The Magic Rings and Vostok Station

Karl the cockerel in the yard was still fast asleep, and there wasn’t even a hint of dawn on the horizon, but the two adventurous sisters were already fidgeting under the covers.

“Ellie?” came a muffled voice from the bed on the left.

“Annie?” answered the bed on the right.

“Shall we see if it works again?” the voice from under the left-hand duvet asked.

Try what, you might be wondering. And what would they want to try in the middle of the night? Well, there has surely been a time when you were looking forward to something so much that you couldn’t sleep, hasn’t there? All you could think about was that thing you were so looking forward to? And can you guess what Annie and Ellie were looking forward to?

It had all begun when their parents bought them two rings at the fair. Nothing particularly odd about that. But these were special rings – if you twist them... they take you to places you’ve never even dreamed of going to. And that’s exactly what Ellie and Annie did – one of them unwittingly twisted their ring in their sleep, and they found themselves in one of the hottest places in the world – in Death Valley in America. And their trip there was so exciting that it’s no surprise they were curious whether their rings would take them somewhere again.

As soon as they had brushed their teeth and had a drink of water, they sat side by side on Annie’s bed and held hands.

Annie was about to give her ring a twist when her big sister stopped her.

“Hang on! We ought to take our coats. What if it’s cold there?”

She had no idea how close to the truth…