Orla stands in the blue teacup and raises a spoon toward curling clouds of steam. The red-capped sugar-cube conductor watches as bright stars appear in the night sky.

A PICTURE BOOK

Orla and the Night Train of Teacups

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Orla and the Night Train of Teacups

In a moonlit blue bedroom, Orla leans over her bed to watch a steaming blue teacup on wheels, led by a tiny red-capped sugar-cube conductor. More teacup cars wait on the windowsill beneath a full moon.

Orla could not sleep. Moonlight tapped at her window—tap, tap, tap—and made a silver square on the floor.

Something tiny rolled across it: a blue teacup with four little wheels, puffing steam. “All aboard!” called a voice.

On its saucer stood a sugar-cube conductor in a red cap. Along the windowsill waited a train of teacups: striped, strawberry-shaped, and one with a sleepy mouse peeping over its rim.

Orla rides in a large blue teacup car as the tiny teacup train travels through a moonlit garden toward a round hill with a biscuit door. The red-capped sugar-cube conductor stands beside her.

“Where are you going?” Orla whispered.

“To the Midnight Picnic,” said the conductor. “But our last cup is empty. Without one last passenger, the train bell will not ring.”

Orla climbed into the warm blue cup, which smelled of mint. Ting! rang the bell, and the teacup train rolled down a moonbeam from her window.

It crossed the garden fence, slipped beneath a leaf, and zipped along shiny snail trails to a round hill with a biscuit door.

Inside the hill beneath a cloth ceiling and glowing lanterns, Orla kneels beside a huge wedge of cheese while a sad pale-lilac mouse sits nearby. Empty teacups, berries, and the little train wait behind them.

Inside the hill, little lamps glowed beneath a tablecloth sky. The train stopped beside a picnic blanket with crumbs, berries, and one enormous slice of cheese.

But nobody was eating. A round moon-mouse sat beside the cheese, sniffing sadly.

“The stars are hiding,” said the moon-mouse. “Our picnic needs their light.”

Orla looked up at the dark clouds. Then she saw the empty teacups. “Could we use their steam?” she asked.

The conductor nodded. Every teacup puffed warm steam into the air. Orla waved her spoon like a little paddle, and together they pushed the steam toward the clouds.

The clouds slid apart. One star blinked, then ten. Soon the whole sky sparkled above the hill.

Under a full moon and stars, Orla pours pink lemonade from a strawberry-shaped teacup into a small flowered cup. A smiling pale-lilac mouse sits beside a plate of cheese.

The moon-mouse clapped its paws. At last, everyone ate cheese and berries, while the strawberry cup poured fizzy pink lemonade.

In bright morning light, Orla smiles at a tiny white sugar cube wearing a red conductor cap on her pillow. The little teacup train is visible far away on the open windowsill.

When Orla climbed back through her window, the blue teacup train gave one soft whistle.

In the morning, a sugar cube sat on her pillow. It wore a red cap no bigger than her thumb.