Gershwin at the biggest playground in the world

There was a little boy called Gershwin, and he was a very, very lucky boy, because he was taken to the biggest playground in the world.

Even with his speed shoes on, it took thirty minutes to walk from one side to the other. That was how big it was.

There were monkey bars and swings, and a very fast roundabout that made Gershwin so dizzy he fell over when he got off. There was also the biggest castle anyone had ever seen.

On the first floor of the castle was a maze. Gershwin walked around and around, getting lost. He couldn’t find his way to the second floor, so he climbed up the maze walls to have a peek. Eventually, he found the ladder in the middle and climbed up, up, up.

On the next floor were swinging bridges, rope bridges and bouncy bridges. Gershwin loved crossing them and balancing on the ropes. He didn’t fall.

He found another ladder leading to the third floor, right at the top. He could see for miles. He was so high that the birds and clouds were below him.

And there, on the very top floor, was the biggest, longest slide he had ever seen. It was silver and really bumpy. Gershwin was so excited that he jumped onto it, landed on his belly and slid all the way down to the ground.

Then he crossed an obstacle course, stepping on big stones, little stones and wobbly stones. He found a seesaw. It wobbled, but he made it all the way across.

Next came a very thin bridge, with a pond on either side. In the water were the biggest fish he had ever seen, swimming around and looking up at him.

Those fish want to eat me, Gershwin thought.

He balanced carefully across the bridge, but lost his footing and fell into the water. He was soaking wet, and the fish came towards him.

Then he realised they had no teeth. They were only sucking his fingers! He wasn’t frightened anymore. He climbed out, shook himself like a dog and dried off quickly.

At the edge of the playground was a little animal farm, with tigers and monkeys. You could walk right in with the monkeys, so Gershwin did. They jumped onto his shoulder, patted his hair and twiddled with his ears. A tail wrapped around him and gave him the biggest, squeeziest cuddle. Then it reached up and tickled him under the chin.

Eventually, Gershwin had seen all the animals and played on everything. There was another roundabout to try, with Mummy and Daddy running around the outside and spinning him really, really fast.

As they were leaving, they found a table with a net across the middle, and bats and balls. Ping-pong!

First, Mummy played against Daddy and Gershwin. Daddy and Gershwin won. Then Daddy played against Mummy and Gershwin. Mummy and Gershwin won.

Mummy and Daddy were getting tired of losing, so they teamed up against Gershwin. Do you know what happened?

Gershwin won again. They realised he was the best table-tennis player in the whole wide world.

They went back to the car, went home, settled into bed and cuddled the toys. There was a little television before sleep, too.

The end.