7 Tin Lizzy

Tin Lizzy written by Pam Holden illustrated by Kelvin Hawley

Tin Lizzy was an old, old car that was just left alone in the farm shed and never used at all. Farmer Jim was always too busy working hard on his farm. "Some day I'll have time to clean you, Tin Lizzy, and give you new paint," he said. "Then I'll buy a new engine for you, and we'll drive together to join in the Vintage Car Parade. I'll make you feel proud."

For many long years, Tin Lizzy waited alone in the farm shed, getting rusty and dusty and lonely. "Why has Farmer Jim forgotten about me?" Lizzy wondered sadly. After the first year, a family of mice made a nest under the driver's seat. The poor old car didn't like being used as a mouse house. "Shoo! Leave me alone!" Tin Lizzy said to the mice. "I'm a vintage car, not a mouse house. I want to go for a drive!"

In the second year, a pair of birds thought that Tin Lizzy was a safe place to build their nest. Five eggs soon hatched into chirping chicks, which ate lots of wiggly worms. At last, the baby birds tried to flap their wings and learn to fly. "Good idea!" Tin Lizzy told them. "Fly away! "I'm a vintage car, and I'm waiting to go for a drive."

All through the next year, two clucking hens came every day to lay their eggs on Lizzy's back seat. "Shoo! I don't want your useless eggs on my seat," said Tin Lizzy. "Why can't I go for a drive?" Sometimes busy spiders built their webs on the sides and the windows. A family of little lizards ran in and out of the doors. There were even some buzzing bees living under the steering wheel. "Shoo!" said poor old Tin Lizzy. "Please leave me alone! I'm waiting to drive to the Vintage Car Parade."

At last, after many years, a wonderful thing happened! Tin Lizzy looked through the dust and rust and spider webs, and there was Farmer Jim coming into the shed. He was carrying large brushes and bright red paint. "Shoo!" said Farmer Jim to the birds and the clucking hens. "Buzz off!" he told the bees. After he chased away the mice and lizards, he quickly wiped off the sticky spider webs. "You're a special car," he told Lizzy. "Tomorrow I'll buy you a new horn and an engine to make you go fast!"