Jack Sees Stars©A.Richardson1988

Hi everyone, this week we are spending some more time with our old friend Jack the Pack, that really naughty upside down flower fellow who always seems to get into trouble where-ever he goes.These stories were first written many years ago when a little girl wanted a funny bed time story. Of all my tales these were her favourites. If you have followed Jack's adventures over the years on my other sites, you will remember seeing her paintings of Jack, done when she was a little girl. Now she's a mum and tells Jack the Pack tales to her little boy too....

Jack is an antisocial, upside down, and all gone wrong, flower! His hair-roots of brown stick punk- like from the top of his bulb-ous head ! Wherever he goes, chaos, and practical jokes abound. His only friend is an equally naughty spider called Charlie. Together they cause havoc in Hoover Hollow a tiny corner of Welling Town..

It all happened because Jack had been listening outside the window, when he heard Miss Erill telling her class about the history of that famous place, Hollywood, where televison and cinema stars lived in great big mansions. The only bit Jack heard was ," nowadays many famous and very rich people live in Hollywood", because as soon as he heard the words "Rich", he stopped listening. It became Jack's mission in life to go to Hollywood where he would become so rich that he would be able to take over the whole of Welling Town so that he could run it any way he liked. What a frightful thought, for Jack could be as nasty as he liked, if that were to happen.

As he told his friend, Charlie the spider, " Give me a week at most, and I'll find us a way to get out there to that Hollywood place. We're going to be the richest people Welling Town has ever seen, you see if we're not". With that he gave a decided nod of his bulbous head as he set off towards the main airport with Charlie skittering frantically behind him in his effort to keep up with Jack. As they came alongside the field where the airbugs landed , Jack turned off into a narrow passageway which led directly onto the main runway. Fearing that they would be run over Charlie squealed, " Wait Jack, there's planebugs on that runway. Don't go in there in case we get knocked over or killed, but Jack had that determined look on his face which said ,"I'll do what I want and who cares"!

The airbugs were in fact ever such large flying beetles whose ability to fly across great distances such as oceans made them the best method of transport in the modern world. They could take up to twelve adult passengers plus baggage, but not if the passengers were mice or rabbits because airbugs cannot abide mice or rabbits whose very presence would send an airbug to shivering so uncontrollably that they couldn't fly at all. That's why neither the mice nor the rabbits of Welling Town have ever been abroad on a 'plane.

Well, Jack watched and waited until BlueBell, the largest of the airbugs, was almost ready to take off, then yelling, "Come On", to Charlie he sprinted across the runway and up the steps into BlueBell's cabin. Charlie, huffing and panting, managed to climb aboard just in time before the doors shut and BlueBell took off. Jack and Charlie had no tickets for the journey so they hid themselves under the back seats. However, Jack was far more uncomfortable than Charlie because not only was the larger of the two of them, but on the seat under which he was hiding, sat an enormous snail. "She must weigh a ton", Jack whispered to Charlie who giggled nervously. Her seat went down so low with her weight that Jack barely had room for his head to squeeze under let alone his whole body. What was worse was that neither Jack nor Charlie had thought to find out which way the planebug was travelling, so now they were not even sure if it would take them to Hollywood. Still there was nothing that could be done about that now since the clouds were all around them as they flew high above an ocean, though goodness knows which ocean, thought Jack. With a shrug of his shoulders he turned to Charlie and mouthed , Shhh, I'm taking a nap so don't wake me up unless we land. Okay?" Charlie nodded and curled up against a soft jumper which was lying under his seat. Soon they were both sound asleep.

In the meantime all of the other passengers were given trays of food and drinks by the pretty mothardess who moved up and down the rows in her grey and yellow uniform, smiling sweetly as she handed each person their tray.

I do hope you have enjoyed this story. It is available as an E-Book on my download page. Here's another Jack The Pack Tale just for you...