"Ee-mah-gee-nation."
"Yes, Imagination."
"I can't use Ee-mah-gee-nation today, I can only use it on Friday."
"Why's that?"
"Coz story time in school is on Friday and teacher tells us we must Ee-mah-gin."
"Ok, then let's Imagine today is Friday."
"Ok, I'm Ee-mah-gin-ing it's Friday."
"You tell me the story."
"No, let's tell it together."
It happened last night, a night of infinite fun.
I had a dog named Grumpallow, Dhruv imagined and created a boy named Groovie Droovie (that's what I call him often) and we began.....
THE STORY
Groovie Droovie lived in a little house on the hill.
The little house had very little room.
Groovie Droovie had too many toy cars that his mother always told him to pack up.
He loved his cars but he also loved dogs.
One day Groovie Droovie asked his mother if he could get a dog.
"A dog is not a stuffed toy or a car," his mother told him.
"Yes, Mamma," he said, "a dog needs to eat, a dog needs love just like me."
"If you can promise, you will give that to your dog, you will be kind to him, you'll love him forever, we'll look for one."
"Yes, I will," Groovie Droovie said.
Mamma promised to take him to a pet shop to look for a dog.
When they went there, Groovie Droovie was confused.
There were so many of them. Big dogs, small dogs, happy dogs, angry dogs.
And one really grumpy dog.
Groovie Droovie looked at the grumpy dog and started making his funny faces.
The grumpy dog didn't respond.
Groovie Droovie didn't stop.
"Mamma if we called him something, would he be happy?"
"We could try," Mamma said.
"Let's call this grumpy fella - Grumpallow."
"Yeah, Grumpallow," an excited Groovie Droovie said.
"Good Morning Grumpallow," he said.
Frown.
"How are you?"
Frown.
"Would you like to come and see my home?"
Frown.
"I have lots of cars."
Frown.
"Eeem, I have lots of juice you can share."
Frown.
"What about carrots? I love carrots or I can give you some cheese."
Frown.
"Do you really want him?" Mamma asked again.
"Yes, yes, yes," Groovie Droovie said before breaking into a little song and dance.
They took Grumpallow home.
Groovie Droovie made a little bed for him with his favourite teddy bear quilt.
He gave Grumpallow his favourite teddy bear.
Then he helped Mamma make some dog food for Grumpallo.
The next morning Grumpallow woke up and gave Groovie Droovie the first of many smiles.
THEE END
(I would love to take credit for this but I've had nothing to do with it. I'm pretty certain it's all the wonderful sessions Dhruv attended with his sis Aneesha at the Ubud Writers Festival that helped. And I can see a lot of Jin Pyn's undying love for animals showing up in this tale. There are touches of Kirsty Murray. Even though Dhruv didn't make it for that workshop, his sis has been heavily into character building since. And all those puppets keep springing to life with or without a tale. The thing about lit fests - their stories speak for themselves.)
Attempting to pen a tale or more?
At the Festival Opening
