The Four-Wheeled Motorbike on Cat Street
It was raining non-stop outside, and Vasco decided that the living room was going to be a city.
With cardboard boxes, books and cushions, he built houses, bridges and a square in the middle of the rug. Between two boxes placed very close together was a street so narrow that a finger could barely fit.
— This is Cat Street — he announced. — Mrs. Rosa lives at the end, with her cat.
Tiago, the older brother, cut out a paper cat and placed it at the door of the last house. Then he also cut out a strip of red paper and stuck it to the window.
— Make-believe fire on Cat Street! — he warned. — We need to call the firemen.
Vasco ran to his room and came back with his Playmobil fireman and the red quad bike. He put the helmet on his head and the gloves on his hands, one at a time, very carefully.
— What about the axe? — Tiago asked.
— It’s stored in the compartment — Vasco replied, and he fitted it into its place on the quad bike. — An organized fireman arrives faster.
First, Vasco tried to take the truck he had made with a shoebox. He pushed it to the entrance of Cat Street, but the truck hit the two boxes and couldn’t get through.
— It’s too big — he sighed.
Tiago pointed to the quad bike.
— What about that one? It’s small.
Vasco smiled. He knew the trick with that quad bike: you just had to push it along the floor, back and forth, listen to the friction motor gain power and then let go.
Rrrr, rrrr, rrrr. Let go.
The quad bike shot across the rug, but it was going crooked. It passed by Cat Street and crashed into a house made of books, which fell down slowly.
— Oops! — Vasco laughed. — The fireman was in such a hurry that he forgot to look at the road.
He put the books upright again. This time, he lay down on the floor, with his chin on the rug, and lined up the front wheels with the entrance of the narrow street.
— With force, but to the right — he said softly.
Rrrr, rrrr. Let go.
The quad bike crossed the square, entered Cat Street without touching any boxes and stopped right in front of Mrs. Rosa’s house.
— He’s here! — they both shouted at the same time.
Vasco picked up the fireman and gave him a deep voice:
— Calm down, Mrs. Rosa, I’m here!
He took the axe out of the compartment and, with the fireman’s hand, made-believe opened the stuck cardboard door. Inside, Tiago had hidden the paper cat.
— Cat saved! — Vasco announced, and placed it in the fireman’s arms.
Tiago folded the red strip and put it in his pocket.
— The make-believe fire is over — he said. — And real fire is only for real firemen.
Vasco nodded in agreement. Then he put the axe back in the compartment again, because that’s what you did at the end of every mission.
Their mother peeked through the living room door and saw the cardboard city, the paper cat and a very proud fireman on top of his quad bike.
— So, what happened here?
— A street too narrow for the truck — Vasco explained. — But not for the quad bike.
And, while the rain continued to fall, Tiago was already cutting out a new street, an even tighter one, for the next mission.
3 play ideas
The narrowest street. Build a city with boxes and books and leave a narrow street; the child tries to take the quad bike to the end without touching the walls.
Strength and aim. Before letting go of the quad bike, the child chooses a destination on the floor and tries pushing it more or less times, like Vasco, until they hit the right spot.
Mission accomplished. At the beginning of each mission, the fireman puts on the helmet and gloves and stores the axe in the compartment; at the end, the child puts everything away again before inventing the next rescue.
Featured product
The Playmobil 71090 Firefighters Speed Quad includes a fireman, a quad bike with a friction motor, helmet, gloves and an axe that is stored in the vehicle’s compartment. It is small and easy to maneuver, just like the quad bike that reached Cat Street when the truck didn’t fit.
