by Wendy E BroughPenny couldn’t always sing a rainbow, you know. The first time Penny tried, the colours just wouldn’t go in the right order. She tried and tried again. Green jumped in before yellow, pink ran right to the end, and blue was nowhere to be seen.
As you can imagine, it was a big swirly mess of colours with no rhythm and certainly no rhyme. Penny was so disappointed, a gloomy frown washed over her face and swirled down inside her belly. She felt like she was going to explode and then…
The doorbell rang! Not once, not twice, but three times! Penny knew exactly who that would be.
Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
Penny’s frown turned upside down.
“It’s Gwandma!” Penny shouted as she flung open the door and gave Grandma the biggest hug ever.
“Hello, Penny, my love.”
“Hello, Gwandma.”
“And what’s this especially large hug all about?” Grandma asked cheerfully.
“Well,” Penny started, “It’s about the wainbow song. It just keeps going wong.”
“Oh dear,” Grandma replied, “That will never ever do.”
“What can I do, Gwandma?” asked Penny.
Grandma thought … “Practice! Would you like me to help? I’ll hum and you sing.”
Penny didn’t really feel like singing, but she agreed. So Grandma hummed and Penny began to sing.
“Gween and lellow and pink and wed …”
“Stop!” Grandma hollered. Penny’s frown rushed back.
“It’s okay, Penny, I’ve got it,” said Grandma, “We just need to practice your colours.”
“Are you ready?”
Penny nodded.
“Okay, the first colour is RED, can you to say rrruff like a puppy and then sing out RED?”
Penny looked a bit puzzled and wondered how making a rrruff sound could possibly help, but Grandma was good at these things. So that’s what she did.
“Rrruff! Rrruff! RED!” cried Penny.
Grandma nodded and smiled. “Perfect! Now let’s try yellow.”
Penny couldn’t wait.
"This time say Yyyahoo! Then Yyyellow!"
And that’s exactly what she did “Y-Y-Yahoo! YELLOW!” Penny yelled.
Now pink, said Grandma.
“PINK!” Penny hollered.
“Perfect,” said Grandma. “Now green.”
“Okay,” Penny smiled, “Geen!”
“Nearly. Try saying grrr like a growly puppy,” suggested Grandma.
Penny screwed up her nose and made a big grrr sound.
“That’s grrreat!” laughed Grandma, “Now try again.”
“Gr-gr-GREEN!” Penny grinned.
Grandma was impressed, “Very good,” she said. "Now for purple. Purr like a pussycat then say 'pull'. Then put them both together.”
"Purr-purr-pull ... PURPLE!” Penny shouted, followed by ORANGE and BLUE.
Grandma winked, “I think you’ve got it! Now let’s try it all together.”
Grandma hummed and Penny sang.
“Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, too.”
“You sure can!” Grandma smiled and gave Penny an enormous hug.
Penny smiled and hugged Grandma right back. She was so happy, a tear ran down her cheek and as it fell, the sunlight caught it and made a teensy, tiny rainbow.
About Wendy
Wendy Brough owned and managed a stage and set-building company in Brisbane before moving to the Northern Rivers to become a stay-at-home mum. She loves reading and writing children’s stories, art and craft, and cooking and playing games with her two children.
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