It was getting late one night in Tarrytown Airport, and Jay Jay and his friends were settling in for the night.
"Today was fun!" Snuffy said excitedly.
Everyone agreed- they had all been out to Smiling Meadow and Echo Canyon, and the young planes had all had great fun. But Brenda Blue, the Tarrytown mechanic, told them that now it was time to go to bed.
But as he was just falling asleep Herky realised that he wasn't wearing his gum shield and he remembered he had left it in Brenda's workshop.
Feeling embarrassed that he had forgotten about it, he decided to go to sleep and forget about it.
Only he wasn't used to sleeping without it yet, and he ended up becoming fussy and shaky in his sleep.
Unfortunately, this woke Jay Jay, Tracy and Orland up.
"Oh poor Herky!" Jay Jay said, sympathetically. "He must have forgotten to put his gum shield back on."
"We must help him!" Tracy added determinedly.
"But how do we do that?" Orland asked.
"I think we should get Brenda to help us." Tracy replied.
...
Sometime later, Brenda Blue was summoned to the hanger and informed of the situation, to which she pulled a face.
"Darn, I forgot- Savannah had engine problems this afternoon and I hadn't got round to fixing Herky's gum shield yet." She explained.
"There must be something we can do!" Jay Jay protested.
They all thought for a few minutes for ideas. Then, Tracy had an idea.
"Why don't we sing to him?" She suggested confidently.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Jay Jay replied excitedly. "It worked before."
But when they tried it, it didn't work for very long.
"I've heard that soothing smells sometimes helps." Orland offered.
"I do have some lavender oil- that might help." Brenda added.
"Yes we'll try that." Jay Jay agreed.
But that backfired when Herky caught one whiff and sneezed-accidentally spilling the oil all over Brenda Blue.
"Oops." Orland said. "Sorry Brenda."
"Never mind," she replied. "I like the smell of jasmine better."
...
In the end, they had run out of ideas on how to help their friend get to sleep without the aid of his gum shield-except Brenda.
"I think I know what we can do."" She told them. "I'll be right back."
So she snuck out of the hanger and went to her workshop, where she had a red locker. She opened it and rummaged inside it for something important. Making a sound in triumph, she found a book and hurried back to the hanger, where her friends were waiting.
"I'm back!" She said quietly.
"What did you get?" They asked her.
"I got a copy of Cinderella." she admitted.
"Really- you did?"
"Yeah- let's just hope that reading works."
...
So Brenda read about Cinderella and how she went to the ball and met a handsome prince before she lost a glass slipper and married the prince.
"It seemed that it put the other planes to sleep." Brenda mused.
But at least Herky was asleep now, too.
"I'm sorry Herky. She sighed. Your gum shield will be fixed tomorrow morning, I swear on it."
And the next morning, she worked so hard that Herky's gum shield was fixed before her lunchtime.