Chapter 5: Ronnie Rides Like A Cowboy

Early the next morning, Dovic was woken up by the sound of music and singing. Tumbarumba had picked up the pink ukulele and was playing while the others all sang along. He looked at their smiling faces and he was glad that he belonged here. Tumbarumba was not just a great musician, he also sang beautifully. While he sang, Dovic closed his eyes and imagined he was outside in the forest with brumbies galloping around him, a waterfall falling down the side of the mountain and the smell of eucalyptus and pine trees mingled together.

Suddenly there was a giggle and then a thud and when he opened his eyes, he saw that Ronnie had fallen off the couch when he had flipped too close to the edge. Tumba had put the instrument down and everyone crowded around Ronnie. “Move back,” said Tumba, “Give him some air” and Bruiser patted his head and cried out, “Ronnie! Ronnie! Are you all right?” He opened his eyes, looked around and saw all their faces peering down at him and he laughed loudly. “Gotcha!!! Of course I’m all right!” and he would have sprung back up except at that moment a football landed on his stomach. “Ooomph!” he said and looked back up on the couch where Richo was standing sheepishly, “Oops.. Um… sorry.”

The Old Wise One got up and moved back to the couch and everyone else followed one by one. Tumba picked up the ukulele again and strummed it but no one joined in this time as they were all chatting amongst themselves. Tumba caught the eye of Dovic and motioned to him to come and sit beside him. Dovic’s heart beat faster and he remembered the lolly jar from the night before and wondered if he was about to get in trouble.

“Hey Dovic! Tell me your story. Where did you live before you came here?” and Dovic told Tumba all about Teddy Bear Treasures, the friends he had there, about Angela finding him when he’d been hiding with the Elf, Lulu and Gazza and how he was glad to be here and to have met Hibiscus and her Year 5 class.” As they were talking, no one noticed that Ronnie had gone over to where Milly, the black lab, had curled up on the floor. He climbed up into the yellow hoodie and tried to wake her up. He wanted to have an adventure riding Milly. Milly looked at him, sniffed him, but wasn’t too keen to get up from her comfortable place. He fell on to the floor and decided to go out into the backyard and get some fresh air.

A couple hours later, Dovic was sitting next to Hibiscus as she taught her class. He loved seeing all the children’s faces and listening to them ask and answer questions. He loved it when they acknowledged him and he was so glad he could be a part of their learning. When lunch time came, Milly came back from her walk with Dog Man Walking. He came inside for a moment and hadn’t yet taken off Milly’s harness and lead. Ronnie saw Milly and had an idea! He climbed up on to her back and tied himself to the harness.

Ronnie had always wanted to be a rodeo rider and he knew that a real horse was too big for him. He had seen photos of miniature horses and little ponies but with the stage 4 restrictions, there was no way they'd be seeing horses or ponies any time soon. Milly had been drinking her water and splashing in the pool when Ronnie jumped up on her back. She tried to shake him off but he held on tight. “Woohoo! I’m in the rodeo! I’m a cowboy!” and he swung his arm in the air like he’d seen cowboys do. Finally, she sat down and waited. When Ronnie realised she wasn’t going anywhere fast, he slid off her back and ran back to the others. “Did you see me? Did you see me? I’m a cowboy!” The others smiled and were happy that Ronnie had had an adventure. Dovic meanwhile, was a little envious. He wondered if he would ever have any exciting adventures.