It's a few days before Christmas and Darcy’s mum is going to the local shop to get the food for the big day. Darcy asks if she and Dave can go with her to help.
“Of course you can, sweetie,” says Darcy’s mum. “You can help me pick out some festive decorations for the table.”
When they get to the shop, Darcy’s mum gets a trolley to help them carry everything. They start walking up and down the aisles, picking up items and crossing them off the list.
They get lots of vegetables, a big bag of potatoes for roasting, and Darcy asks if they can have Yorkshire puddings as a special Christmas treat.
When they’re half way through the list, Darcy’s mum realises she’s forgotten something from one of the earlier aisles.
“Stay here for a minute, Darcy. I’ll just pop back and get the cranberry sauce.”
While she’s waiting, Darcy looks at the selection of napkins and chooses her favourite pattern. She goes for white napkins with green and gold stars.
When her mum gets back a couple of minutes later, she looks confused. “Where’s Dave?” she asks.
“He’s behind me looking at the… oh, he’s gone!” Darcy says, sounding worried.
“It’s ok, he’ll be here somewhere. Now, let’s think – where is he likely to be?”
“Hmm, he’s probably by the bananas. They are his favourite!” Darcy laughs. They walk back to the fruit aisle but Dave isn’t there.
Next, they go to the freezers to see if he’s trying to find some ice cream. The owner of the shop recently started selling banana ice cream because he knows it’s Dave’s favourite.
“He’s not here either,” Darcy says, looking very confused. “Should we ask the lady at the front desk to call him on the shop speakers?”
“That’s a good idea Darcy.” They walk over to the desk and tell the lady that they can’t find Dave. She presses the button on her microphone and says, “Would Dave the horse please come to the front desk. That’s Dave the horse to the front desk please.”
The other shoppers start looking around to see if they can spot him but nobody knows where he is. All of a sudden, they hear a big crash and run over to see what it was.
Dave is sat on the floor surrounded by carrots.
“What happened, Dave?” asks Darcy.
“There was a sign that said ‘Special carrots for Santa’s reindeer’. I thought I could have one because I helped Santa deliver presents last year, but the box was empty.
“I spotted another box up on the shelf but I couldn’t reach it. I stepped on the bottom shelf and stretched up high, but I lost my balance. Sorry for making a mess!”
By now, the shopkeeper had come out to see what all the noise was about. “Not to worry Dave, it’s only a few carrots! Next time, just ask one of the shop assistants to help you.”
“Ok,” says Dave, a little embarrassed.
Dave, Darcy and her mum finish getting the last few things from the list and go to the till. After they pay for the shopping and are about to leave, the shopkeeper comes out with an extra bag for them.
“We can’t have one of Santa’s favourite reindeer going without carrots, can we?!” he smiles and hands Dave a big bag of carrots. “Make sure you save some for Christmas day,” he says.
“Thank you very much!” Dave grins.
The three of them head home, put the shopping away and curl up on the sofa to watch a Christmas film.
If you liked this story, you’ll love the Dave and Darcy picture book series, which you can purchase here.
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