Trevie Bear & Lazy Baba Go to China by Carolyn Smith - HTML preview

 

TREVIE BEAR & LAZY BABA

    Go to CHINA

 

               By Carolyn Smith

 

 

Chapter 1

 

The light was off in the bedroom and all was quiet.

Lazy Baba was asleep in the toy box tucked up as snug as bug in a rug with her favourite blanket.

Trevie Bear was reading Becky's book of bedtime stories quietly on the bed.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps thumping on the stairs as Becky came running to the bedroom. Trevie Bear quickly closed the book and lay down. The door flung open and the light lit up the room.

"Hooray! We're going away tomorrow. I'm so excited!" Becky shouted as she started to throw her clothes in to a bag. She was so excited that she was not packing carefully and many of her clothes were missing the bag and were landing on Trevie Bear.

Mum came to the door way. She smiled as she watched Becky try to pack.

"Remember, you can only take two toys with you though darling. We don't want any of them getting lost in China, do we?"

"Only two, Oh!" groaned Becky as she opened her toy box to see which toys she could bear to leave behind.

"I love you all," she sighed, "but I really couldn't go away without you."

Becky picked up Lazy Baba and put her gently in the bag. Lazy Baba was glad that Becky hadn't thrown her into the bag like the clothes.  

Becky then turned to the bed and saw Trevie Bear lying there half covered by a green jumper. She knew he would come with her. He was her all time favourite toy who she could not sleep without. She picked him up and gave him a big hug. Trevie Bear loved getting hugs from Becky. She then carefully put him in the bag next to Lazy Baba.

Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba looked at each other and smiled.

Later that night, while Becky was sleeping, Trevie Bear turned to Lazy Baba and said, "Did you hear that Lazy Baba? We're going to China!"

"Yes, I heard. I've never been to China before. This is so exciting. I think we should go to sleep now otherwise we will be tired for the trip tomorrow."

"Yes, I suppose so," said Trevie Bear, but he knew he would not be able to sleep. He was far too excited. So he just lay quietly throughout the night, waiting for morning and the exciting adventures that lay ahead.

Chapter 2

The next morning everybody was in a rush. The alarm had not woken Mum and Dad and now they were going to be late for the airport. Mum rushed into the bathroom, Dad raced to lock the garage, Becky ate her breakfast at the same time as getting dressed.

 Becky almost forgot her bag in all the excitement. Luckily dad was there to remind her as he locked the front door of the house behind them.

On the plane Becky's bag was stored in the overhead compartment. It was dark and peaceful in there. Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba talked and talked about the trip and what they hoped they could see.

"I hope we see a real dragon!" exclaimed Trevie Bear. Lazy Baba was not sure about seeing a dragon, but she hoped that she would get to see the sights of China. She was so excited she could barely sleep!

The plane soon landed in China and the family got a taxi to the hotel. As they were getting out of the taxi Trevie Bear noticed something.

"Look Lazy Baba, that building looks like it is wearing a crown."

He was pointing to the building next to their hotel. He was right, it did look like it was wearing a crown. How unusual.

Once in the hotel room Becky took Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba out of the bag and sat them on the bed.

"We are going to have so much fun here!" she laughed as she jumped around the room.

Chapter 3

"Come on Becky. Let's go for a walk," said Dad taking her hand and walking out of the room.

Once the door had closed behind them Lazy Baba got up and looked around the room.

"There are lots of drawers and cupboards. I wonder if there are other toys in them, like at home," she said. She jumped off the bed and opened every door and every drawer. They were all empty.

"Hey! Look at this," shouted Trevie Bear. He had found a map of the city. "This might come in handy," he said as he opened the map to take a look.

"Look! There is our hotel next to the crown building," he said. He folded the map and put it in his pocket.

Not long after, Becky, Mum and Dad came back from their walk. They were talking excitedly about a shopping mall they had found. Becky picked up her two toys and put them back in her bag. She lifted the bag on to her back and followed Mum and Dad back out of the room.

Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba were very happy to be going out and about. Little did they know their adventure was about to begin.

 

Chapter 4

Becky took them to a huge shopping mall with, what seemed like, hundreds of shops. The mall was so colourful and bright and it sold all kinds of things; shoes, handbags, clothes, souvenirs, books and lots more.

As she looked at all the shops and all the wonderful things to buy Lazy Baba smiled. She felt like she was in heaven. She loved shopping.

As he looked at all the shops and all the silly things to buy Trevie Bear frowned. He was so bored. He hated shopping.

After a while Becky went in to the changing room to try on some new clothes. She put her bag, with Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba inside, on the floor. She was so excited about the beautiful dresses that she jumped up and down and shouted, "Mummy! Mummy! Can I have this one? Please?"

She had chosen a golden Chinese dress with red dragons all over it. Lazy Baba thought it looked very pretty.

Mum laughed at Becky and lead her out of the changing room and over to the checkout counter.

Neither of them realized that they had left Becky's bag on the floor of the changing room.

"Oh no!" Lazy Baba exclaimed. "What are we going to do? They've left us!"

"Calm down Lazy Baba," Trevie Bear said calmly. "It will be ok; they will remember soon and come back."

But they didn't come back.

Chapter 5

Many hours passed as Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba waited for Becky and mum. Trevie Bear peered out of the bag often to check that Becky wasn't in the shop looking for them. Lazy Baba slept for a few hours to help her stop worrying.

The number of people coming in and out of the shop lessened and before long there were no people at all. The lights went out and all was quiet.

"Wake up Lazy Baba." Trevie Bear nudged her.

"We've got to get out of here and find our way back to the hotel."

"How will we be able to do that? We don't know where we are." Lazy Baba was nervous; she hated not knowing where she was.

Trevie Bear stood quietly for a minute. He knew Lazy Baba was right, but they had to try. They had to try and get back to Becky. She would be so upset when she realized that she had lost them.

"Let's get out of the shop and see if we can see a street sign or something. We'll figure it out from there," said Trevie Bear. He was sure that once they knew which street they were on all would be fine.

With that Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba climbed out of the bag and walked slowly and cautiously towards the shop door.

The shop was eerily still and quiet. All of the shoppers and shopkeepers had gone home. They were alone.

 They reached the front door to the shop and realized it was locked. 

"We can't get out this way Lazy Baba. The door is locked and we can't open it by ourselves," whispered Trevie Bear.

"What are we going to do?" asked Lazy Baba. She was trying very hard not to panic, but Trevie Bear could tell that she was starting to worry.

"Let's just sit here for a few minutes and think of a plan. There must be a way out somewhere."

So they sat by the front door and started to think.

"We could see if there is a back door at the back of the shop, that one might be open," said Trevie Bear.

"No. We are so small and this shop is so big, we will easily get lost," Lazy Baba stroked her chin while she thought. "We could climb up the shelves and see if we can open a window," she said.

"No. We could fall and get hurt, plus we won’t be strong enough to open a window on our own. We could…"

Trevie Bear didn't have time to finish his sentence because at that exact moment they heard slow, heavy footsteps coming towards them.

Chapter 6

"Ssh!" said Lazy Baba, Listen! Someone is coming."

They sat very still and could hardly dare breathe as they listened intently to the footsteps as they moved methodically through the shop.

Eventually the person who the footsteps belonged to came into view. It was the store security guard. He had just finished doing his rounds of the shop and now he came towards the front door.

He took out a set of silver keys which jingled loudly at his hip as he searched for the right one. He put the key in the lock and opened the door.

"This is our chance," whispered Trevie Bear. "When I say go, go."

He waited a few seconds, watching the security guard's every move. As soon as the guard started to walk through the door, his attention fixed on taking the key out of the lock as he walked, Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba slowly stood up.

"Go!" Trevie Bear almost shouted and they both ran out of the shop unnoticed.

"Thank goodness," said Lazy Baba, panting for breath. She was not used to running. Becky usually carried her everywhere and even then she was usually asleep.

"I'm sleepy," she said mouth wide open in a yawn.

"Tough!" said Trevie Bear, "We can't sleep now. We have to get back to the hotel. Look around and see if you can see a street name or anything which could be useful."

They looked around them. It was dark outside.

 They were stood in the middle of a very long street, which stretched for miles in all directions. The buildings were extremely tall and most of them were covered in neon flashing signs. All of the signs were written in Chinese.

"This is no good," said Trevie Bear in dismay. "I can't read Chinese."

"Neither can I," said Lazy Baba. "But look over there. That building is so much taller than all the others. I wonder what it is."

Trevie Bear looked in the direction that she was pointing. Lazy Baba was right. There in front of them was a tall, pink building. It stretched up high in to the sky and looked as if it might disappear into the clouds. Half way up there was a big round ball shape which made the building look like it had a big belly.

Then Trevie Bear remembered something.

Chapter 7

"I've seen this building before," he said and he pulled the map he had found in the hotel room out of his pocket.

"I've seen it on this map," he said with an excited glint in his eye.

"We can use this map to find out where we are. Then we can follow it back to the hotel."

"That's brilliant!" exclaimed Lazy Baba with relief. It was good to know that they weren't going to be lost forever and that they would soon be back, warm and comfortable with Becky.

"Ok. Here we are," said Trevie Bear pointing to the map. "We need to cross this river, walk down a few streets and we'll be back in no time. Easy! Remember, the hotel is next to this building which looks like it has a crown on top. If we find this building we'll be alright."

It was true; it didn't look very far away on the map. Trevie Bear was sure they'd be back in no time.

Trevie Bear and Lazy Baba started walking in the direction of the river. It wasn't difficult to find because it was so big.

There were hundreds of people walking alongside the river in both directions. There were children playing with light up toys, people eating ice creams and a variety of meats and vegetables on sticks. There were street vendors selling all kinds of things including clothes, jewelry, toys, food and much much more.

Poor Lazy Baba was getting pushed and shoved as she walked because she was so small and the people were all walking in a hurry.

She grabbed on to the railing next to the river for safety and looked out across it.

There were many boats sailing up and down the river. Some were brightly lit and playing music, while others were full to bursting with people. Lazy Baba was worried that some of these boats might sink because they had so many people on them. She was glad that she wasn't on a boat.

Lazy Baba turned to Trevie Bear to tell him about her concerns, but he was gone.

Chapter 8

She looked this way and that way, but she could not see Trevie Bear. There were just too many people!

"Trevie!" she called as loud as she could. "Trevie Bear!"

But he was nowhere to be seen.

Lazy Baba started to panic. What was she going to do?  Where was he? Was he ok? What if she couldn't find him? She would have to find the hotel alone. How could she do that? Trevie Bear has the map!

Her mind started to spin with terrible thoughts. What if something bad had happened to him? What if he had been kidnapped?

She hoped that none of these things were true. He was her friend. She must find him!

Suddenly she remembered Trevie Bear had mentioned crossing the river. Maybe he had gone to find one of those boats. Lazy Baba stood on the railing so that she could see above the heads of the people.

Not far away from where she was stood she could see the taxi boat dock and next to it was Trevie Bear looking worried. He must have realized that he had lost Lazy Baba.

What a relief!

Lazy Baba jumped down from the railing and ran as fast as she could in the direction of the dock. She dodged in between the crowds of people. It was difficult because the people were so tall, their legs and their feet kept getting in the way.

All of a sudden she was pushed unexpectedly in the back. She fell on the ground and landed in a dirty puddle of river water. Her nice clean dress was all dirty.

As she started to get up she felt a shocking pain in her leg.  She cried out. Someone had stood on her! She had a shoe print on the back of her leg. She began to cry. Her leg hurt so much she didn't think she would be able to walk. It was hopeless, Trevie Bear would leave without her and she would be lost forever.

At that moment Trevie Bear walked through the crowds and appeared at her side.

He wiped away her tears, helped her to her feet and supported her as she limped towards the dock.

"Don't worry Lazy Baba, I won't leave you," he said in a soft soothing voice. Lazy Baba immediately felt better. He was a true friend after all and she knew she could trust him to get her home safely.

Chapter 9

They boarded one of the little boats together and held hands as the boat pulled out from the dock. They were on their way back and they were headed in the right direction. Nothing could go wrong now.

Or at least, that is what Trevie Bear thought.

 He loved boat rides. He loved the motion of the boat as it moved through the water and the feeling of the wind through his hair as the boat picked up speed. He sat quietly looking out at the river and watching the buildings on the other side, all lit up with flashing neon lights, as they came ever closer. He was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Lazy Baba had never been on a boat before. The motion of the boat as it moved through the water made her feel sick and as the boat picked up speed and the ride became bumpier she started to become fearful.

 She remembered the boats she had seen earlier, so packed with people that she thought they might sink. What if this boat sinks? She couldn't swim, she would drown. Her fear started to turn to terror. She was not enjoying herself at all.

When they reached the other side of the river and they were able to get off the boat, Trevie Bear turned to Lazy Baba with a big grin. "That was fun wasn't it?"

Lazy Baba looked back at Trevie Bear. Her face had turned a pale white with a slight tint of green. "No!" she mumbled. "Never make me do that again!"

Trevie Bear laughed as he took her hand and they started walking down the street.

"Now, if I remember correctly, the crown building will be just 2 or 3 streets away from here," said Trevie Bear confidently.

"Shall we check the map?" asked Lazy Baba. "To be sure?"                           

"No! I am sure!" said Trevie Bear.

Lazy Baba remembered how he had come back for her at the dock and how he had not let her get lost forever. She should trust him so she followed him as he continued walking down the street.

Chapter 10

They had been walking for a good few hours now. They had gone left and right, forwards and backwards and then left and right again.

Lazy Baba was tired and cold. Her clothes were still wet from the puddle she had fallen in earlier and her leg was still hurting from where she had been stood on.

She knew she had decided to trust Trevie Bear, but she was so sleepy.

"Are we nearly there yet?" she asked with a yawn.

Trevie Bear was leading the way. He was still full of confidence, but there was no sign of the crown building.

"I am sure, absolutely positive, it will be just around this corner," he stated.

Lazy Baba was not so sure. He had said this at least three times already and had been wrong.

They turned the corner. They both looked up. The crown building was not there.

Trevie Bear sighed, "Oh well, I'm sure it'll be just around the next corner."

"Can we check the map now please?" asked Lazy Baba. She was sure they were going in the wrong direction.

"No. I know where we are!" said Trevie Bear. He was getting irritated with her. She kept asking about the map. Trevie Bear didn't need the map. He knew where they were. The crown building was just a little further away than he had originally thought, that's all.

As they walked down the street they came across a market. The market was set up on the pavement and each stall seemed to consist mostly of plastic tubs filled with water.

"What do you suppose is in those tubs, Trevie Bear?" asked Lazy Baba.

"I'm not sure," said Trevie Bear. "Fish maybe."

They walked over to take a closer look. There were many people shopping in the market. They were carrying plastic bags which were all dripping water. Whatever was in them was certainly wet.

As they got closer they noticed that every tub held something different. They could see things wriggling and writhing in the water.

In one tub there were long, black, slippery eels. They were wriggling all over the place.

Another tub contained thousands of little tiny crabs, all climbing over one another, while another tub was filled with great big crabs scuttling about.

"Look at this Lazy Baba," shouted Trevie Bear. She walked over to see what he was looking at.