The Mid Air Pizza
Sam wanted a story about mid-air, but James wanted one about pizza. So I combined the two.
Once upon a fine summer’s day in Italy, there was a pizza shop. Sat at the back of the shop on the counter was a big blob of pizza dough called Giuseppe. As he lay there, waiting to be made into pizzas, he looked out of the window and saw all the birds flying though the air.
“Wow,” he thought, “that looks amazing! I wish I could fly through mid-air like the birds!”
Later on, the pizza chef came and tore off a bit of Giuseppe to make a pizza (Giuseppe did not mind this; after all, he was a blob of pizza dough so that was his purpose in life).
The pizza chef spun and shaped the bit of dough round and round in his hands. Every now and then, he would toss the dough into the air.
“Wow!” thought Giuseppe, “I really am flying!” But he could still see the birds outside flying free, and realised that he would never get to fly free like them while he was stuck in the shop. So he made a wish.
“I wish, I wish, I wish that I could fly through mid air with the birds!”
Now, there must have been a fairy god pizza listening to Giuseppe, because later on that day, a lady came into the shop and talked to the pizza chef.
“I’m from the newspaper,” she said, “and our readers have voted your pizzas as being some of the tastiest in the city. So we’re having a competition in the main square, this very afternoon, to see who makes the best. Can you come along and join in?”
The pizza chef was delighted. He grabbed his best pizza sauce, some finest mozzarella, and looked at the blobs of pizza dough at the back. Giuseppe puffed himself up so that he looked extra soft and fluffy. The pizza chef grabbed Giuseppe and headed to the main square.
There was a big crowd of people watching the pizza making competition. The pizza chef tore off a bit of Giuseppe.
“This is my chance!” thought Giuseppe. “Now I’m in the open air with no roof above me, I really will be able to fly with the birds.”
So when the pizza chef had spun and shaped the dough for a while and then threw it up into the air, Giuseppe gave a big extra push to make himself go even higher.
The crowd loved it and clapped and cheered. The pizza chef noticed this, and next time, he threw the pizza even higher. Again, Giuseppe gave an extra push and went even higher than before. The crowd laughed and cheered even more.
"Fantastic," thought Giuseppe, "I really am up in mid-air! If only I could fly..."
The pizza chef decided to put all his effort into his last throw. He threw Giuseppe up with all his might; Giuseppe gave his biggest extra push, and up he went, and then, snap! a bird grabbed him in its beak.
"Oooh!" said the crowd in dismay, as the bird flew away over the square with Giuseppe.
"I'm not giving up now," thought the pizza chef to himself. He grabbed some pizza sauce in a bendy plastic ladle and catapulted it towards the pizza.
"Splat!" went the sauce as it hit the pizza, covering it nicely.
The pizza chef grabbed a handful of mozzarella and threw it at the pizza.
"Splodge!" went the mozzarella as it settled into the sauce.
By this time, the pizza was getting too heavy for the bird. It flew low over a barbecue at the edge of the square. The flames roared up and cooked the pizza, but also burnt the ends of the bird's wings. With a squawk it dropped the pizza and flew off.
The pizza rolled along the floor of the square and came to rest in front of two little boys, who had come to watch the competition with their dad.
The crowd burst into the most tremendous applause. The pizza chef was awarded the star prize for the most impressive pizza cooking, and Giuseppe had achieved his dream of flying through mid-air with the birds.