Everyone in the little town of Cloverfield, Indiana, said the town had a touch of magic— a place where fireflies stayed out past bedtime and the cornfields hummed lullabies in the dark. Tiny Tina never saw anything too magical herself, but that was before the circus came to town. Posters on the fence promised elephants, acrobats, and magic under a big striped tent.
When the circus posters went up all over Cloverfield, Tiny Tina decided she had to meet an elephant. Tina could hardly think about anything else. She’d never met an elephant before—only dreamed about their curly trunks and thunderous feet. Of all the animals, she thought they would be the most fun.
All week, posters flapped on fence posts and telephone poles—THE GRAND GOLDEN CIRCUS!—promising dancing horses and the biggest elephant in the world. Farmers stopped plowing just to read the fine print. Her mom had already bought them two tickets for Sunday night, but Tina didn’t want to wait until then to meet an elephant.
At eight years old, Tina was three inches shorter than her classmates—and it bothered her. Sometimes, she felt so small, and she thought she needed a big friend. She decided if she had an elephant for a friend, then she would feel better about herself and not as self-conscious.
So, her plan was to befriend the largest elephant in the circus. Certainly, her mother would understand. Her mom knew that she was obsessed with elephants.
Later in the week, when the elephants arrived at the train yard, Tina’s mom made sure to tell her. It was within walking distance from the house, and Tina knew it was her big chance. She wanted to go alone though, just in case she could bring an elephant home.
She waited until late the next night, crawled out her yellow farmhouse window, and headed for the train tracks. She insisted on having a large bedroom window so she could see the world more clearly.
Crickets chirped like tiny violins as Tina tiptoed across the backyard. The moon hung low over the cornfields, lighting the way to the old train yard.
As she approached the train yard, she noticed a very small opening in the broken fence. Most people wouldn’t have been small enough to fit through the opening. Not “Tiny” Tina—she was about as big as a peanut that elephants ate with their curly trunks. She slipped through the tiny opening and ran to the elephants. No one even noticed her.
As Tina approached the train car, she saw a purple tail sticking out the door. She climbed up the steps on the train car and petted the tail until the elephant woke up. She didn’t know that elephants could be purple. She thought they were only gray. It must have been circus magic.
“Come home with me!” Tina whispered to the elephant. “We could go for walks through the fields in the day, and you could lift me to pick apples from the trees.”
“Do you have a big backyard?” the elephant asked in a deep voice.
Tina blinked. She also didn’t know elephants could talk—maybe only the magnificent ones could, like the purple one before her.
“Yes, in fact we have a whole acre where we could play!” Tina said. “I bet you’re tired of the large crowds or standing on your head! I’m much nicer than the Circus Trainer who cracks his whip.”
The elephant roared and stamped his feet on the train car, shaking the entire train on the tracks.
“Yeah! Hooray!” Tina said, curling the elephant’s tail around her arm. “I think I will name you Charley, the Magnificent Elephant! We’ll be best friends!”
Charley smashed open the train door with his trunk and lifted Tina on his back. He stomped out of the train car onto the ground, waking up all the other animals. The purple elephant looked left and then right, and the Circus Trainer was nowhere to be seen.
Then, the magnificent purple beast trotted down the road, but in the wrong direction.
“Where are you going?” Tina said, grabbing Charley’s flying ears. “My home is the other way!”
Abruptly, the elephant stopped and headed back toward the train.
“The rest of the circus animals are coming with us, too!” Charley said. “I can’t leave them here, especially the other elephants.”
“Well, I’m not sure what my mom is going to say, but I guess it’s okay,” Tina said. “This is even better than seeing the circus on Sunday night!”
One by one, Charley shook loose the rest of the animals on the train, and Tina held on tight. By the end of the night, behind Charley came elephants, lions, and tigers, giraffes and kangaroos, monkeys and macaws—a parade of paws, tails, and wings!
“I wonder how I’m going to feed all of you!” Tina said. “And I hope you behave! Don’t attack any of the neighbors, please.”
When the circus reached Tina’s house, all the animals except Charley crept quietly into the backyard. Instead, Charley slipped through Tina’s bedroom window and landed right on her bed. It crumbled and triggered a crack in the wall. Tina didn’t care. She crawled through the window and climbed on Charley’s back—he was softer than a pillow.
Tina held her breath. Maybe she’d gone too far this time. But Charley’s purple eyes sparkled, and she knew she wouldn’t regret it.
“What’s going on in here?” Tina’s mother ran into the bedroom, gasping. “Oh my gosh! There’s a purple elephant in the room! Where did he come from? Did you roll him in paint?”
Tina was so concerned that she might get in big trouble. She had such a big heart, even if she was a small girl, and she didn’t always think things through. Then, Tina’s mother peered out the bedroom window to see the animals munching on her vegetable garden.
“Can we keep the circus animals for the week while they’re in town? Please? They really need a home with a nice family instead of their cages,” Tina said.
She hugged her new elephant friend tightly around the neck and kissed him.
“Oh, I suppose . . . I should have never told you the circus was coming to town,” Tina’s mother sighed. “Maybe we could sell tickets for the town to visit the animals and get our money back because it’s going to be a very large grocery bill.”
Tina grinned and hugged Charley’s soft purple neck. Outside, the moon shimmered on the backyard full of circus animals. For the first time, Tiny Tina felt just the right size.
Copyright 2015 Jennifer Waters
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