If I Were A Story

Posted on Nov 1, 2014 in Children's Fiction | 0 comments

If I were a story I would start like this…

Once upon a time… that is a good story start because it lets the reader decide which time.  It can be long ago in the past or just the day before… but not tomorrow.

Then after you have a start you must begin at once to create some characters in that time.  Children make good characters because they are so interesting; Especially those who have reached the age of reason.  They will know at once what time they are in and begin to do interesting things.  Some more interesting than others.

Let’s say we want a pair of children.  So they can speak to each other and decide what they want to do that day… in that story.  That way you do not have to do all of the work yourself.  If they are too young to drive away in a car then perhaps they have bicycles, if not, they must walk or run.

Oh oh, they are running.  Are they running away from something or in a hurry to get someplace?  I don’t see anyone chasing them, so they must be in a hurry to get someplace fun.

Ahh, there it is… up ahead.  I see an Amusement Park.  It is a small one with a Merry-go-round, a tall enough Ferris wheel, and there just a head is what they are running right to… the Ponies.

They each want one and they each have the price of a short ride so they buy the ticket and choose a Pony.

Now the two of them, a boy, Hayden and a girl named Kyren are going slowly around the fenced in circle slowly bouncing up and down as they cling to the horses reins.

Oh my! I see trouble ahead.  Kyren’s Pony is dissatisfied with the slow pace and has speeded up. It is going into a faster gate from a trot to a canter, so Hayden’s goes faster also, as it is a trained follower.  A good thing, because Kyren’ pony just reached the speed it needed to jump the fence and it has taken off out of the Amusement Park and is running away at top speed.  Hayden’s Pony is right behind… with Hayden clinging tight.  In fact both children are bent low hanging onto the saddle horn for security.

The man who takes care of the Ponies is busy putting another child on a Pony to ride in the circle and does not see what has happened.  When he looks up he still does not see the two who are running fast in the distance, because his Ponies never go there..

The parents of the girl just bouncing along in the circle have their eyes on her and so only we know that two children are being quickly ridden out of sight.

The fast little horses make two more jumps and they are free to go anywhere.  They have left the Park and are headed for the beach.

Now they are not running.  They are trotting along on the sand, hoofs in the water when a wave rolls up.  Kyren sits tall and Hayden also gets more comfortable as his Pony pulls next to hers.

“How did you get your horse to go to the beach? Kyren.  Mine just followed yours so I had no idea where you were leading us.”

Kyren explained to her brother that she did not choose to make her Pony leave the Park.  It just took off. I was scared at first, but it was really fun, too. And here we are!” She shrugged.  “My Pony just must like the beach and decided to come here, I guess.”

“Is this going to cost extra?”  Hayden asked his older sister,  “I don’t have any more money.”

“You did a good job hanging on, Hayden.”  She told him. “I was hugging the saddle just to keep from falling off.”

“I wonder why they came here?”  Kyren remarked, looking around.

“I loved going fast” Hayden admitted, “I was gong to save my money for the little Race Cars, but when you came straight to the Ponies I thought I had better follow you.”

“Good Boy Hayden.  Next time we can go to the Race Cars.” The big sister promised.  Just around the corner of a big curve in the beach there was a wide dirt road.  Some men were driving an odd vehicle that looked like a boat except they were on the land.

Kyren’s pony trotted around it and stepped upon the open flat back side just as the boat reached the water. Hayden’s Pony followed without effort.  The Pony was in charge.

“Oh oh.” Kyren said to her brother, “Hold on! This looks funny to me.”  Both little horses stepped onto the barge and stood side by side looking out to sea as the men driving did the same.  They were now on a boat going they had no idea where.  Only the Ponies seemed to know what they were doing as they stood quietly behind a large canvas covered truck with a Navy symbol on the door.

“What do we do now?”  Hayden asked, Looking around.  He saw a very large Ship up ahead.  The barge seemed to be heading right for it. “I guess we can get off of the Ponies now they aren’t going anywhere from here. “  Both children slipped down and stood side by side at the barge rail looking at the ocean get deeper and darker as they went.  Soon they were at the Ship and a ramp opened at the back and the children were fascinated as the boat tilted up in the front and drove like a car right into the huge Ship.

“What the!” a sailor said,  puzzled by the two pony’s standing behind the truck.

“Who ordered these things and why? Does the new Captain have kids?”

The kids watched as the sailor led the Pony’s off of the barge and deep into the Ship and out of sight.  He found a room with bales of hay and just left them in there.  No one seemed to see the children.  They were not expected or noticed.

“I guess we better follow the horses.” Hayden said, as they watched the sailor get into the truck and back it off of the barge.  As soon as he drove it away, they went to the area where they had seen the horses going and then they heard them whinnying, so joined the Ponies as they found the hay filled room.

The two had just had a very exciting ride and slow conclusion on the barge, they were very tired.  So with all of that loose hay they soon were sleeping.  Maybe it was the hum of the ships engines, but there they were two children who had not yet been noticed or realized that they were lost, as they were enjoying the adventure, It was very unusual.  Nothing like this had ever happened on a Pony ride before and they were interested in what might be next.

Kyren woke up first.  She was hungry.  As soon as she was oriented to where they were, she decided to go look for some food.  Not a few feet from where they slept there was a tall red white and blue machine.  It served three flavors of soft ice cream.

Kyren looked into all of her pockets and found some change, so was ready to buy one ice cream to share with Hayden, when she noticed that first sailor go right up and push a button without dropping coins in anywhere, and choosing a chocolate soft serve,  The paper cup he used was lifted from a huge stack high up on the top of the machine.

“Will you please hand me down two of those?”  She asked the sailor, pointing to the paper cups..

He looked down surprised.

“Hey?  Who’s kid are you?  The Captain’s?”  He asked, as he handed her the paper cups.

“Not quite understanding the question, Kyren did as she always does when asked something difficult by an adult, she nodded, “yes.”  It seemed to work and it did again.

She held the first cup under the vanilla and the second under the chocolate.  Back at the stable, she let Hayden choose the cup he wanted.  He chose the chocolate.  Kyren poured out half of hers in the horse feed bag.  She knew she could get more anytime… at no cost. The horses seemed to like it.

So did Hayden.  She explained the machine to him.

“I’ll do it next time.”  he said firmly and Kyren smiled.  She knew exactly what her brother would do.  He did it to every coke machine he used in the Fast Food places.  He pulled one spigot after another, getting something different from each one.  Kyren liked to choose carefully and get what she wanted… and that was all.

The ship’s loud whistle startled them and they walked back to the where the barge was riding in the back of the Ship.  If they were to get home it seemed the place to be so they curled up to keep warm and stayed on the barge.  The truck came back and as soon asit was parked, they both got in for the warmth.

A sailor who had been the driver of the barge arrived and asked them why they were here.

“We are waiting to go home to the Amusement Park where we rode the Ponies to the beach and then they came on the barge and we arrived here.  Shall we bring them back so they can go home with us?”  Kyren asked.

“I guess so, if you brought them.” The sailor agreed..

So both kids ran for the stable room and came back each leading a Pony. The sailor looked them over and found a name label on their equipment, Sure enough they belonged to the Amusement Park, so he tied them to the truck and soon the barge backed off of the Ship and with the two children and their Ponies.  At the shore the children climbed up on their Ponies and rode them back toward the Park.  The closer they got to the Park the faster the Ponies galloped until they were jumping fences to get home.

The Pony keeper was happy to see them back and quickly led the Two wayward little horses back to their stalls.  The children ran all the way home and got home just as it got dark.

Mother was at the door waiting for them.

“My goodness you two have been gone all day!  Where have you been?”

“We went to the Amusement Park to ride the Pony’s. “  Kyren explained and Hayden carried on,

“The Ponies went to the beach and got on a little boat that went to a big ocean Ship.  The big Ship went away, but it was okay because they came right back,  so we got our Ponies and came back on the little boat and then rode the Ponies all the way to their home really fast.  And here we are!”

“My goodness”! Mother replied, “That is quite an adventurous trip for a dollar,

wasn’t it, Hayden?” She smiled at his wild tale.   Hayden just added,

“We thought so too but, but next week we are going to drive the little Race Cars instead.  Kyren promised.”

Mother looked at her little daughter to see what her opinion was of that.  Kyren was nodding her head, “yes”.    Now that they were safely back home, she wanted a ride that did not have a mind of it’s own.  Kyren felt sure that the cars would remain on the little Race Track and not take off for far away places.

“You must be hungry.  You would not have had enough for lunch, if you spent the whole dollar on the Pony ride.  “

“We’re okay, Mom, the big Ship had all you can eat ice cream for free.  So Hayden really had his fill and so did I.”

Mother looked puzzled at that from Kyren, who did not usually exaggerate like her brother.  Perhaps the Pony man gave them some ice cream for their dollar.

The baby awoke with a loud cry.  Mother jumped and so did the two big children.  They all laughed at the way the baby made himself known.

It was time for baby brother, Skylar to be fed, so Mom went to take care of his needs.

“That was the bestest, fastest, Pony ride I ever got.”  Hayden whispered to Kyren.

“Too fast, if you ask me. But now that we are home, I guess  it was fun.  But I was worried that the Ship would keep going forever and we would not come home. It was too scary.”  His sister admitted,

‘But,”  Hayden insisted,  “Mommy didn’t look upset when I told her about it.  I was sure she would think I had too much ice cream, though.”  But his eyes were wide as he claimed, “It was free, just like you said.” And then he paused to remind his sister,  “Don’t forget you said the Race Cars next time.’

“Oh you can be sure of that!”  Kyren crossed her heart.  I guarantee it, you promise that we will stay on the Official Amusement Park  Race Track.”

“Right-O”  Hayden answered, and they went in, both grateful to be home.