THE CAROUSEL PONY'S DREAM
 
                                                                                                              by

                                                                               Claudia
 

    Jodpur, the carousel pony, woke early on Saturday morning looking forward to a day of
carrying children round and round on his wooden circle.  He was a pretty pony, maybe the
most beautiful of all the ponies on the carousel.  His coat was shiny black and he had a
long silver tail that matched his bridle and reins.  He had a big pony smile on his dainty
head and was the favorite of all the children.  He stood nestled between Roger the
Raccoon and Bonita the Bobcat on the giant wooden carousel.

  "Another day of circles," Roger the Raccoon said.  "I'm so tired of going in circles."

  "Me too," Bonita the Bobcat agreed.  "I wish we could just run in a straight line for a
change."

  "I don't mind going in circles," Jodpur said.  "But it might be nice to run
fast and straight too."

    Jodpur was thinking about running with the wind when he heard old Burt walk by and
start to push aside the heavy wooden doors that enclosed the carousel.  Jodpur looked
forward to the opening of the doors.  He loved to look at the wide blue ocean across the
street and watch the people playing on the beach.  Today as the doors opened Jodpur saw
only wisps of fog and pouring rain.  The ocean was dark and angry and there was no one
playing on the beach.

  "Looks like it's going to rain all day," Roger said.

  "Won't be many kids to ride around today," Bonita said.

  "That's all right," Jodpur said.  "Maybe Burt will have time to give us a bath.  I feel
messy.  A little girl spilled ice cream on my head and it's sticky."

    Roger laughed.  "I feel worse, a kid tried to feed me chocolate yesterday and it's stuck
in my eye."

    Burt walked by and Jodpur hoped he would see the sticky mess on top of his head.
Jodpur was pleased when he saw Burt return with a bucket of soapy water and a long
green hose.  They were all going to have a bath.  While he waited his turn he looked at the
ocean and dreamed.

  Circles, circles, he thought.  Always in circles, what fun it would be to be a real pony and
never have to go in circles again.  Suddenly he felt a whoosh of air and a heard a faint
tinkle of music.  What was happening?  He found that his eyes were closed and he slowly
opened them.  My goodness, he thought, where am I?

    Jodpur looked carefully around.  The ocean was gone and in its place was an endless
field of flowers and trees.  He tried to move and found his legs would dance and jump
whenever he wanted.  "What's this?" he said aloud as he looked down.  He was standing
on something soft and spongy and green.  He pranced his feet up and down.  It felt
wonderful to a carousel pony who had spent his entire life on a wooden circle.  This is grass, he thought, I never thought I'd see grass.  He reached down with his dainty head and took a nibble.  It tasted wonderful.

    Suddenly he heard a sound like thunder.  He looked quickly around and saw a sleek
white pony racing toward him.  The newcomer stopped with a clunk of his hoofs that
made chunks of grass fly all about.

  "Who are you?" the white pony asked.  "I never saw you before."

  "I'm Jodpur.  I guess I'm new here."

  "My name's Prince," the white pony said.  "You want to be friends?  Everybody else
around here is big old horses who never want to run and play or do anything fun with me.

  "I'd like that," Jodpur said.

  "Come on, let's run to the barn, it must be almost time for lunch." Prince said.

  "Lunch?" Jodpur said.  "What's that?"
    Prince looked at him and shook his head.  "You must know what lunch is, silly, it's
when we eat our oats and grain.  It's great, sweet and sticky."

  "Oh," Jodpur said.

    Prince gave a kick with his back legs and raced down the field spraying dirt and grass
clumps behind him.  Jodpur picked up his legs one at a time and looked at them.  He
wiggled his tummy and kicked.  This is fun, he thought and started to run after Prince.
His legs, not used to running, tangled up with each other and he plopped down on his
knees.  He laughed.  "I think I need more practice before I can run with the wind," he said
aloud to a small bird who was watching from a tree limb.

    Jodpur picked himself up and tried again.  This time his legs all obeyed and he ran down
the field after Prince.  He didn't run very fast but he didn't fall on his nose again.  He
caught up just as Prince was walking into a big white building with a giant door.  This
must be a barn, Jodpur thought.  This is where I will live with Prince and the other horses.

  "Come on," Prince shouted.  "We better eat up before the big horses come and make us
get out of the way."

    Jodpur walked to the long trough and put his head inside.  He took a big mouthful of
grain and chewed.  It tasted good.  "Do you do this every day?" he asked Prince.

  "Of course we do, three times a day," Prince answered.

    Jodpur thought real horses spent an awful lot of time eating.  "When do the children
come for rides?" he asked after swallowing his grain.

  "Children?" Prince said.  "We never see any children or give anybody rides."

  "What do you do all day?" Jodpur asked.

    Prince shook his pretty head.  "We eat and drink water.  We walk around in the
sunshine.  We rest under a tree when we get tired.  Sometimes I roll around in the mud
when it rains, that's fun."

    Jodpur finished as much sweet grain as he could eat and took a long drink of cold
water.  He left the barn and wandered into the sunshine.  It was beautiful here with the
green grass and trees but he wished he could see the ocean again.  He missed the sounds
of the waves and the cries of the seagulls as they swooped and dived to the sand.  He
walked away from the barn and across the meadow.  He took a bite of a pretty yellow
flower but it tasted bitter and he spat it out.  Not everything that looked pretty was good
for you, he decided.

    Jodpur wandered until his legs grew tired.  He didn't know where Prince was, he hadn't
followed when he'd left the barn.  Jodpur found a nice big tree that had lots of shade and
stopped to rest.  It's nice being a real pony, he thought, but it's very boring.  A big tear slid
down his long nose and fell on the grass.  I miss the children, he thought.  Even the ones
who put sticky stuff on my head.  I miss Roger Raccoon and Bonita Bobcat.  I don't think
I want to be a real pony any more.

    Suddenly he felt a whoosh of air and heard the tinkle of music again.  He closed his eyes
tightly.  When he opened them he was back on his carousel between Roger and Bonita.

"I'm home," he said to Roger.

  "I didn't know you went anywhere," Roger said.

  "You look better after your bath," Bonita said.  "We all do."

    Jodpur looked around his carousel.  It was beautiful and shiny clean.  He looked out the
big doors toward the ocean.  The clouds were drifting away and a ray of sunshine peeked
through.  A seagull squawked and swooped down to the sidewalk.  Jodpur smiled.  Soon
the children would be coming and he would ride them in circles all day long.  That was
fine, he loved his carousel and he loved going in circles, he was home again.
 
 
 

                                                                                         end