone was stuffed with candy and it was a quiet ride back. They arrived back at the main terminal and slowly crawled back into their bed. Millie Moo walked over, shook their hands and said, “Hope you had fun and didn’t eat too much because I wouldn’t want you to have a stomach-ache. Have a safe flight back home and maybe I will see you again sometime.”

Kayley clutched onto the side of the bed and Hannah leaned back and clenched her fist, raised her feet and they were up and away. They looked back at Candy Land and noticed the big candy cane kept getting smaller and smaller the higher they flew. Soon they could see the sun slowly rising in the east.

Hannah glanced at her watch and said, “Yikes, it is 7:00 a.m. We better get back home before Mom and Dad discover we are gone.” Hannah squished her fists hard and the bed started going faster. She leaned right, then left and navigated around the moon and the far side of Mars. After about 45 minutes of flying they could see the lights of Campbell River. They started their decent down through clouds and haze. The wind picked up a bit and rocked the bed and it began to rain. Kayley pulled up the covers over her head and said, “Let me know when we have landed.”

Hannah carefully flew between house tops and hydro wires and finally spotted her house. There were patches of morning fog rolling in off the ocean making it difficult to see. She followed the streetlights until she got her bearings and then quietly glided back into her bedroom and landed safely on the floor.

“Okay we are here Kayley, you can uncover your head now,” said Hannah. It was now after 8:00 a.m. Kayley jumped off the bed and ran to her bedroom and climbed into her own bed. Hannah was already sleeping in her bed now.

Suddenly their Mom came up the stairs, opened Hannah’s door and said, “Time to get up sleepy head”. Then she went to Kayley’s room and said, “Good morning, time to get up”. Then as their mom was tidying up the bedroom she said, “Kayley Lynn! How did your slippers get all muddy and what are those candies doing in your pocket?” “Hey, that isn’t mud that’s chocolate icing, what have you been up to?”

“Mom, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” said Kayley.  Kayley then rolled over and went back to sleep. Mom then walked out of the room to check on Hannah again. “Hannah, what has your big sister been up to?” she asked, Hannah opened one eye and said, “No idea, I have been sleeping all night, but for some reason I am really tired and have a bit of a stomach-ache.”

Mom then said, “How did your bed sheets get all wet and messy”? Hannah said, “Mom you wouldn’t believe me if I told you”. Then Hannah rolled over and fell fast asleep.