Alicia's Circus Adventure by Ian Mcluckie (books to read as a couple .TXT) 📕

The circus tents were quiet, only the animals could be heard moving around. Alicia stood in front of a hot dog machine wondering where to go.
“ Hello, “ the voice said. Alicia got a fright but realised that the voice came from a Parrot perched near by. A giant colourful Parrot strutted his stuff on top of the hot dog machine. Mr Parrot was 3 feet high with large red & gold wings.
Alicia said, “ Hello Mr Parrot, How are you.”
“ I'm hungry, is that food for me,” the Parrot asked. Alicia laughed & replied,
“ Its fruit, would you like an apple.”
Mr Parrot stuck out his tongue, coughed & replied,
“ Fruits horrid, don't you have any Guinea pigs, I like them, yum yum big hairy ones that tickle all the way down to my tummy.”
Mr Parrot shrieked & laughed, jumping up and down singing to himself.
” Big hairy ones, tickle all the way down, all the way down.”
Alicia didn't like the sound of that, she really wanted to leave. Thankfully for Alicia, Mr Parrot was there to show her the way to Echo's Elephant' tent. After 5 minutes of running around trying to follow a flying Parrot, she arrived at the animal tent.

A large painting of every animal in the circus, hung over the entrance to the animal enclosure. Alicia bravely pushed the door aside and walked in. The first thing she noticed was the smell of poo & the next was the smell of more poo. She had expected a lot of animal noise but you could have heard a pin drop. Alicia walked in a little further and when her eye's adjusted she stopped dead in her tracks.

“ Welcome little lady, “ Boomed the deep voice. Standing in front of Alicia was Echo the male Elephant. Spread around him were 5 other Elephants, 4 Gorillas, 5 huge shire horses and a collection of another 20 animals.
Strangely none of the animals were in cages, they were all free to move around their tent. Alicia smiled and walked up to Echo.
“ Hello Echo, nice to see you again.” Alicia said confidant she wasn't here to be eaten. Just as Alicia said that, Coco the Gorilla let out a howl of pain. The largest of the Shire Horses standing near by, had just decided to kick him on the head. This was a regular occurrence for Coco. All the animals were fed up with the smell from his diet of candy floss, hot dogs & baked beans. The troop of Monkeys standing near by him, fell about laughing. Aiden the lead Shire Horse sniggered loudly saying,
“ It gets funnier every time I do it.” Alicia held her nose & laughed along with Echo. The Monkeys started howling, imitating Coco. They held their heads and fell backwards laughing. Echo gave a loud trumpet from his trunk & the rest of the animals joined in, shrieking loudly. Coco managed to stand up, still holding his big hairy head. Just when he was standing up straight, a loud rasp was heard once again from Coco's bum. Alicia & Echo moved away from the smell once again. Aiden the Shire Horse once again trotted over to Coco. With just one kick to his big hairy head he was sent crashing to the floor. Mr Parrot flew over to Coco who still lay unconscious on the floor and pecked him in the eye.

Echo called the troop together & silence fell over the tent. Alicia was first to talk,
“ How did you know my name Echo, I couldn't believe my ears,” she whispered. The large Elephant seemed to clear his throat before telling her his story.
“ I was born & grew up in Africa, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, which is a volcano.” All the animals listened quietly as Echo explained his life to Alicia.
Echo continued,
“ When I got older I had a son, whom I loved & taught him all that my father had taught me.” Echo paused for a minute as a tear rolled from his large glassy eye. Alicia pulled a hanky from her pocket and wiped the tear from his face. Echo sniffed, “ Thank you,” and carried on his story.
“ One beautiful day, we climbed to the top of the volcano Kilimanjaro, we could see for 100 miles. Suddenly the volcano started to shudder & shake. My son Rocky lost his footing and fell into the crater. I ran around calling for help and as if by magic this huge animal came screaming out of the sky. It flew down into the crater & picked my boy up. I saw my son fly out of a volcano and brought safely back to earth.”
All the animals in the tent, sighed with relief and smiled. Alicia jumped up and hugged Echo, shouting “ Brilliant, who was it, who saved him.? ”
Alicia & all the animals were on their feet, eager to hear who it was.
“ Who was it Echo,” they all shouted.
“ It was an animal I had never seen before, it was a Dragon, a bright red talking Dragon”.
Some of the animals asked, “ What's a Dragon.“ Echo smiled to Alicia.
Alicia asked,
“ A Dragon, my friend the Dragon, “.
Echo smiled & nodded his head slowly,
“ Your friend the Dragon, rescued my son.”
Alicia was shocked, “ My friend the Dragon.” The Monkeys got up and scratched there heads. Coco the Gorilla let rip another huge fart. Aiden the Horse clanged him on the head & sent him back to sleep. Over in the corner a huge male Lion licked his lips & sniggered,
“ Hope the Dragon ate him”. The Monkeys all laughed loudly shouting to Echo, “ Did he eat him, did he, did he eat him”. Echo roared from his trunk and it all went quiet. Lion got up and walked off but roared back, “ I would have ate him.” The Monkeys sniggered quietly, ” Hee Hee, the Lions funny.” The smallest Monkey with a tuft of red hair called Ann, gave a nervous laugh. “ That Lions not funny, last week he wanted to use my leg as a tooth pick.”
Echo wrapped his trunk around Alicia and took her to a quiet part of the tent.
“ So it all ended happily, you got your son back,” Alicia asked sitting on top of bundle of hay.
“ Yes I got him back & made a new friend, your friend.” said Echo. Alicia laughed telling Echo of her many adventures with Dragon.
Echo cleared his throat & said,
“ That's why I wanted to meet you.” Echo paused for a minute, then said. “ I was hoping you would have another adventure for me”.
Alicia a little puzzled asked,
“ What kind of adventure.” she asked. Echo then went on and told her the rest of his story.
My son & I were great friends, we played, raced and swam in the river every day. Then one day a large group of men arrived and stole him from me. They put him in a cage and when I tried to get him out, they put me in a cage as well. We were put in a boat and set sail for here. I ended up here but my son went to an animal park just 50 miles from here. Now Dragon has found him, but he wont go alone.
Alicia was a little puzzled & asked,
“ Why not, he could just pick him up like he did before & bring him here.? ”
Echo smiled, “ Well that's the plan but Dragon's scared.”
Alicia laughed, “ Dragon's scared, he's huge, have you seen his teeth, have you smelt his breath.” All the animals laughed & laughed. Ann the red Monkey said, “ We should get him to breathe on Coco, that would make the tent smell better.” The rest of the animals patted her on the back, “ Great idea, ha ha.”
Echo laughed with the Monkeys and started to explain about Dragon's. Its true Dragons are big and they have teeth 6 inches long. But like Elephant's are scared of Mice, people are scared of Spiders. Dragons are scared of, Ducks!!!
Every Dragon is scared of Ducks, no one knows why. When I asked Dragon for help, he went & flew over the animal park. When he came back he told me he couldn't do it on his own. It was Dragon who put your 2 circus tickets through your letterbox. He said he would only go if you went with him. So we agreed to bring you here. The success of this rescue is in your hands Alicia & in the claws of Dragon.
“ Will you bring my son home to me Alicia.” he asked.
Echo sat and waited for Alicia's answer.
After a minute, Alicia jumped up and said,
“ Let's saddle up & go get an Elephant.”

All the animals were excited and rushed out of the tent. Echo quickly scanned the sky, then lifted his trunk and roared. It didn't take long for a small dot to appear. Far off the dot got big very quickly, then big as a house Dragon flew over their heads.
Alicia was all smiles & happy when her friend the Dragon landed near by. She ran up to him and put her arms around his neck. “ I missed you Dragon, did you miss me.”
Dragon laughed, “ I missed you Alicia, so were going on an adventure.”
Echo walked over to them & helped Alicia get on Dragon's back. Alicia held on to his ears as before. With a nervous smile from Dragon they said there, “ Good Bye's,” and soared quickly into the sky.