Marluk, Tigga, Oona, you’re here!” “Hi, Zoller!” “I can’t wait to show you my magnificent Monster Music Factory. You won’t believe my musical machines!” “Whoa, what’s that big lever?” “Each machine has one! Pull the lever and watch as the musical instruments come bursting out.” “I love musical instruments!” “You can all help count and box them.” “Ooh, I want to count!” “How many drums do we have?” “One! Two! Three! Four! Five!” “Watch, I’ll do some more! The number of instruments inside the box matches the number on the outside. Go ahead and check in each box.” Ring! Ring! “Hello, Monster Music Factory… Who’s this? … The Whirling Wailers?” “THE WHIRLING WAILERS?!” “They’re the biggest, greatest monster band ever!” “… a music show tonight? …. Hmmm…. That’s a lot of instruments, but we can get them to you today…. Yes, no problem…. Thank you!” “Zoller, are we really going to pack up instruments for the Whirling Wailers?” “Yes, here’s the list of what they need for their concert tonight.” “Ooh, look! Tambourines are up first!” “And here we are at the… tambourine machine! Someone pull the lever.” Tambourines squirted out of the machine. “I know, I know, I know! Three tambourines!” Oona said excitedly. “Not so fast, Oona. Let’s count them.” Tigga touched each one. “1, 2, 3…4! There are four tambourines altogether.” “Whoops. My bad. I should have counted.” “Push the number four on the machine.” “Tambourines, boxed up and ready to go! Check!” “The Whirling Wailers need Trumpets next!” Tigga pulled a lever and a big burst of trumpets came out. “Whoa, that is a lot of trumpets. How… How are we going to count them all?” “Don’t worry Marluk, we can just move them, one at a time, as we count them.” Tigga slid a trumpet over as he counted, “One, two, three, four, five!” “I get it! We just need to press the five button.” “The box isn’t coming down! Why isn’t it working?” “Let’s count again. One, two, three, four… hey, where’s the last one?” “Oona! Put that back!” “Aw man!” “Now let’s try that five button again.” “Trumpets, check! Next up, kazoos. Monsters, there’s something you need to know about the kazoo machine. It’s fast.” “Fast?” Marluk gulped. “Really, really, really fast, so watch carefully. Ready?” “I saw two. How many did you see?” “I didn’t have a chance to count them!” “Let’s look inside the box.” “You’re right! There are two kazoos inside!” Tigga pushed the two button. “Again, again, again!” shouted Oona. “Ready?” Tigga pulled the lever. “How many kazoos did you see?” “Kazoos, check!” “Ukuleles are the last instrument we need!” “Wait until you see the cool clutching claws on my ukulele machine!” “One, two, three, four, five.” “Wait! There’s more coming!” “Five … six, seven! We need to press the seven button.” “Tambourines, check. Trumpets, check. Kazoos, check. Ukuleles….” “Check!” “OK! Now to get these to the concert. See how the boxes get loaded onto the truck?” “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. They’re in number order,” Marluk noticed. “Right. OK! You’re ready to go!” Zoller called to the truck driver. “Load ‘em up! There’s no time to waste. The concert will be starting soon.” The monsters started pushing boxes onto the truck. “Look, there are the Whirling Wailers! In person!” “Hi there,” one of the band members said, coming to meet them. “Are these our instruments?” He reached his tentacles into boxes and pulled out four tambourines. “They sure are, counted and boxed and ready!” “Sweet! Hey, why don’t you all grab some instruments and join us on stage?” “REALLY?!” Oona, Marluk, and Tigga couldn’t believe their ears. They grabbed instruments and raced on stage. “Ladies, gentlemen, and monsters, please welcome The Whirling Wailers!” 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… We are called the Whirling Wailers ‘Cause we’re whirly and we’re waily We’re great on trumpet, tambourine Kazoo, and ukulele! And when it comes to countin’, Hey, our band is Number One! And that’s why you can count on us For lots of counting fun! Yeah, we’re the Whirling Wailers…. And now our concert’s done! Thank you, Oona, Marluk, and Tigga, for counting all our instruments for us and thank all of you out there in the audience too! Bye! Bye! Bye!