Don't Count Rhinoceroses!

Back to Room 108. Don't Count Rhinoceroses Text and music: John Rickey Animation: Amanda Penrose Emma was a doddler. 'Slow and puddly' people called her. It just seemed no one waited for her and she was always left behind. It made her lonely, so she often sat in her special place, her bedroom, wondering,"If only I had a friend." Although Emma didn't have any friends, she had the best bedroom in town. Her room was perfect! Well almost perfect. The only thing it didn't have was a Teddy Bear to hug.

So when night time came and she couldn't sleep, she counted the sheep on the barnyard wallpaper in her room. There was sheep on the ceiling, on the wall, even on the door. It was great having barnyard wallpaper. She'd count, "one sheep." Her eyes would roll. "Two sheep." She'd hear a gentle baa. "Three sheep." Her eyes would blink. "Four sheep." Emma was snoring, dreaming about cuddling a warm woolly sheep.

But one day, her mom announced, "I bought you something special!" "Is it a puppy?" asked Emma. "No," said her mom. "Oh I wish I had a puppy!" dreamed Emma. "I'd love to hug a puppy. He'd be such a good friend." Emma thought for a minute then asked,"Is it a raccoon?" "Why no," said her mom raising her eyebrows. "Oh I'd love to have a raccoon for a friend," sighed Emma. Her mom interrupted,"I bought new wallpaper for your room." Emma's eyes lit up, then sank deep into a rolling frown.

"Yes," continued her mom. "I bought you jungle wallpaper. I'll put it right up so you can get to bed with your new wallpaper." Emma's mom had it done in no time and yelled out to Emma,"Bedtime! Or should I say Jungle Time!" "Oh no!" grumbled Emma. Her mom smiled,"Look at all the wild animals around you now. You'll love it! There's Rhinoceroses, monkeys, kangaroos and even elephants!" Emma put on her PJ's and went to bed with a funny feeling.Without sheep on the wall she'd have to try counting a new animal. A jungle animal.

"Brrrrrrr."shivered Emma as she thought about it. Nevertheless, looking on the wall, she chose rhinoceroses and began counting: "One rhinoceros." "RRRRRoar" a giant rhino rumbled through the room. "Two rhinoceroses." "RRRRRoar" . . ."RRRRRoar." Two rhinos rangled the room. "Three rhinoceroses." "RRRRRoar" . . ."RRRRRoar." . . ."RRRRRoar." Emma dived under her covers and hugged her pillow.

Finally everything went quiet. In the silence she heard a whimper. Something waddled across the room and sat in a corner. Peaking through a hole in one of her covers, Emma saw a little bear with tears in his eyes. The bear whimpered, "No one ever waits for me. They always run ahead and leave me. No one waits for me . They're not my friend." Emma perked up and smiled ,"I'll be your friend!" Bear hobbled over to the bed and snuggled up to Emma. He had never had such wonderful hugs. But bear and Emma couldn't sleep. So they looked on the wall, took a deep gulp and tried counted animals on the jungle wallpaper again.

"One rhinoceros." "RRRRRoar" a giant rhino rumbled through the room.

"Two monkeys." "EEEEEk!" ... "EEEEEk!"...squeaked two monkeys swinging on the lights and whipping bananas at Emma and Bear.

"Three Kangaroos!" "BBBBBoing!"..."BBBBBoing!"..."BBBBBoing!" bounced three kangaroos off their bed doing somersaults out the window.

"Four elephants!" "Bing Bang gaching gabobble!" thundered four elephants stampeding through the room.

After the dust settled, a baby raccoon slowly hobbled in. He looked at bear and Emma then turned around and sat under the bed. "No one ever waits for me," he whimpered. "They always leave me behind. No one is my friend." Emma got out of her bed, bent down to the raccoon and pleaded ,"Please don't cry. Stay in my bed. I'll look after you." Emma gave such wonderful hugs. Bear and raccoon felt so happy but Emma still couldn't sleep. She was about to try counting rhinoceroses again when bear interrupted,"Please don't count rhinoceroses, they're too scary and noisy. Count something like puppies.Please!" "But there's none on the wallpaper." complained Emma "I know' answered bear, "But lets close our eyes and imagine there's puppies."

They counted: One puppy..... "Arf" . . . Two puppies... "Arf" . . ."Arf" . . . Three puppies... "Lick". . ."Lick". . ."Lick". . . Four puppies... "Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . . Five puppies.. "Szzzzz" . . ."Szzzzz" . . ."Szzzzz" . . . The End

Animations: Copyright Amanda Penrose 1997.
Story and music: Copyright John Rickey 1997.
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