Ford loved toy cars. He used to collect them. He would take any old car and paint it up and put on new rubber tyres. And they all had names - Minnie, and Bubbles and Kombi and Dragger and Lorry and VW and loads of others.
One sunny afternoon Ford started digging away at the end of the garden, near the woods. He worked for ages, and all the cars were wondering what he was making. It turned out to be a fantastic adventure roadway for toy cars........ with tunnels and flyovers and junctions and roller-coaster hills.
While the cars zoomed happily round their new playground, Ford’s mum called him in to tea. Now, behind the hedge were two goblins, watching everything. As soon as Ford was gone they crashed through the hedge, grabbed all the cars, and stuffed them into two filthy sacks. Then they charged back through the hedge and carried the sacks off to their tumble-down shack deep in the woods.
The goblins threw all the cars into a horrible cage and stood gloating over the catch. "Pull off tyres," they kept droning. "Pull off tyres. Eat tyres."
The cars were huddled together. "Oh dear what are we going to do?" asked Minnie.
"I could try and smash the bars down," grunted Lorry.
"It’s no use," sighed VW.
"I wish Ford could come and help us."
"Somebody has got to sneak out and get Ford," replied Kombi.
"I’ll go!" said Dragger. "I’m the fastest!"
"Yes, but I’m the smallest," squeaked bubbles, "I can get through the bars!"
"Gosh!" said Minnie, "that’s jolly brave!"
So all the other cars heaved and pushed as Bubbles squeezed herself through the bars and crept quietly across the floor. The goblins were stirring their pot and chanting.... and they did not see the little French car as she slipped out of the door.
Bubbles made her way slowly through the woods, past huge leaves and ugly spiders and slimy slugs. It was such a scary place, and she didn’t know which way to go. After a while she drove up to a great green frog. "Do you know where Ford’s house is, please?"
"No, I don’t," boomed the frog. "Sorry!" And he hopped off.
Bubbles felt really miserable. "I’m lost! What am I going to do?" But just then, she saw a blackbird poking about and raced up to him. "Excuse me, please, but do you know where Ford’s house is?"
"Of course I do. Flown over it many a time. I’ll take you there if you like. Let’s see...oh, this might hurt a bit."
The blackbird picked Bubbles up by her boot and soared into the air and out of the woods. Soon Bubbles could see the house - and there, at the bottom of the garden, was Ford, still searching everywhere for his lost friends.
Ford was so happy when the blackbird dropped Bubbles down in the garden. "But where are all the others?" he asked. "What’s happened?"
"We were grabbed by two goblins and stuffed into sacks and taken to the woods. And they are going to eat our tyres and goodness knows what else!"
"Right, show me the way," said Ford and he picked Bubbles up under his arm.
"Follow me!" called the blackbird, and the three of them set off for the woods. Dusk was falling as they sneaked up on the goblins’ shack deep in the woods. Ford and Bubbles peered through the grubby polythene window. The greedy goblins had already ripped of all the cars’ tyres and were melting them down and eating them. Ford was furious, and he burst right into the shack.
A terrific fight followed between Ford and the two goblins.... with punching and kicking and shoving and biting and yelling. But Ford was so big that the tumble-down shack suddenly collapsed - and everyone was knocked out by the falling roof and bits of wood and metal.
The cage holding the cars had been battered and bent during the fight and they all climbed out. They could see Ford was unconscious, and tried to help him.
"We must get him to the house," said Minnie decisively. "But how?"
"If we all got under him we could carry him along," suggested Kombi. "There’s a lot of us, after all."
"Good thinking!" said VW.
Gradually, one by one, the cars eased themselves under Ford to form a carpet beneath his limp body. "One, two, three, forward!" shouted Lorry, and the strange procession began to move slowly away from the shack.
They had puffed and panted quite a long way when Bubbles suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute," she said. "I’m not quite sure which way to go from here."
"Don’t worry, I’ll show you!" It was the friendly voice of the blackbird. "OK. Lets go!" yelled Lorry, and they set off again through the woods.
"My wheels hurt!" complained Dragger.
"So do mine!"
"And mine!"
"Look you lot!" barked Lorry. "Just keep moving. What if the goblins wake up!" so all the cars struggled on. But it was a long haul back to the garden. When Ford finally woke up, safe and sound but with a nasty bump on his head, the cars all told him what had happened... and how they had rescued him!
He was very glad to have such friends, and the next day he fixed all of them up with super new tyres, so they could zoom round the new adventure playground he’d built for them. And the goblins? Well, they were never seen again - not even by the blackbird, who knew every nook and cranny in the woods.
Story Time � 1984-1989 by Rubicon Press CC