The Grand Opening

Jake, Midge and Booker-T started walking to the park to go for a ride on the train. Gabby flew above for a short distance and then swooped down and landed on Jake's head.

"Hey guys," said Gabby. "Where are you going?"

"We are going to ride the new train at the park," said Midge.

"The park is very busy today," said Gabby. "I just came flying over it."

"Why?" asked Jake.

"There are many people there having picnics and playing in the pond," said Gabby. "they have a baseball game being played at one end of the park and some games for others in another area of the park."

"Maybe we can play the games," said Booker-T. "What kind of games are they playing?"

"Something called shuffleboard, horseshoes and Croquet," said Gabby.

"What kind of games are those?" asked Jake. "We never heard of them before."

"well, said Gabby. "Shuffleboard they are pushing some kind of round disk across a board to see what number it will land on."

"I can push it with my nose," said Midge. "I'm good at pushing things around."

"What is a horseshoe game?" asked Booker-T. "Do they have to put a horseshoe on a horse?"

"Ha ha ha," laughed Gabby. "They have a little pole in the ground and the people are throwing horseshoes at it."

"Why?" asked Midge.

"The one who gets the horseshoe closest to that little pole, is the winner," said Gabby.

"Well, " said Midge flipping her head. "I can carry it over there and just drop it around the little pole. That would be much easier don't you think."

"That would be cheating," said Gabby. "You have to throw the shoe."

"What is that other thing called Croquet?" asked Jake. "Can we play it?"

"They have these wire hoops stuck in the ground and they each have a different colored ball and a hammer," said Gabby.

"Why do they have hammers?" asked Booker-T. "I never saw a game with hammers."

"They hit the hard ball with the hammer and try to hit the ball through the wire hoops that are poked into the ground." said Gabby.

"I think that this croquet thing and the horseshoes would be too hard for us to do," said Jake. "Maybe we can play that thing called shuffleboard. We can push the round things with our noses."

"That would be fun," said Midge.

"Lets go see what everyone is doing," said Jake.

Gabby flew up above them and Jake, Booker-T and Midge continued on their walk to the park. When they got to the corner, they could see that there were many people walking around in the park. They looked both ways and then crossed the street into the park.

"Where is the train?" asked Midge.

"There is one of the stations for it over there," said Jake. "Lets go ride it around the park and we can see everything that is going on here."

"Lets go ride the train," said Booker-T.

They walked to the station and stood waiting for the train to come and pick them up. When it pulled into the station, many people go off and then many people hurried to get on it almost stepping on the three friends.

"Come on lets hurry to the back car of the train," said Jake as he started running toward it.

They all ran to the last car and found that the train was full.

"I think today is not a good day to ride the train," sighed Midge. "There are too many people here and they almost stepped on my foot."

"Lets sit down right here and try one more time," said Booker-T.

"Maybe if we sit down the people will line up behind us," suggested Midge.

They sat down and waited. more and more people arrived and stood behind them and to the side of them. A little boy leaned down and patted Jake on the head.

"I wonder why those dogs are sitting there as if they are waiting for the train," laughed the man who was with the little boy.

"They are cute sitting there aren't they," said the woman.

The train pulled in and everyone hurried to get on the train after the other people exited the train. The three stood up and watched.

"Maybe we should go home and come back another day," said Jake.

"Lets walk over and see what this shuffleboard and croquet thing are first," suggested Midge.

They walked across the park to check out the games before going home.

They found a good place near the games to sit down and watch the people playing. Booker-T laid down beside Jake and Midge and fell asleep under the tree.