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CHAPTER 4

These very ordinary children were now the rainbow children, through no intention of their own. The setting, the place, the time were all the essential ingredients The Empress of the Rainbow had needed to create this magical situation which would transform all their lives.

As the children were going back to the adults they wondered how they were going to explain their brightly coloured lips. All agreed that they looked a bit unusual. Quite by accident, however, Sarah discovered that after she had kissed her ring a couple of times her yellow lip colour disappeared. The rest of the children kissed their rings too and after a short, sharp tingle their normal lip colour returned.

Now they knew for certain that the rings that they were wearing were truly magical. The children remembered that they were visiting Tresivio the next day. Their grandfather lived there and he was going to take them up the mountain to the small church where a reunion of the Alpini was to be held that weekend. Their grandfather was big and tall with a long grey beard he would constantly tug and tug.

The next morning brought a glorious day with it. The children began their long winding drive up the mountain- With their grandfather driving it was certainly a bumpy and dangerous drive. Grandfather's eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be! Tresivio was just like they remembered it with its quiet cobbled streets and its little fountain which they splashed in during the summer months. As they made their way to their grandparents' house they passed an ice-cream van without any wheels. It looked familiar because of its red roof and bright blue steering wheel. When the owner came out of his little house the children were shocked to see it was Mr. Gelato. He had sold them ice creams in the valley since their Grandfather was a boy. Mr. Gelato wasn't his usual, jolly self and once they had stopped he explained that a tough gang called the Matocs had taken over his sales round and had put him out of business wrecking his van to make sure he couldn't sell anything. They had taken the wheels and chimes off. The gang was very nasty and was known to be vindictive towards anybody that defied them! Mr. Gelato was worried about his family and planned to leave the village forever and find different work elsewhere. His special family recipes for making wonderful ice creams would be lost to the mountain folk and holidaymakers alike.

The children were sad as they watched him go back into his house. They wondered what could be done to stop the Matocs. They were angry that the Matocs could get away with their bullying ways.