Kids Bedtime Stories

Richie's Plank Experience

Cosy up and snuggle down, for tonight you explore your local neighbourhood and beyond in Richie's Plank Experience.

You find yourself outside a very grand building. It towers above the others around it and you look up. The clouds move quickly above you and the building. It makes you dizzy. You keep looking until you wobble and bring your head back down before you lose balance and fall over. You remember playing this game on windy days with any large building or monument you could find. It always felt as though the building was falling down on you. You giggle.
Looking again at the building, you wonder what the view is like from the top. You notice a golden door that has what seems to be a doorbell next to it, but you know it's not a doorbell. It looks more like a button that summons elevators, but you've never seen anything quite like it. It's inviting and you're drawn to the button, but decide to have a brief look around before riding to the top to check out the view.

It's pleasantly warm, it feels and smells like spring. There is a freshness and low buzzing of busyness around you. You are on the corner of two perpendicular streets, but there is very little traffic. Other than the occasional car, it's quiet allowing you to hear the subtle sounds of the delicate flutters of butterflies around you and the wind gently whispering through the buildings of the street. In the distance you can hear a helicopter, but its clapping propeller doesn't disturb you. It excites you, and you think back to the last time you'd seen a helicopter. You'd never had the chance to ride in one, but you had always wanted to gently hover over a beautiful city or landscape.

Smiling at your memories, you cross the road towards a park you had noticed. The picnic tables are immaculately clean. You take a seat trying to figure out where you are and what you can see around you. But the buildings are too tall for you to get a real sense of where you are. After a few minutes you decide to cross back to the elevator button. You're sure you'll get a much better view, even if it's just a few stories up.

Standing at the elevator doors you realise you had underestimated both the size of the elevator and the building itself. The elevator arrives and welcomes you with its opening doors. You quickly hop in and turn to look at the buttons. Surprised, you only see three buttons and none of them have been labelled. You're not sure why there'd only be three levels in a building at least 30-story high. Nevertheless, you press the button at the bottom half expecting it to go down. The doors close and the elevator starts to move up in a familiarly awkward yet comforting way. It's not long before you reach the first level.

The doors open, and the first thing you notice is the low hum of the city sounds are even quieter here, but the wind is noticeably louder. However, you're more surprised to see that the elevator doors have opened onto a small, outdoor viewing platform. As you step out, a panel from the ground pops up and displays a noticeboard. The notice board, by way of little graphics and icons, informs you that you are now equipped with a rocket and a sky brush. You're confused and look down to your left arm only to find a rocket booster attached. Looking at your right arm, you notice you hold a Sky Brush and a palette full of colours with red already selected. You also notice a trigger under both index fingers, so you gently squeeze the one with the Sky Brush. Nothing appears to happen at first, but when you move, a bright red squirt of colour comes beaming out.
You then gently squeeze the trigger on the rocket and you feel the thrust pushing you forward. You rotate your arm and you quickly realise this will be the way to steer yourself. By putting your hand straight and ahead of you, you're able to move forward through the sky. Tilt your arm up, and you'll go higher. Stop squeezing or tilt down, and you'll start descending. And you also notice that by shifting your weight while you move your arm allows you to move left and right. You're near the edge of the building now. You take a deep breathe and squeeze the rocket trigger as hard as you can. Within seconds you're high above the city, soaring effortlessly and mastering your rocket. You look up and point your arm to the sky as you climb higher through the sky. You rotate your arm and are delighted to find you are barrel rolling above the skyline. You start to slowly descend until you're at the same height as the tallest buildings and manoeuvre through the highest peaks, trying to peer through the windows to see if anyone had noticed you.

As your confidence grows, you descend further so you're weaving through the streets. Like a maze of corridors, you whip through the streets, pulling tight turns and using the rocket to help you control your speed and turning. You very quickly become an expert in controlling the rocket and are zipping through the city's streets before accelerating up to the sky again to take a view of the city.
As you climb, you notice the helicopter you'd heard earlier. You know not to fly too close to the blades, but have an urge to fly in formation. You approach the helicopter with caution and follow it on its patrol of the city. There are places you hadn't noticed before, like the seafront in the distance and the electric generation windmills on the edge of the city. You peel away from the helicopter and zoom ahead to explore.

From your new vantage point you can see the whole city. It's a quiet city and you're grateful that you're able to admire it from such a height. Although the sound of the wind buffers against your ears as you move, it's not uncomfortable or invasive, but rather soothing and calming.
As you hover over the city, you remember you have a Skybrush! You have never been the best of artists, but are inspired to leave your mark in this world.
You look at your brush and see that you have a variety of colours that span the spectrum of the rainbow. You don't think too much, choose a colour and fly around to see how the colour is dispersed. You're surprised with the way in which it comes out - at first you thought it would come out as smoke, like on a display aeroplane, but it doesn't. Instead the Skybrush produces a ribbon-like trail that isn't affected by the wind or the breeze. It's perfectly preserved in the sky. This gives you an idea...

Finding a place in the sky where you can see most of the city, you start flying across the sky. You want to make sure you get the proportions right, you don't want to make your message too small so it's not seen, but equally you don't want it to be too big so that it's ugly. You know, from seeing displays before, that having the right size message is important. And you know, because you're not dealing with smoke, that this message will be clear for everyone to see. You contemplate for a while, before noticing that the day is starting to fade as the sun casts its golden hue across the sky. It won't be long before night now, so you choose a colour that can easily be seen and prepare to form your message. You know what you want to say.

With ease you soar through the sky and start flying your manoeuvres. You've been through it in your head a few times now, and have thought about it long enough to have memorised it now.
You dive down in an anticlockwise direction, a curve forming as you go, before you suddenly go vertically up, then down again before doing three more full loops, ending with another vertical climb before dropping briefly then flicking back up vertically again, but not for as long, before arching over clockwise until you drop down again. You fly back up again, then immediately down before flying into a double loop that shoots you out to the top where you hover briefly and drop down again. You fly up again, before dropping, curving over again about halfway up in your final manoeuvre. You fly vertically up, drop down a third, cross your line and fall down the centre again before flicking off anticlockwise and switching off the Skybrush. Although it felt like only moments, it has taken a few minutes for you to write your message, and it's now becoming darker. You fly away from the message to view it from a distance and are happy to see that it's clear and that the yellow letters project a soft and warm glow in the falling night.

As you admire your work, you can feel a vibration on your arm. You look down and there is a flashing red light indicating your rocket is running out of power. You'd forgotten exactly where you'd come from and have been so busy playing in the sky that you can't remember where you started from. Luckily, there is a beacon light guiding you to the building and you quickly get your bearings and make your way back. As you fly back, you keep checking on your message which only glows warmer as the sky darkens.

You land softly on the platform from which you took off and are greeted with a the familiar sound of the muffled silence from the now sleeping city below. You check your arms, the rocket and sky brush have disappeared. The elevator door pings, signalling its arrival and you walk over and step inside. You take one last look at your message which majestically sits over the city. "Goodnight" it simply says, and you smile, hoping all the best night. The elevator door closes and you go to press the button in the panel, but there is only one button to press. You check again but are unable to find any other button. Reluctantly you press it and the elevator stops, then winds itself up and starts to accelerate up. You're moving faster and faster, the speed of the elevator is holding you to the ground. Surely you can't still be in the building. All of a sudden, the elevator feels like it's stopped. You get up and are surprised to find a window has appeared where the mirror had been. You're high above the city now and floating gently and peacefully. You look up and see a balloon holding your elevator and you can still see the message you wrote clearly. You smile and settle in, you know this is the end of your time here.

The night sky glistens with the shimmers of the stars as you get comfortable. Although you can't stop replaying the day's events in your head, you know you must rest The thrill of flight, the excitement of aerobatics, the connection to the wind all help you to relax. You're tired now, and finally cosy again. You close your eyes and drift away, awaiting your next adventure.