Claude the Real Horse
©Stephanie Sanson (aged 11 years)

and ©Imogen Porteous (aged 8 years)

It was a rainy and cloudy day at the fair. When Imy saw it… a beautiful brown horse with a black mane and tail. It was hanging from the ceiling with its fluffy coat swaying in the breeze. At the end of the day she decided to buy him. Imy took him home and played for hours with him. She even named it Claude!
Christmas was coming up and all the toys in her room were excited. “What do you want for Christmas?” asked one of the three toy babies. “I not sure… what do you want?” he asked.
“To be real!” the toy baby replied. And then he broke into a tremendous description of the meaning of real. Then Claude did know he wanted, this real thing, and he wanted it so much that every day he crawled under the Christmas tree and wished for real. On Christmas Day he woke up wanting this real but didn’t know what to look for. But suddenly there was a gleeful scream! He rushed out to see what it was. He looked up and he saw a brand new computer!
For the next few months no-one could get Imy off her computer. She would come home from school and just be glued to the screen. All the toys were getting sick of her always being on it so they thought up a tremendous scheme. That night while Imy was asleep one of the toys had pulled the plug and twisted the wires up. When Imy found out she took it to be repaired but it was going to take a long time to repair, so in the meantime she found the horse again. She played with the horse for hours on end until her computer came back. But still Imy slept with Claude and played with him. She started telling everyone at school that she had a real horse and when Claude found out he was very happy. Pride welled up inside him every time Imy had a friend over because they would play ‘real’ games with him.
Imy grew older and forgot about Claude until one day about 13 years later he was pulled out of his dingy, dark hiding place and thrown into a box, put onto a truck and driven away. When the truck stopped everything was unloaded but the box with Claude in it was thrown into a garage. He was not to be seen for a very long time.
“I have been in a box in the garage for 10 years now. I am old, grotty and dusty. I never thought Imy would touch me again! Then one day Imy just found me. She picked me up and dusted me off, then kissed my on the nose.” He told the others. He continued on saying Imy exclaimed: ‘Why I haven’t seen you in… 15 years!” Claude continued on with his story. “She walked into her room and sat me on her bed and that wasn’t Imy, the little cutie I used to know! Her room was different. There were no other toys, only makeup, perfumes and photos but the most different thing of all was her! Later on that night her husband came home and told her to give me to Rachel, (her little girl) because I was just a plain sitting there. So off I went to Rachel, but she already had a ‘real’ toy and didn’t want me. So she put me back into the shed.“
“That night I lay in the garage crying when something soft, landed on my nose… it kissed me and told me that I was real. I didn’t understand so I followed the pixie out of the shed and across the road to a huge paddock where I saw thing just like me accept HUGE! One of them whinnied and kicked about in the dirt. When suddenly it became smaller and smaller… no, wait a minute… I was getting bigger! I could move freely kick around and whinny! I galloped around in circles, pranced and flung my mane around. I was REAL!”
“That night I lay in the garage crying when something soft, landed on my nose… it kissed me and told me that I was real. I didn’t understand so I followed the pixie out of the shed and across the road to a huge paddock where I saw thing just like me accept HUGE! One of the whinnied and kicked about in the dirt. When suddenly it became smaller and smaller… no, wait a minute… I was getting bigger! I could move freely kick around and whinny! I galloped around in circles, pranced and flung my mane around. I was REAL!"

The Real Story
©Dana Phillips (aged 8 years)

and ©Prudence Buckland (aged 11 years)

The toy Fifi (a dog) was given to Dana as a birthday present on a bright, sunny day. Fifi had a beautiful woollen coat that was a lovely pink color. Fifi also had silk ears, sparkling eyes and a beautiful smile on its lips. One day Fifi was being happily played with by Dana when Dana’s little brother pulled Fifi out of her hand and threw Fifi somewhere in the room. Dana looked for Fifi but could not see her anywhere. Her mum had put Fifi accidentally in the bottom of the toy chest without Dana knowing. All the old toys that were at the bottom of the toy chest were put into boxes to be taken to Dana’s little cousin Sophie. The little dog was lonely because Sophie had too many other toys and did not play with Fifi. A watery tear dripped down Fifi’s face onto her beautiful woollen coat then onto the floor.
Once again the dog called Fifi was given to yet another girl, Kate, and each time this happened the little dog was becoming more and more real. The next day Kate told Fifi that she thought Fifi was real whenever they played together. The magic created by all the Kate’s love took Fifi on an amazing journey, a journey to make her real. One dull morning the clouds looked so dark and it would rain any minute but of course it did not. In the afternoon Kate was outside when suddenly, with a loud crash it began to pour and then it began to hail.
In the rush to get out of the rain Kate left poor little Fifi in the thick of the storm. Fifi was cold and shivering and she was really, really scared as well. Fifi thought she would never be real again because she was wet and soggy and she thought Kate would not like her anymore. A fairy called Prue came to Fifi. She told Fifi that she was real because of the love and the magic that Dana and Kate had given to her. Fifi had become the most real toy and the most special toy Dana and Kate had.

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