- 6 -

Dogs started barking at their approach and an old man dressed in a scarlet shirt and baggy trousers with a bandanna around his midriff and a brightly coloured scarf around his neck greeted them suspiciously. When they told him their business he looked even more annoyed, but pointed in the direction of an old derelict caravan and told the children that the wheels could be found in it. However, once inside the caravan the cunning old gypsy locked and bolted the door on them. They were all scared but their fright turned to anger as they realised that the old Gypsy had played a trick on them. Giorgio fell over something very heavy lying on the floor. Once he had picked himself up he bent down and examined the object in the faint light. "It's one of the wheels", he whispered as he pulled the rim free. "Quick, let s find the other"

At that moment angel Shimmer who was all of six inches tall and had a glowing mischievous face appeared again. She was glowing brightly enough for the children to see the rest of the blue wheels, which had made Mr. Gelato's van so distinctive. They had been stored behind an old trunk.

Shimmer at once hummed a little tune to herself and began to sing in her tiny voice,

"With rainbows pink
And rainbows blue
Open this caravan
And let us through"

Flashes of rainbow colour whizzed through the caravan catapulting it into the air. The caravan creaked a little and then with an almighty groan the sides fell out and the children and their grandfather stepped out onto the mountainside. The Gypsies were so astonished at seeing their caravan 'explode' in front of their eyes that they didn't notice the children plus four wheels running down the old track leading back to the town. The children were wheeling the wheels in front of them. They did notice grandfather though, who was not as fast as the youngsters were. But angel Shimmer knew how to divert their attention. She blew a kiss at the caravan and in the twinkle of an eye she had reassembled it and had it looking like new. The Gypsies were stunned and crept over to the caravan to touch it and make sure their eyes weren't deceiving them. They had forgotten all about the wheels.

But what no one noticed, on top of the caravan, was a small white angel called Magic. He has sneaked down from angel-land because he was annoyed that the Empress had not chosen him as one of her seven angels and was still determined not to miss out on all the fun. He knew that the, practically unknown whitish eighth colour of the rainbow could carry one more angel and when the others were riding the rainbow he jumped on five minutes after them. Because his colour was white he was undetectable in the clouds. But no one, not even his fellow angels noticed him. He was adventure seeking, mischievous, fun loving and cheeky. In fact he was a combination of all the Empress's chosen angels. He just wondered why he hadn't been chosen and was determined to make his mark as angel number 8.

Meanwhile, back in Tresivio Shimmer and the children were putting the wheels back on the ice-cream van to get Mr. Gelato back on the road again.