The purple bouncy house made every child stop bouncing.
It shivered blue, then red, then spotty green, like a jelly with hiccups.
Ravi grabbed Leni’s sleeve. "That is not normal party purple."
The little door on the brown bag creaked wider.
"Please," buzzed the tiny voice. "Bring your brush."
Leni looked at Nico, laughing in Dad’s arms, and then at the wild colours spreading over the grass.
Her hands shook. She took one breath. Then she stepped through.
⁂
Leni landed on soft paper that crinkled under her shoes.
She stood inside a huge, swirling brown bag. Painted stars spun above her like bright leaves in wind.
Red paint raced past her toes, hot-looking and quick.
Blue paint splashed against the paper walls, rising like little waves.
"Who’s there?" Leni called.
A tiny golden handle popped from the wall and blinked like an eye.
"I am the bag," it said. "I hold party magic. Usually."
"Usually?" Leni said.
The bag sighed, and the whole paper world rustled.
The bag is the key, but the painter is the way.
Leni frowned. "That sounds like something grown-ups say when they lost the instructions."
The golden handle gave a small giggle.
⁂
Outside, Ravi’s voice floated in. "Leni! The bouncy house is orange now!"
Leni saw it through a round paper window. The bouncy house flashed yellow, blue, red.
"It is the gate," said the bag. "It keeps colours in and fun out."
Red paint leaped towards the window.
Leni lifted her brush. "Not out there, you don’t."
She painted a firm black line across the paper floor.
The red paint skidded, bumped the line, and slowed.
Blue rolled in next, sloshing over her shoe.
Steady waves, quiet waves, back where you belong, Leni whispered.
She painted a blue bowl shape. The wave curled neatly inside it.
Ravi shouted, "Good! It’s only stripy now!"
Leni smiled, even though her knees felt wobbly.
⁂
One colour still whizzed everywhere.
Yellow zipped around like sunshine on roller skates.
It bounced off the walls and made the bag hiccup golden sparks.
"I can’t catch that!" Leni said.
Then she remembered Nico’s rockets.
She painted a silver rocket with a yellow window and red flames.
"In you go," she said.
Yellow squeaked happily and zoomed straight into the window.
The rocket glowed. The paper world stopped spinning.
A small door appeared, painted in Leni’s own green-dripped brush strokes.
"Home," said the bag.
Leni pushed it open and tumbled onto the grass beside Ravi.
The bouncy house stood yellow and blue again.
Everyone cheered because Dad thought the colour-changing bit was a clever party surprise.
Ravi handed Leni her squash. "You went inside a bag."
"I noticed," Leni said, and they both laughed.
Then the plain brown bag gave one last tap.
A new picture was painting itself on the front.
It was not a door this time.
It was a tiny map.
