1066 All Stars

Daisy was putting on her pyjamas and getting ready for bed when she looked out of the window and noticed the moon.

'Mummy, where does the moon go in the morning?'

'It goes to bed, sweetie,' said mummy. 'It gets tired being up all night.'

Daisy chewed her lip. 'But where does it go?' asked Daisy again. 'Does the sun chase it away?'

'Yes Daisy. The sun and the moon chase each other round the sky.'

Daisy thought that sounded exciting. 'Wow, I wish I could go and watch. Can we go and watch mummy?'

'No Daisy,' smiled mummy. 'You would need to build a rocket ship to go into space.'

'Aww,' signed Daisy.

'Now come on,' said mummy, 'time for bed.' Daisy climbed into bed and mummy gave her a kiss goodnight. Her little puppy, Diddles, curled up to sleep at the bottom of her bed. But Daisy couldn't get to sleep. She was too busy thinking about the moon and the sun chasing each other around.

She waited until she heard mummy was back downstairs and then wriggled out of her sheets to the end of the bed to look out of the window. The moon was there in the sky, shining bright. 'Oh moon,' she said out loud. 'Where do you go when the sun chases you?'

Then, to Daisy's surprise, a face appeared on the moon; two eyes, a big nose and a smiley mouth. Daisy rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming but sure enough, there was the face smiling back at her.

'Diddles, wake up!' said Daisy. 'There is a face in the moon!' Diddles raised his head to look. 'Let's build a rocket ship and fly up to the moon!'

And without waiting for a reply, Daisy jumped out of bed and pulled open her cupboard door. She started pulling out toys and dollies until she found what she was looking for. It was a big piece of card. She folded it up into a tube and stuck it together with glue. Then, she found a pair of fairy wings and stuck them to the side of the tube. Reaching back into the cupboard, she found her pack of big crayons and coloured in the card, drawing some buttons and controls for flying the ship.

She stood back to admire her work. 'Hmm, not bad,' she said. 'But we need a lid for the rocket.' She looked around and spotted her dusty old wizard doll sitting in the corner. She took off his big pointed hat and climbed into the tube. 'Come on Diddles, in you get.' Diddles bounced in to the tube and Daisy pulled the hat over the top of them.

'Okay Diddles, are you ready to go to the moon?' asked Daisy.

'Woof, woof,' said Diddles.

Daisy pressed some of the buttons she had coloured but then suddenly jumped up with a start. 'Oh, no!' she exclaimed. Then she leapt out of the rocket, hopped onto the bed and opened the window. 'That's better,' said Daisy. 'Next stop the moon!'

And to Diddles surprise, the tube started to shake and before he knew it, he and Daisy had blasted out of the bedroom window, up into the sky, up and up and up until they reached the moon where they landed with a thud.

Daisy took the lid off and climbed out with Diddles bounding after her. 'Wow, we really did it Diddles,' said Daisy excitedly. 'We're on the moon!'

'Woof, woof,' said Diddles.

'Come on, let's have a look around.'

Daisy and Diddles set off to explore the moon. It was very strange, full of deep craters and big mountains. But no matter how far they went, they couldn't find the smiley face that had winked at them in Daisy's bedroom.

'Oh Diddles, how are we going to find out what happens to the moon when the sun comes up?' asked Daisy, sitting down dejectedly on a rock.

'I can help you with that,' said a little voice.

Daisy looked up, startled. From behind a rock a little man appeared. He was a strange looking fellow, dressed head to toe in cheese.

'Who are you?' asked Daisy. 'Why are you dressed in cheese?'

'Ho, ho,' chuckled the little man. 'I'm the Man In The Moon. And I'm not dressed in cheese, I'm made of cheese!'

'Wow,' said Daisy. 'Can you tell me where the moon goes when the sun comes up?'

'Oh yes,' said the Man In The Moon. 'Come on, follow me and I'll show you.' And with that, he skipped off across the moon and jumped down a crater. Daisy and Diddles jumped down after him.

'Welcome to my steering room,' said the Man In The Moon. The room was very small, just barely big enough for all three of them. There was a television on the wall and a big clock and in the centre of the room, a little bicycle. 'This clock tells me when it is time to go to sleep and the television lets me see where we're going. And this,' he patted the bicycle, 'let's me steer the moon.'

'Wow,' said Daisy. 'Can I steer the moon? Oh please, can I?'

'Ho, ho. Alright then. It's nearly time we were going anyway. On you get.' So Daisy hopped onto the little bike and started to pedal whilst the Man In The Moon helped her to steer.

'Here we are,' he said, as Daisy stopped the bike.

'But where are we?' said Daisy.

'Ho, ho. We're hiding from the sun on the other side of the world. At the end of the day, we'll sneak up behind her and shout 'Boo!' and then we can play in the sky all night long.' He looked at the clock. 'But my goodness, look at the time. You had best be getting home.'

'Oh, but can't I stay just a little while longer?' pleaded Daisy.

'I'm afraid not Daisy,' said The Man In The Moon. 'But don't be sad, perhaps you can come back another day.'

And so Daisy and Diddles left the Man In The Moon and returned to their ship and then blasted off, back through the sky, back through the window and back into Daisy's bedroom.

'Quick Diddles,' said Daisy, 'back into bed before mummy comes to get us up.' And so Daisy and Diddles climbed back into bed and lay down to sleep.

In the morning, mummy came in to wake them up.

'Mummy, oh mummy, you'll never believe what happened,' said Daisy. 'I built a rocket ship and we flew to the moon!'

'Oh, you and your imagination, Daisy,' said mummy, chuckling.

'No really mummy,' insisted Daisy. 'We met the Man In The Moon and he was made of cheese and we drove the moon and hid from the sun all the way on the other side of the world! It was brilliant!'

'Well that sounds like a wonderful dream,' said mummy. 'Now up you get, time for breakfast then you can go and play.'

But Daisy didn't feel like playing. Surely it couldn't all have been just a dream. Could it?

That night, she put on her pyjamas and climbed into bed. When mummy had gone downstairs, she crept to the end of the bed and looked up at the moon. But there was no face looking back at her.

She turned to look at Diddles. 'Oh Diddles, did I really just dream it all?' she asked, glumly.

'Woof, woof,' said Diddles.

Daisy turned back to look at the moon. And to her surprise, the smiley face was looking back at her. And as she watched, the smiley face winked before setting off across the sky.