The Train

Jake, Midge and Booker-T walked across the street to the train station where many people were standing around waiting for the train to come into the station.

“I think they are waiting for the train to come,” said Midge. “I want to ride the train again, Jake.”

“We can't ride this train,” said Jake. “They will kick us off far from home if they find us on the train. I don't want to walk a long way to get home.”

“That's too far to walk,” said Booker-T. “My little legs would be so tired if we walked that far and we might get lost.”

“We can sneak into the amusement park and ride that train,” suggested Midge. “If they see us, we won't have a long way to walk home.”

“Hey Midge,” said Jake. “Here comes the zoo train and it has two new cars on it. They really look cool.”

“That one looks like an elephant,” laughed Midge. “You ride in the belly of the elephant.”

“That is neat,” said Booker-T.

“What is the other one?” asked Midge.

“Well,” said Jake. “It looks like it is a polar bear.”

“There are names over the door of the cars,” said Booker-T. “What does it say Jake?”

“The elephant car says, 'The Trunk Carriage',” said Jake. “The other one says, 'Polar Bear Ride'.”

“I want to ride the Polar Bear Ride,” smiled Midge.

“We can't Midge,” said Jake. “Lets go to the amusement park and ride that train. It is safer for us.”

“Okay,” aid Midge as she watched the zoo train pull away from the station.

They left the station and started walking to the amusement park. They ran to the back of the park and looked for the hole in the fence where they could sneak into the park. They couldn't find one.

“How will we get into the park?” asked Midge. “I really want to ride the train, Jake.”

“Lets go back to the gate,” said Jake.

“There is only one person at the gate,” said Midge.

“When he isn't looking we can run real fast and go inside,” aid Booker-T.

They ran around the fencing to the gate and sat there watching as the people walked through the gate as they handed the man their tickets. In a few minutes, he turned away from the gate to help a young girl who said she lost her ticket and was crying.

“Hurry Jake,” said Midge. “ Lets start running fast now.”

The three ran past the man and got inside and hurried to the back of the park where the train station was. They stood staring at all the people standing on the platform waiting for the train to come.

“Can we sneak on the train without them seeing us?” asked Booker-T.

“We need to sneak on the last car,” aid Midge. “After the train stops and all the people are moving around, we can go fast so they don't see us.”

“Okay,” said Jake. “Get ready. Here comes the train now. When we get inside the car, hurry under the back seat so they can't see us.”

“But we can't see anything under the seat,” sighed Midge.

“We can come out when the train starts moving away from the station,” said Jake. “Then they can't see us til we are at the next station.”

People were getting off the train and others were trying to get on the train. The three ran for the last car and hurried onto the train car and crawled under the seat and laid down. In a few minutes, they could feel the train began to move.

“Jake,” aid Midge. “The train is moving. Lets get out from under the sea. I want to see stuff as we go around the park.”

“Okay,” said Jake. “Lets go.”

They crawled from under the seat and sat in the middle of the floor.

“What are they doing on the train, Mommy?” asked a little boy.

“I don't know Jimmy,” aid the woman. “Maybe they belong here in the park and ride it all the time.”

Jimmy moved closer to his mom, leaving an empty spot on the seat beside him and Jake and Midge jumped onto the seat and looked around as the train moved around the park.

“Come on up,” said Midge. 'You can sit up here with us.”

Booker-T leaped onto the seat and stood with his front paws on the side of the train.

“This is fun, Midge,” said Booker-T. “I like riding the train.”

“Me too,” said Jake. “I really like the zoo train, but it sure would be too far for us to walk if they kicked us off the train.”

“I know Jake,” agreed Midge. “Hey, what's that over there?”

“It says it is the flying mouse.” said Jake.

“What is a flying mouse?” asked Booker-T.

“Well,” said Jake. “It looks like a really fast ride. Do you want to check it out?”

“Yes,” smiled Midge. “I like fast rides. It will be fun to ride.”

When the train stopped, they ran across the park to check out this ride called the Flying Mouse.

“Lets ride it,” said Midge.

“We have to find the right time to sneak on it,” said Jake.

They sat down and watched the flying mouse going around the track above them and waited below.