A story for Gus

It was somewhere in the midwest, I dont remember where.

somewhere flat, I dont remember when.  Around 1900.

It was a monday.  Late afternoon.

She walked down the same dirt road she walked down to get to the market

only this time she was going to see the fair.  She was dressed for a summer fair,

hair pulled back, polkadot dress.  about 14.  Her mother said it was okay.

As it got dark the fair described it's place with lights and music in the distance.

When she got there it was magic, everybody in town was there.  Alot of people

Alot of rides and alot of salesmen.

They sold everything from bicycles to goldfish in a bowl.  They sold apple pies and

baseballs.  America and the new way of life.

One Salesman caught her attention with his pitch.

He promised to sell her something she had never seen before.  Something

she had never dreamed of.  Oh but maybe this wasn't for her, she didn't look like a dreamer.

What would she do with it anyway?

She insisted otherwise and walked into the tent where he uncovered a cage

full of tiny zoo animals.  Monkeys, Lions, and of course Giraffes all that could

fit in the palm of her hand.

"Nice right?  modern science, go ahead, hold one"

she picked up a giraffe and put it in her palm.  

the giraffe screamed from the pressure.

"I didn't know giraffes made sounds"

"In nature, nothing picks them up by their heads.  please be careful."

"sorry"

she put the animal back on the table and started out the door

"Not interested?"

"not really,  my dad takes me to the zoo upstate and the ones there are more impressive"

"but these fit in your hand, it's a miracle really"

"who cares about miracles?"

" you're a spoiled little girl"

"well, you're a drunk."

She stormed out of the tent and walked all the way home

a little zebra followed her and when she got home 

she put it in a cage next to her goldfish,

and neither one knew what to think of the other.

by justin Hantz