Lulu Bell and the Moon Dragon (3 page)

The next day at recess, Lulu was walking through the playground. She heard a small voice calling her name. It was Molly's brother Sam.

‘Lulu,' called Sam. ‘Lulu Bell.'

Sam's hair was sticking up more than usual. His dark eyes blinked behind his thick, black-rimmed glasses.

‘Hi, Sam,' replied Lulu. ‘What's up?'

Sam frowned. ‘Lulu, I'm … I'm not
very happy. And I can't find Molly.'

‘Molly had to take a message to the office for our teacher,' said Lulu. ‘But why aren't you happy, Sam?'

Sam looked over his shoulder towards the monkey bars. Most of the kindy kids were swinging back and forth on the bars.

‘One of the boys was mean to me,' said Sam. He blinked away tears.

‘Oh, Sam. I'm sorry,' said Lulu. She kneeled down and gave him a hug. ‘What happened?'

Sam sniffed. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

‘He called me Four Eyes,' said Sam. ‘Because of my glasses.'

Lulu frowned. She hated it when kids teased other kids.

‘That's not very nice,' said Lulu. ‘He shouldn't call you mean names.'

Lulu thought for a moment.
What should she do? How could she best help Sam?

‘Have you told your teacher?' asked Lulu.

Sam shook his head. ‘No. I was too scared.'

Lulu stood up and flicked one of her honey-blonde plaits over her shoulder.

‘Come with me, Sam,' said Lulu. ‘Let's go and find Miss Stevens.'

Sam hesitated. Lulu smiled at him.

‘Miss Stevens is lovely,' Lulu reassured him. ‘You don't need to be scared of telling her. She'll know what to do.'

Lulu and Sam walked towards the kindy classroom.

‘Who was the boy who called you names?' asked Lulu.

‘Oliver,' replied Sam.

Lulu remembered Oliver from the day before. He was the blond boy who had bumped Sam near the fence.

‘Well, Sam,' said Lulu. ‘You tell Oliver that you have a big sister called Molly.
And
you have an eight-year-old friend called Lulu. We don't like you being teased. So if he calls you names again, we'll come and look after you.'

Sam smiled up at Lulu. ‘Thanks, Lulu,' he said.

Miss Stevens was sitting at her desk in the classroom. Brightly coloured artwork hung on the walls. In the corner in a glass tank was a mouse called Archie.
The brown-and-white mouse was running on his exercise wheel, making it spin.

‘Hello, Lulu,' said Miss Stevens. ‘Hello, Sam. Is everything all right?'

Sam hung his head.

‘Do you want to tell Miss Stevens what happened, Sam?' asked Lulu.

Sam shook his head.

‘Shall I tell her?'

Sam nodded.

‘Miss Stevens, Sam is a bit upset,' explained Lulu. ‘Oliver called him names.'

Miss Stevens smiled at Sam and then at Lulu.

‘Thanks for your help, Lulu,' said Miss Stevens. ‘You are very kind. I'll go and have a little chat with Oliver. Perhaps
I need to remind him that in KS we are always caring to one another.'

Sam beamed at Miss Stevens and then at Lulu.

‘Thanks, Lulu,' he whispered. ‘I feel better now.'

Lulu felt a glow of warmth.

‘It's my pleasure, Sam,' replied Lulu. ‘Remember to come and see me if you need any more help.'

After recess it was news time.

Lulu went last. She had brought in the practice lantern that she and Mum had created the night before. It was made of crimson paper, with purple satin ribbons. Lulu had cut out lots of tiny stars for the light to shine through. It dangled from a long dowel rod.

That morning, Lulu had asked Molly if she wanted to tell the class about the
festival. Molly had shaken her head. It wasn't her turn and she didn't like news time as much as Lulu did.

So Lulu stood in front of the class and talked about her lantern.

‘On Monday it will be the full moon,' explained Lulu. ‘Our family wants to help Molly celebrate by dressing up in traditional Vietnamese costumes. We've never been to a Moon Festival before.'

Miss Baxter picked up the lantern and examined it carefully.

‘It's beautiful. You don't put a candle inside it, do you?' asked Miss Baxter. ‘That might be quite dangerous. The lantern could catch on fire.'

‘No,' said Lulu. ‘In the olden days, they used real candles. But Mum thought we should use a battery-powered candle.'

‘That sounds fantastic, Lulu,' said Miss Baxter. ‘Thank you for telling us about your star lantern and the dragon costume.'

Miss Baxter turned to Molly. ‘I know it's not your news day today, Molly,'
said the teacher, ‘but I wonder if you could tell us a little more about the Moon Festival?'

Molly was often shy when she had to speak in front of the class. She didn't like to be the centre of attention.

Molly stood up slowly. She glanced at Lulu as though begging for help. Lulu gave her a thumbs-up to give her courage.

Molly paused. ‘Um. Well …'

Miss Baxter nodded and smiled. Molly started to explain the Moon Festival to the class. Once she started talking she forgot to be nervous.

‘When we've finished painting the masks we still have to make more lanterns,' said Molly. ‘Then we'll bake lots of mooncakes to eat.'

‘That's a lot of preparation,' said Miss Baxter. ‘I have a very good idea. For craft this afternoon, the whole class is going to make Vietnamese lanterns.'

Molly smiled with pride. Lulu grinned back.

‘Do you think you could help us, Molly and Lulu?' asked Miss Baxter. ‘We might need some artistic direction.'

‘Sure,' said Molly and Lulu together.

After lunch, the whole class set to
work. Lulu and Molly chose the materials from the craft cupboard. There was paper and cardboard in lots of bright colours – red, pink, purple, yellow and white. They fetched scissors, sticky tape, staplers, ribbon and special hole punchers.

First, each student decorated a sheet of coloured paper. They cut out star or moon shapes with the hole punchers.

‘Once you've decorated the paper,' explained Lulu, ‘you need to roll the paper into a tube and sticky-tape it.'

Molly showed the class how to make the base from a circle of cardboard. The base was firmly sticky-taped to the paper tube. Coloured ribbon was stapled to the top of the lantern to form a handle. The lantern could be carried by this ribbon handle or tied to a long dowel rod.

Miss Stevens came in during the class to ask Miss Baxter a question. She smiled when she saw the students all busily working.

‘Our class is making lanterns,' explained Miss Baxter. ‘It's the Vietnamese Moon Festival next week. Molly and Lulu have been telling us all about it.'

Miss Stevens nodded and rubbed her chin. She glanced at Lulu and then at Molly.

‘Molly, you're Sam's big sister, aren't you?' asked Miss Stevens.

Molly nodded.

‘I have an idea,' Miss Stevens said to Miss Baxter. ‘Could I borrow Lulu and Molly for a little while, please?'

Lulu was surprised.
What could Miss Stevens want them to do?