David was bouncing his bouncy ball in the living room when something truly amazing happened! His bouncy ball bounced so high it hit the ceiling lamp, bounced off the bookshelf, and zoomed right out the window! "Sophia! Trouble!" shouted David, running outside after his ball. Sophia, his trusty goldfish and best friend, watched from her bowl on the porch.
David chased his bouncy ball down the street and around the corner. He was just about to give up when he saw it...bouncing towards a shimmering puddle of light in the middle of Mrs. Pickle's petunia patch! "That's the weirdest puddle I've ever seen," David said, cautiously approaching it. The puddle shimmered and sparkled, and as he got closer, his bouncy ball bounced right through it and disappeared!
Before he could even yell "whoa!", David was sucked into the puddle too! He squeezed his eyes shut, but when he opened them again, he was surrounded by... cheese? No, wait! It wasn't cheese. It was the moon! He was bouncing up and down on the moon! "This is even better than finding a dinosaur bone!" David shouted, giggling.
Just then, he spotted his bouncy ball bouncing away and a group of little people with wings fluttering around it. "Hey! That's mine!" David shouted, chasing after his ball. The little people giggled, and one of them, with bright pink wings and a crown of daisies, flew down to meet him. "Hello there!" she chirped. "Welcome to the moon! We're fairies, and this is our favorite playground!"
"Wow! Fairies!" David exclaimed, completely forgetting about his bouncy ball. "Do you grant wishes? Can you make me fly? Can you turn my little sister into a frog?" The fairy giggled again. "We do grant wishes," she said, "but turning people into frogs isn't very nice, is it? Besides, friendship is the most magical thing there is! We love to see friends playing together."
David thought about this. The fairy was right. He loved playing with his little sister, even when she bugged him. "You're right," David said. "Friendship is pretty amazing."
Just then, the ground started to shake. Well, it would have shaken if there was any gravity on the moon! Instead, everything started floating! David's bouncy ball, the fairies, even a nearby moon rock, bobbed up and down in the air. "What's happening?" David asked, feeling a little scared.
"Oh, that's just our friend the moon worm!" said the fairy. "He loves to play hide and seek. He's probably coming up for air."
Just then, a giant, slimy worm with a nose ring popped out of the ground right next to David. "BOO!" the worm shouted. David and the fairies all fell down laughing. Playing with a giant moon worm was even better than playing with a bouncy ball!
David spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the fairies and the moon worm. He learned how to fly with fairy dust and how to speak Wormish (which mostly involved burping). But as the earth started to rise over the moon's horizon, he knew it was time to go home.
"I had so much fun!" David said, hugging his new fairy friend. "Can I come back and visit again?"
"Of course!" chirped the fairy. "Just follow your heart and the silliest, bounciest thing you can find. It will always lead you back to us."
And with that, David was whooshed back through the puddle of light in Mrs. Pickle's petunias just in time to see his bouncy ball finally roll to a stop. He picked it up and raced back home, his heart full of moon dust and friendship. He knew, even though they were far away, his new friends were only a wish and a bounce away.
