Once upon a time, papa was singing as usual as he awoke from his bed. Mama was already awake and was making their usual yummy breakfast: her special, succulent, fresh fruit smoothies. As the fruit bubbled in the blender, Pippa and Tom were out in the rain forest collecting more ripe fruit to put in the larder. Mama was making lots of cakes and puddings with the fruit so she was starting to run out! There was all sorts of fruit out in the rain forest: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, melon, watermelon, mangoes, guavas and even more!
It was a beautiful, sunny day as usual in the Amazon but the sun was beaming amber more than usual. The Williams family were at their holiday hut just off the river. “Aahh, what a perfect day to go catch some prawns for dinner!” exclaimed papa, looking out onto the churning river.
“Oh good! I went to the market yesterday and bought some spices which I can use for the prawns!” mama replied. Then mama continued washing the dishes when the door opened.
Pippa and Tom arrived back to the little hut and showed mama their luxuries. Mama was very pleased so she gave Tom and Pippa a little jam tart each in return. Pippa and Tom dashed outside, pleased with their treat and ate them whilst dipping their feet in the cool water out front. Then papa came outside with a box he had taken out of the loft. He blew off the dust and showed Pippa and Tom what was inside. There were three fishing rods, some tin cans and fifty centavos (fifty pence in the Brazilian currency). Tom picked up the money and tucked it into his shirt knowing it would be useful for when they went to buy some prawn bait.
After a five minute walk, they arrived at the market to buy some shellfish and worms for the prawn bait. Whilst papa was paying, Tom ran to the furthest stall and bought four flip-flop making sets with the money he found before. He ran ahead of papa with the bag and quickly slipped it behind the big oak tree behind their hut. Papa set up a tarpaulin on the sand and put some big orange buckets in the middle. He then showed Tom and Pippa how to fish and they then caught TWENTY king prawns!
They packed everything up and showed mama the prawns. She was astonished! Mama was so pleased that she began cooking them immediately! As papa went into the loft to put everything away, Tom sprinted outside to get his bag. He showed Pippa what he had bought and they both started assembling the flip-flops in their little bedroom. There were two red ones for papa, two yellow for mama, two pink for Pippa and two blue for Tom. Mama called Pippa and Tom to the kitchen, so they hid the flip-flops inside their dresser and asked mama what she wanted. She asked them to take some pumpkin pie for the workers because they helped her deliver lots of cake trays to the stall at the annual charity fair.
When they arrived at the Post Office, they handed Susie (one of the workers) the pie and she thanked them. She then heaved a huge metal cage off the shelf and put it on the counter. Pippa and Tom asked why five little babunnies were inside. Susie told them that her rabbit Poppy had some little bunnies and she needed someone to take care of them. Suddenly Tommy had a crazy idea… he wondered if mama and papa would let them adopt one of them. Pippa and Tomy ran home and begged their parents. Papa gave in and they made their way to the Post Office. Mama wasn’t too sure about it, so Pippa bribed her saying she could choose which bunny and pick its name.
Mama was spoilt for choice. Susie took out all the bunnies and mama looked deep into the eyes of them all. One little, white bunny raised its ear when mama stroked it. “Haha! This is the one. This bunny is perfect for us!” mama exclaimed, embracing the bunny in her arms. She named it Floppy because of its floppy ears. Mama passed the bunny to Papa, smiling at it happily. Papa cradled the bunny whilst Pippa and Tom gently stroked Floppy’s ears. They thanked Susie and called a taxi to take them to the local pet shop. During the time in the car, Tom was reading out a file on Floppy. It had all sorts of tips on how to take care of her. They finally arrived and bought everything it said on the list. They had a bunny cushion with a matching fleece blanket, a special bowl with Floppy written on, raspberry soap, a special fur nourishing cream, carrots, lettuce, raspberries and milk.
The Williams family LOVED looking after their new pet and on Floppy’s first birthday, Susie knitted a little hat with a raspberry on for Floppy to wear! Tom and Pippa gave mama and papa their flip-flops which they really liked and they all lived happily ever after.