Timmy and the Safari Train

Young Timmy is a boy who is afraid of almost everything. The other kids laugh and tease him because he’s won't try anything new. He spends a lot of time alone in his room because he doesn’t have any friends. His parents try to help him with his fears but they aren't sure what to do. Timmys 8th birthday was coming up and his parents wanted to do something really special. They saw an ad for a carnival that would be in town on his birthday. They decided to take him there. The day before his birthday his dad too Timmy outside to the porch swing. They sat quietly for a little while, slowly rocking back and forth and listening to the crickets chirping in the cool night air.
"Timmy" his father paused, exhaling quietly, "Do you know what Courage is?"
Timmy nodded his head sadly and replied a little unsurely "It means not being afraid of anything." His father put his arm around Timmys shoulder and hugged him. "Not quite." his father replied with a hint of a smile. "Courage doesn't mean that you not afraid, it means that you're afraid but you don't let it stop you from doing or trying what you're afraid of."
"I think I understand." Timmy replied.
"I want you to try and ride just one ride at the fair this year" said Timmys father "and you can pick whichever ride you want."
Timmy thougt about that for awhile then in a quiet voice replied "okay dad."
They sat there for a few minutes before they got up and went inside for the night.
On Timmy's Birthday, his parents took him to the carnival as they had planned. They walked past games and food stands. They passed the thrill rides with their lights flashing and the music playing. The noise was a continuous flow that kept even with them as they made their way to Kiddie Land. Here they saw rides like Dragon Wagon, Lollipop swings, and Berry Go Round. In a darker corner of Kiddie Land was a ride called The Safari Train. As they made their way over to it Timmy decided that would be the ride he chose. When he reached the gate he looked closely at the cars on the train. Each car had a different animal built onto the front. The first one was a Giraffe, the second was an Elephant, the third had a Lion with two cubs, and the last car had a Chimpanze holding a lantern.
The ride operator came to the gate and took Timmys ticket while opening the gate. Timmy chose the last car to ride in and as the operator closed the rides door he whispered softly, "Happy Birthday Timmy. This is a magic train and since it's your birthday it will grant you one wish. All you have to do is press the red button as say your wish out loud." With that, the operator walked away leaving Timmy to stare after him in confusion.
As the ride started slowly moving around the track Timmy noticed that the red button was starting to glow. As the button got brighter and brighter, animal noises started coming from everywhere around him. As he looked around, a movement from the train car in front of him drew his attention. Is the tail of that lion really moving, he thought to himself. The noises got louder and louder and the button was so bright he could hardly see at all. It seemed like he would be swallowed up by the sounds from all around him. Terrified, Timmy sank to the bottom of the train car. "It's not real, it's not real" he kept repeating over and over to himself. After what seemed like forever to Timmy but was only a few seconds in reality, Timmy finally decided what to wish for. He reached up and pushed the button, shouting as loud as he could to be heard over the roars, shrieks and trumpeting of the animals "I wish I was brave." The noise stopped so suddenly that Timmy thought maybe he'd dreamed it all. He slowly opened his eyes to a very unusual sight. He stood up and looked around to find that not only was he no longer on the train, the train itself was gone. Instead, he was in a large green meadow. A dense cope of trees stood between him and a mountain. He noticed the chimpanzee swinging on some of the vines. The elephant was drinking from a lake with a waterfall. He could see a rainbow in the mist. Turning around, he noticed the lion and the two cubs. Beyond them was a cliff with more mountains in the distance. Very slowly, he let out a deep breath and had just started to relax when he felt a gentle nudge on his shoulder. Turning he looked into the face of the giraffe from the first train car. Startled, Timmy backed away and started to shake his head from side to side as though in denial of what he was seeing. "It's not possible, you're not real" he said to the giraffe.
"Of course I'm real Timmy. I'm as real as the other animals. I'm as real as you." replied the giraffe in a soft gentle voice. Timmys jaw dropped open in suprise. "You can talk?" he asked.
"Of course. All animals can talk."
"What's your name?"
"Dawn."
He stood talking with Dawn about all kinds of things. After a while he realized he was getting very thirsty. He mentioned this to his new friend and together they walked over to the lake to get a drink of water. Dawn called the elephant over to introduce her to Timmy.
"Timmy, this is Ella. Ella, this is my new friend Timmy."
"Hello Ella." Timmy said shyly.
"Well hello Timmy. It's so very nice to meet you. Are you enjoying yourself?" Ella asked politely.
"Yes, Thank You."
"You must be so thirsty and here I am chatting away. Come, drink some water. It's very cool and refreshing."
Timmy, having never drank from a lake before was unsure how to get the water. He watched Ella put her trunk in the water, lift it to her mouth and drink the water that came from her trunk.
"Well, I can't do that since I don't have a trunk" Timmy thought. He turned and watched Dawn lean down and put her mouth into the water and drink. Shrugging, he knelt down, leaned over and put his face in the water. It felt cool on his face but when he went to swallow some water, he started to inhale and ended up with water up his nose. Rearing back out of the water, he started coughing and waving his hands. Dawn and Ella looked at him with concern. The water burned his nose but it soon passed and he calmed down. His face was not the same as a giraffe so he couldn't just put his mouth in the water like Dawn. The chimpanzee had been watching the whole thing from the shade of a nearby tree.
"Cup your hands." he said softly.
Ella realized that the chimpanzee might be able to help Timmy so she called him over.
"Timmy, this is Bryan. Bryan this is Timmy, our new friend" Ella said.
Bryan wasn't much for talking so he simply said hello then proceeded to show Timmy how to get a drink of water.
"Cup your hands like this, that's it, like a bowl. Now lean close to the water, lower your hands into the water and bring them back up."
Timmy did exactly as Bryan told him and was pleased when he saw the water cupped in his hands. The water started to leak out from between his hands when Bryan spoke again.
"Sip from your hands, quickly before it all spills out."
Doing as instructed, Timmy sipped quickly and felt the cool water slide down his throat. Timmy repeated the process until he was no longer thirsty.
"Thanks Bryan."
"How come you don't know how to drink from a lake?" Bryan asked.
"We drink from glasses and the water comes from a bottle or a pitcher at home. People don't drink from lakes cause we don't have to."
Dawn, Ella, Bryan and Timmy all moved over to the trees to sit in the shade. Bryan started climbing a vine while Dawn and Ella sat talking. Timmy leaned back against a tree trunk and watched the chimpanze climb and swing from vine to vine.
"How do you do that?" he asked Bryan.
"It's easy. Come up, I'll show you."
Shaking his head sadly, "I don't know how to climb."
"Why not?"
"I was always too scared to try it. What if I fall and get hurt?"
"You can fall and get hurt from the ground."
"I guess."
"Come on, I'll help you."
"Alright."
Bryan spent the next couple of hours showing Timmy how to climb trees, and how to swing on the vines. Timmy was soon climbing and swinging like he'd been doing it his whole life. He was just sliding down a vine when a cry was heard.
"Help!"
Everyone turned to look at the Lion, who was standing by the cliff edge. "One of my cubs has fallen over the edge."
Timmy ran to the cliff with everyone else. We he got there, he lay on his stomach and creeped slowly towards the edge to look over. He saw the cub stuck on a ledge below.
Dawn stretched her neck down trying to reach the young cub but it was too far. Bryan climbed on and added his reach but it was still too far down. Timmy studied all of this and looked down at the cub again. "Please help, I'm scared." cried the cub.
Backing away from the edge, Timmy stood up and turned slowly while looking for something to help the cub. When he saw the forest, he suddenly cried out in joy and ran for the closest tree. The others turned to see why he had cried out when he called over his shoulder "The vines are long enough that they might reach the cub."
Dawn joined him at the trees while he started to climb up as high as he could. Reaching the middle of the tree, he reached out for a vine and tried to pull it loose but it held firm. "I need something to cut it with." he cried down to Dawn. She told the others and they all searched for something sharp enough to cut the thick vine with. Bryan found a broken piece of a rock. He climbed up quickly and passed it to Timmy who started cutting the vine. "It works."
Together they worked to cut the vine free and when it fell to the ground Timmy and Bryan each grabbed a vine and slid down. Back at the edge, Timmy grabbed one end of the vine and held it out to Ella. "Can you hold this while I climb down" Timmy asked.
"Of course."
"I'll let you know when I have the cub and you can pull us back up."
The Lion walked up to Timmy at this point. "My name is Damien. My son is Lucas, he's the one on the ledge."
"Hi Damien, I'll do everything I can to get him back up here safely."
"I know."
Timmy tossed the other end of the vine over the edge and slowly lowered himself over as well. He began to climb down the vine until he reached the ledge and Lucas.
"Hi Timmy. Happy Birthday." Lucas said nervously.
"Hi Lucas. You ready to get out here?"
"How?"
"Come to me, I'll hold you while Ella pulls us up."
Shaking his head nervously Lucas replies "I'm too scared."
"It's okay to be scared. I'm scared all the time."
"How can that be true? You're here, on a vine, over a cliff with nothing below you."
"I guess I have courage."
"What's courage?"
"It means you're afraid but you don't let it stop you."
"Can I have courage?"
"My dad says that the choice is yours. You have to choose one or the other."
"One or the other of what?"
"Fear or Courage. Do you want to get off the ledge and go back up to be with your family again?"
"Yes."
"Then you choose courage. Come on, I'll help you."
Slowly and very carefully, Lucas moved closer to Timmy.
Timmy reached out and got a firm hold on Lucas.
"I've got him, pull us up" he called to Ella.
Timmy and Lucas slowly began to move up towards to cliff edge. Bryan reached out and grabbed Lucas to help him over while Dawn stretched out her neck to help Timmy. When they were safely away from the edge, a great cheer went up as all the animals rushed to Lucas and Timmy.
Damien ran to his son and hugged him tightly. Timmy, feeling a light furry touch on his leg, looked down and saw Lucas's sibling. "Thank you for saving my brother. I'm Kristal."
Timmy knelt down so he could be more at eye level with the young lion cub. "You're welcome."
Kristal reared up on her hind legs, reached out and hugged him. As Timmy and Kristal pulled away from the hug, Lucas came over and hugged Timmy as well. "Thank you. I want to be just like you when I grow up."
"Human?" asked Kristal.
"No, I want to be brave just like Timmy."
Timmy pulled back and looked at Lucas as those words sank in. Other voices started to intrude on his thoughts and as he focused on them he heard other phrases that were similar to what Lucas had said.
"...he was so brave..."
"...really brave of him..."
In that moment, Timmy realized that his wish had come true.
He stood up, closed his eyes and punched a fist in the air while shouting "Yes."
When he opened his eyes he found himself on the train at the carnival and the operator was coming to let him out.
"This really is a magic train." Timmy told the operator.
"The magic is in you Timmy. You made your wish come true."
"But the animals came to life and there was a field and.."
"The train only took you to the place you needed to go. The rest was up to you."
Timmy reached his parents, who hadn't noticed anything that had happened. "Ready to go home?" his dad asked. Timmy turned to look back at the train and found the operator was gone. "I think I want to ride that one" Timmy told his parents, while pointing at the Dragon Wagon. His parents were surprised by this but they walked over to the Dragon Wagon with Timmy. Standing next to the ride while Timmy waited in line, they talked about this amazing change in their son. If they had been watching him, they would have seen him look back at the Safari Train and smile.