My RA Ch. 03

Miss April said, "'Angel' love" she then gestured to Daisy's mother to follow her. April filled up a bucket of water and gave the water and a brush to the mother. Then she grabbed a large bag of feed with a scoop in it.

Daisy's mother was confused at first, then she figured out what was going on. She got a huge ear to ear grin on her face and said, "Thank you."

When both got back to the stall, Miss April put the feed bag down and said, "Do you think you could put three scoops of feed into the bucket over here?" Daisy nodded and proceeded to fill up 'Angel's' feed bucket.

Once done, April asked Daisy, "If I help you put this water in that bucket do you think you could, do it?" Daisy tried real hard, she wanted to do a good job for 'Angel'.

"Now here at the ranch we have a rule, whoever feeds and waters the horses has to do another job.

"Now who fed and watered 'Angel'?"

Daisy puffed with pride said, "I did!"

Miss April said, "Well are you prepared for this important job?"

Daisy nodded her head.

Miss April said, "Well, I guess you must brush her like this, just stay away from her back legs; it keeps the bad bugs off 'Angel' and makes her look pretty."

Daisy's eyes grew big as saucers as she accepted the brush. She brushed 'Angel' carefully; she didn't want to hurt 'Angel', and she wanted to do an excellent job. Once she was done her mother walked over for inspection.

Her Mommy looked over 'Angel' high and low. "Well, I do not see any bugs, she sure looks pretty. I think 'Beauty' would highly approve. If fact, I think this is the best brush down of a horse I have ever seen." She didn't tell her daughter it was the only brush down she had ever seen.

Miss Sarah approached the trio by 'Angel', "There is something going on later, we are not sure what it is, but I am sure it will be fun and exciting. You are very welcome to join us, it would be good to celebrate with you.

Daisy's mother asked Daisy, "Do you promise to behave unless I tell you it is OK not to?"

Daisy nodded.

Miss Sarah called Anna and told her a new girl is coming and can only spend a few hours here. She also asked, "Can you get the permission from your leader?"

Anna called her leader who agreed.

Anna called Miss Gail and said we have a new child coming, her name is Daisy, and can you make her a yellow heart and have her write, "For a new friend." Tell her yellow is the color for friends that way Daisy will not feel left out.

The Disney people ran around collecting costumes and musical instruments and whatever else they needed.

Sarah nodded to April and the mechanic. They scurried off to the stable.

The mother asked, "Whose car do I follow?"

Miss Sarah said, "Let's save you some gas, your transport will be here presently."

Daisy's mother and Daisy looked back only to see many people with horses, some had two horses. Miss Zoe had: 'Beauty' and 'Companion', the mechanic had two horses from the worker's stable, and Miss April had her horse and another exercise horse.

Daisy's mother said, "I have never been on a horse, I might fall off."

Miss Sarah said with a smile, "That is OK, neither has Daisy. I will stay with you and Miss April will stay with Daisy. There are flashlights and blankets in the saddlebags for when we come home."

At 4:00 PM the cowpokes had started to deliver the shut-ins and the other lonely people.

At 4:15 PM: Miss Anne, Miss Gail and a Mommy were at Miss Joy's house. Their mission was to kidnap Miss Joy and Mr. David and have the Mommy babysit.

At 4:20 PM the horse parade headed out. Daisy's Mom was not sure about this, but Daisy was loving it. She rode with her head held high.

Miss Sarah and Miss April were taking snaps of Daisy's and Daisy. Sarah said, "April, turn both of you this way for a good head shot or two. Sarah did the same thing so April could take some shots. Both put their cameras on burst mode.

Because of the delay, Miss Sarah called one of the parents. Two dashed to Miss Joy's house, one called and said to wait. When they arrived, they said, "Miss Gail go! Call us when you want us." Miss Gail dashed off; Miss Joy and Mr. David were fitted with blindfolds.

Daisy was standing in the back of the room, yellow heart in hand with Miss April. Miss April pointed at a girl down front and told her to sit with her and Miss April told her what to say. Daisy introduced herself to Molly. Molly noticed the yellow heart, "What is that for?"

Daisy said, "Well, Miss Gail told me this party was for Miss Joy. You love her so you have the red hearts, Miss Gail said yellow was for friends."

Molly read the card and grabbed Daisy's hand and they both ran to the hearts board. Molly tucked the yellow heart right next to hers. All the children thought it looked odd, but it had Molly's approval.

Soon everyone heard three car horn blasts. Miss Joy and Mr. David didn't know what was going on. Inside all the lights went out and the room was in total darkness. Everyone was silent.

Miss Joy and Mr. David were guided down to the front of the stage. A portable spotlight was turned onto the stage. Miss Gail had a microphone and said, "Miss Joy and Mr. David, this party is from the children. They couldn't have a party before so this is their super-duper surprise party for you and baby Joshua. They did all the challenging work for the party. Look behind you." A second portable spotlight was turned on.

They were both shock, each one pointed to the other to read both sides. Miss Joy was crying happy tears. Miss Gail said, "I told you to look behind you not beside you!"

Then they saw the hearts board, they were so stunned they couldn't speak.

Then all the pizzas came out, all different kinds. Miss Joy was having a hard time trying to pick one out.

Miss Gail said, "Kids before you get your milk, we found some chocolate and strawberry cows at the store." There was a run on the special milk.

Miss Joy was wondering why the kids were not eating slice after slice of pizza, she didn't know what was in the back room. The kids knew they could have extra pizza tomorrow.

Molly and Daisy walked hand in hand to the little boy who was to be the third loser. Molly said, "This is our new friend, Daisy, she doesn't know Miss Joy so she doesn't have much to do in our party. I want her to be the third loser so she can help with the balloons. You can be the first one to give hearts to Miss Joy."

The little boy nodded his head and shook hands with Daisy. Inside he was ecstatic being the first one.

Miss Joy and Mr. David got up to look at the hearts board, they were roundly scolded for doing so.

After the pizza was done, the little children gave their hearts to Miss Joy; Daisy and Molly were last. Molly pushed Daisy forward. Miss Joy opened the heart and read the message. With a great big smile and hug Miss Joy said, "You never can have too many friends."

All night long Daisy felt like an outsider intruding in on a party. Miss Joy's hug was the first time she smiled all night, she finally felt accepted.

Soon everyone was eating yummy cakes. Soon the Disney person came out and said, "The children have one more surprise and then we have another surprise, but we need everyone's' help to make it fun.

This was a curveball for the kids, they didn't plan for something extra.

Once all the plates had been cleared several chairs were put on stage, Molly whispered to Daisy what the plan was. Molly pointed where she had to go. Miss Joy didn't want to play musical chairs. Daisy walked over and grabbed Miss Joy's hand and said, "You can sit by me."

Miss Joy thought something was up when the losers gave up way too easily and they didn't complain. They also walked to the side of the stage instead of going down to the audience. Miss Joy felt bad after Daisy lost. Daisy gave Miss Joy a hug and skipped to the side of the stage. Miss Joy was now on the special seat.

Miss Gail had many of the parents set their cameras on burst mode and last for if possible.

Miss Gail said into her microphone, "Three, two, one, now." With a yank on the rope all the balloons came floating down right on Miss Joy, a flood of flashes shattered the darkness. Some floated down gently, some came down fast. It was quite a sight. Again, Molly and Daisy came last.

"Miss Joy, Daisy came late and all the balloons were already in the ceiling."

Miss Joy asked Daisy, "Well if you were to give me one, what color would it be and what would it say?"

Daisy explained, "I am really good with painting, I think it would be a blue balloon with a smiley face and a red heart on it."

Miss Joy said, "I can picture it just like the other children's balloons."

The Disney person walked out and said, "We are almost ready for the end of the party, get your cameras ready. You all need to join in."

The assistant walked out and said. "We are ready."

"OK time to sing the Disney marching song. I will begin and you sing out. HI HO! HI HO!" Everyone marched outside right into the middle of a Disney Parade. The band picked up the tune and as everyone was walking to the stadium, everyone started talking to the characters.

The club had a large selection of Disney movies so many knew the songs by heart. Anna and Elsa grabbed arms of Daisy and Molly. For a short time, Daisy's Mommy was with them and she took some pictures of Anna and Elsa with Daisy and Molly.

Then she got too excited and she ran off, taking selfies and videos of all her childhood favorites. She decided right then that Daisy needed a lot more Disney movies to watch at home.

Daisy laughed, "Look at Mommy, she is so silly. I think she is having more fun me."

When they got to the field of the stadium it was even more fun, marching in step with all their favorites.

When everything was over, it was very late. Daisy's Mom said, "Miss Sarah it is late, could we spend the night?"

Miss Sarah looked at her watch, "I am sure Molly would not mind a camp in with Daisy. I think there is room in the bunkhouse for you. Don't worry, they fixed it up real nice."

During the night's activities, Daisy's mother collected many phone numbers, Facebook addresses, e-mails and even some Skype numbers. Her husband will need to make Daisy a computer account with limited access.

Anna got permission for a two-week vacation, but it would have to be later in the year.

Anna took Dawn's words to heart.

After Disney came home from Northfield, Anna went looking for a public stable to see if she could find a horse that looked like 'Apache'. She found 'Orlando', but she had to do some fast talking and telling the cowpoke that Dawn had trained her. After showing him a few snaps of Dawn and 'Apache' she convinced him she could handle 'Orlando'; the cowpoke was nowhere near as good as Anna and he constantly asked how she did things.

Shortly after coming back to the stables, the owner came to exercise 'Orlando'.

The cowpoke said, "Boss, he just came back from a two-hour run." This surprised the owner because his cowpoke couldn't handle 'Orlando'.

The owner talked to Anna and was soon convinced she could ride and that Miss Dawn taught her.

He said, "Little lady, I know you work for Disney, but having a part-time teacher around here would sure help me out. If you get your license and agree to teach part-time, I will give you 'Orlando'.

The lady in charge of the gardening team was starting to start having some meetings. She asked the little boy who talked to Miss Zoe if his older sister could attend some meetings and gather all their ideas together.

"I have a shocking surprise for you but you will need to work real hard, in fact, the whole town should work hard. Do you want to hear what it is?" all the kids nodded their heads. "The Disney people gave Mr. Mayor the idea for us to get a small area to make a little park. The big trees block out too much sun. We should make it so it attracts birds. What do you think about that?"

The children liked that idea. They talked for an hour about what kind of birds they liked and what kind of flowers they liked. The older sister was quickly writing down all their ideas. The lady walked over to the sister to add some bigger points to her notes.

The lady typed out a message on Facebook. "TOWN MEETING IN SOUTHILL auditorium 7 PM. Pass the word. The children thought it was great to have a special meeting just for them. Everyone was wondering what was going on. The room was packed with thousands of people. It was a large concert hall. The children were lined up behind the curtain. The sister grabbed the mic and started to address the people.

"It is my honor to host this meeting. I know you are confused about why you are here. The reason will become apparent soon. As you know, the only tree that survived the flood is our beloved 'Christmas Tree'. It will always inspire me. Since then we just had flowers. Well here are the people that are going to start to change that.

Introducing your gardening team." The curtain rose and after being stunned for a moment they took their seats on the front of the stage. Many cheers arose.

"It is time to plan for 'Resurrection Day'. Since the flood, we all have just had too much sadness in our lives. Disney suggested our team to make a little park and do all the plantings. The children want to plant trees and plants that attract birds.

We have the river as a water source. We will plant trees and shrubs for food and shelter. It will take years for everything to come together, but we will nurse everything and still make the present look nice as the trees grow. This is where you come in. If you allow us, we would like to make the whole town a park.

I think if you would allow us to put a tree or two like Spruces, Maples and Oak trees so they can nest on your property. Talk to your neighbors so we can have bird houses for several kinds of birds. From now until just after frost thaw in the spring we will be planning and talking to experts so we can have a good balance.

Mr. Mayor, maybe we can put some oaks near City Hall and in fifteen years we can put a bench or two under them. Eventually we will get other animals like squirrels and foxes and deer. Please do not feed them, they need to learn how to find food for themselves. That includes bread crumbs, you just fill up their tummies and they cannot get the food they need to eat. Feeding the birds' bird seed is OK.

It is a very long term project and we will add a little more every year. We will have sustained life and beauty and the gardening team is going to make it happen. If you are not on the gardening team you might want to find out what kinds of food different birds like. You can have different food in different feeders so you can see more birds in your back yard.

Talk to your neighbors about the feeders so every yard does not feed the same birds, it will be fun to see what birds come. Personally, I think the park should be called 'Resurrection Park'; it is there to bring new life and happiness to our town that has seen too much sadness."

Soon one man stood up, then another and another. Whole groups started standing up all in applause to the gardening team. When the applause died down shouts of "You can use mine, I have lots of room!" and "Count me in, I love birds. It is a great idea!" on and on the permissions came.

The gardening lady called a friend at an agricultural university and said, "A few years ago, our town got wiped out by a flood, buildings and everything. The only tree left standing is our beloved 'Christmas Tree'. We have a twofold mission. One, our children want to make a small park to attract birds. We are going to call it 'Resurrection Park'.

Our second mission is to make the whole town a park: tree lined streets, shade trees, shrubs, bushes, flowers and everything else. We have permission from every land owner to plant the big trees needed for nesting as well as all the other plants we need to plant. It is beyond my vision and understanding as to how to make the right balance for everything. We realize it will take five to thirty years to complete, but we have known too much sadness these last few years.

Two weeks later, students and professors from several colleges and majors descended onto the town. The town was a virtual blank slate, ideal for the professors. The students' minds just boggled. Ideas whirled in their heads. When they came to the 'Christmas Tree' everyone had to inspect it, how could this survive while everything else was destroyed? Not only that, it was thriving.

The gardening team was introduced to the professors and students. One professor said to the team, "What you are doing for your town will make your town come alive again. We should teach you from now all the way up into college."

The flood took the entire identity of the town, and the town was too weak to recover so they asked for help. It took a long time but using different methods, the entire town was digitized. It was time to go to the people.

At the meeting one person stood up, "I am all for this project. I think it would be helpful if you know where this town is coming from over the last few years. This town has known too much death over the last few years: The flood, Miss Joy at the nursing home, Mr. David's grandmother, Miss Anne's father, Mr. Buck. It has scarred our children.

I want to see the birds and the bees, plants galore, squirrels gathering nuts, having park benches to sit down and look at the beauty. I want my children to see it up close and personal, not in a book. This is a dead town. I am pleading with you to make it come alive again. Our one hope and guiding light throughout everything is our beloved 'Christmas Tree'. I want to make sure it is here for generations to come."

Sounds of "Here, here", and "I love that tree" along with "It was saved so we can have hope, now we have to save the town."

Another said, "I do not mind having big trees in my yard, but I want more than just trees, I want flowering shrubs, creeping vines. I want color everywhere and I love to watch the birds, so if you can attract them with your plan I would appreciate it.

"We want: tree lined streets, parks, landscaping for public buildings. If someone drives through our town I want them to sit back and take notice of what we did. In fact, have surrounding towns so jealous they follow suit.

The students were stunned, this couldn't be buy a plant at a store kind of project. This had to be highly organized; every member of the town had to be in the project, even baby Joshua. This was personal.

It was not just the town, it was all the students. The ones who rebuilt it after the flood were going to help bring it alive.

It was around Memorial Day and Miss Dawn was at a horse show. She was surprised when she saw one of her stabled horses was entered; she was aghast when she used a whip while riding. Miss Dawn was furious, she asked to give a demonstration of how to jump without using a whip. Once the official found out who she was she let her do so. It was an honor to have such a celebrity at their small show.

Miss Dawn said, "First I congratulate the winner." She went onto say, "One does not need a whip to jump. I find it abhorrent and I would like to use that same horse and I will get a better time. Once I am done, I will tell you who I am so you can understand why I got permission to do this unusual thing."

After doing a walkthrough of the course, Miss Dawn walked over to the horse and adjusted the straps to her liking. She then talked to the horse, face to face. "Listen girl, I give you my word that I will never whip you. If you work with me your owner will never whip you, and maybe some in the stands."

Dawn took off and she was just a blur. She had a clean ride and set a course record; she was not in the event so the record would not break the rides of others. "Now to explain myself, I am Miss Dawn and my horse is 'Apache'. You may have heard of us. I hope my Mom is looking down on me, seeing I never whip the horses I ride. I strongly encourage others to do the same.