On a rather nice day in the middle of may, Carey the Kangaroo was invited to the WahNoYah Carnival with his entire school.
He wanted to go, or else he'd have to stay home, so he said yes, even though he was afraid of Carnivals. He heard that carnivals are full of clowns who scare, rides that spike your hair, and firey torches juggled by horses.
So he stopped at home to clear his fear by bringing his stuffed sheep, king sheer. King Sheer, that cuddle stuffy, kept Carey safe every evening, shielding him from the things that bring baaaaaahhhhhhd dreams. Carey figured at the carnival, the king could do the same thing.
But hopping out the door his mom said, "stop right there Care, where are you carryin' king sheer. You know you're supposed to keep him here"
"My school is going to the carnival and i need king sheer to keep me safe like he does when i'm afraid at night."
His mom shook her head. "No way, jose. King Sheer's not safe at a carnival. The jugglers might throw him really far, the clowns might stuff him in a tiny car, and because he's so small, he'll fall off the rides. I'm drawing a line."
"Why are you being so mean!" Carey screamed.
"i say no out of love, turtle dove." She sweetly rhymed. "i love when i draw lines."
but Carey didn't bite, he said, "Okay mom" with his mouth, but "no" in his mind. And before he strolled out to meet his friends, he stowed king sheer in his coat and took him on the road.
At the fairgrounds, Carey kept king sheer away from the jugglers and clowns and when he and his friend rode one of the rollin coasters, he set king sheer safely by a bunch of other kid's stuffed animals.
The ride was a blast and a half but after, he couldn't see his stuffed sheep.
See, Carey didn't realize he set king sheer down with a bunch of prizes. Stuffed animals to be won by playing fun games with the carney-val crew.
Carey was hopping mad and started bouncing from booth to booth asking if anyone had seen his stuffed sheep. he was freaking out, checking north and south, east and west under crumbling rocks, and in bird's nests. No luck. he was crushed!
He sat down to cry and cry when he spied out of the corner of his eye king sheer in the arms of some young ladybug.
Carey jumped in front of her and cried, "he's mine!" Trying to wrestle away her precious prize.
"let her go!" THE LITTLE BUG SCREAMED, "my daddy won this sheep for me!"
And they wrestled and wrestled till some carney cow crashed their match. Instead of black and white, this cow had colorful patches that matched her eyelashes. She reached into the fight and snatched the sheep out of battle.
"Stop you two! I'm one of the fools from this carney cattle crew and we don't like fighting in our fair. So tell me, what's going on here?"
The ladybug got the first word, "my daddy won me that sheep and this kangaroo tried to steal it from me."
"Nuh Uh!" Carey jumped in. "That's king sheer, i brought him from home and set him down while i rode the rollercoaster and she took it from the pile of pets."
"Hmmm," pondered the cow... "Since we can't decide, we'll have to compromise. How about i give you both a bigger prize?"
She reached behind her back and pulled out two teddy bears 6 times the size of king sheer.
Both children were stunned with eyes opened wide, the ladybug with a grin, Carey with horrified surprise. And in a blink Carey started to cry.
"Please please please miss colorful Carney, i don't want some other friend, no matter how much bigger or newer it is, i just want King Sheer back again!"
The ladybug didn't understand, bigger and newer always wins, but instead of stick around to find out why, she snatched her prize and said goodbye.
And Carey's face, still soured and jammed, asked with kindness and trust, "can i please have my ram?"
In that moment, the cow fool knew Carey was telling the truth. "i can see this sheep belongs to you."
From that day on, Carey kept King Sheer at home, he knew to trust when his mom said no and he also learned that saying "no" sometimes means, "i love you so."
And when he was older with kids of his own and sometimes out of love he told them "No." No matter how much they cried or how much they whined, he'd smile and say,
