don't see any footprints," he said, in a voice that said he thought Felix was making it all up.
Hobart stopped again to peer at the ground and up at the sky and all around. Drusus looked up and down and all around, too. He said, "Aha! I see a sign!"
Felix was almost certain that Drusus hadn't seen anything. He didn't want to make him feel bad, though, so he asked him, "What do you see?"
With triumph, Drusus pointed in the direction that Hobart had just begun rolling. "Right there," the dinosaur said, gesturing with his long neck. A short ways down the bumpy path, next to a hollow tree, was a little wooden sign that read, "This way to the unicorn." An arrow on the sign pointed over a small hill. Whatever was on the other side was hidden from view.
He was just about to tell his friends that the sign was probably just misplaced. It probably was supposed to point towards the unicorn's usual enclosure. But by the time he opened his mouth to tell them, Drusus and Hobart had climbed the small hill and were starting down the other side. Felix ran to catch up.
On the other side of the hill, the pathway led down to a lake with bright blue water, rippling gently. A small, white boat with a single black sail was tied to a wooden dock. A person dressed all in black had the unicorn on the other end of a rope and was leading it up the ramp.
"Stop! Thief!" Felix called. He tried to say it the way a policeman would, just in case it would confuse the unicorn thief. The person in black did not stop.
Hobart played the sound of a police siren from his speakers, rushing forward. The person in black did not stop.
Drusus stomped and tried to look fierce, but the person in black still did not stop. The unicorn was almost in the boat!
As Felix and his friends ran towards the thief, Felix could tell that the person in black was no taller than him. And as they got even closer, he realized the thief was actually smaller. This made him feel brave. "I, Felix, am placing you under citizen's arrest," he said, grabbing the thief's wrist.
"Ouch! That hurts!" the thief said, and the black hood fell back, exposing the thief's face. It -- or rather she -- was a girl, with fine reddish blonde hair and pink cheeks. She looked really young compared to Felix, and he knew he wasn't supposed to be mean to younger kids. Confused, Felix dropped his hand.
The girl tugged on the rope to nudge the unicorn forward, but Felix stepped in front of her. "Stop stealing that unicorn right now, or I'm going to put you in time out."
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "You can't put me in time out. You're not my daddy. And you can't arrest me for stealing this unicorn. It's mine." She tugged the rope to get the unicorn walking again.
Felix stamped his foot and said hotly, "It's not your unicorn. It belongs to the zoo."
The girl crossed her arms and said, "No, it belongs to me. This is my dream, and everything that's in it is mine. So I'm going to take this unicorn, and get on this boat, and sail away to the Sea of Pink Lemonade, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Throwing up his arms like his daddy yelling at a football game, Felix shouted, "Your dream? Your dream? This is my dream, and everything in it is mine, including you."
She made a harumphing sound, showing that she did not agree. "If I'm in your dream, then why can't you control me?" she asked, and she stepped around him and pulled the unicorn into the boat.
He answered with a question: "Well, if I'm in your dream, then why am I trying to stop you?"
She gave the unicorn a carrot from a cooler and started busying herself getting the ship ready to sail. "Well, you didn't stop me," she said. "So there."
Felix sat down on the dock, feeling cross. Drusus bent his long neck and nudged Felix's arm with his head. "Are you sad? I thought we were all supposed to be happy. The unicorn granted my wish."
Patting the dinosaur's nose gently, Felix told him, "I'm not sad, just frustrated. I thought that I was supposed to be able to do whatever I wanted."
"But you wanted to have adventures, right?" Drusus asked. He gestured with his nose toward the ship. "And in all the adventures I ever read, something always goes at least a wee bit wrong. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of an adventure."
Trying to look like he didn't care, Felix wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He looked into Drusus' large golden-brown eyes and said, "I think that's the smartest thing you've ever said."
Drusus dipped his head, shyly, and said, "Why thank you! I always wanted to say something smart."
With an air of decisiveness, Felix stood up. He looked at the boat and announced, "We're going to rescue that unicorn and return it to the zoo!"
"Why don't we just wish it back?" Drusus asked.
Hobart hummed importantly. "Because wishes don't exist," he said.
The blonde girl had put on a captain's hat and was unfastening the ropes that held the boat to the dock. "If you wish the unicorn back, I'll just wish that it follows me again."
Just as the boat was about to pull away, Felix jumped onto it. Even though this girl seemed younger than him, she was doing something that Felix knew was wrong. You're not supposed to steal, and that unicorn belonged in the zoo. He walked over to the unicorn and petted its mane gently. "It's OK, unicorn. I'll get you back home," he promised.
The girl unfurled the sails and took her place behind a giant steering wheel. "She is home," the girl said. "She's coming with me now, wherever I go. And she's happy." When she said this, the unicorn pranced and shook its head, which didn't quite seem like she was agreeing but also didn't seem like she was disagreeing either.
Felix hadn't considered the unicorn's feelings before. He only knew that you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you: whether they're objects or animals. "Well, you don't know if the unicorn's happy, because she's only doing what you wished." He looked straight in the unicorn's eyes and said, "I wish for you to choose where you want to be, and to go there right away."
The unicorn stopped its restless weaving and looked immediately peaceful. If unicorns could smile, this one would have. She dipped into what looked like a graceful bow, began to glimmer, and slowly faded from sight.
"No!" the girl exclaimed. "Stay with me!" Immediately, she turned the ship back to shore. She threw the rope around the post and jumped off the boat, running up the hill towards the unicorn's enclosure. Felix, Drusus and Hobart followed, but the girl was fast and soon out of sight.
Her voice rose in a wail that carried over the crowd noise. "She's not here either!" she shouted. "Where did the unicorn go? Why did she leave me?"
When Felix caught up, the girl had sunk onto the sidewalk and was crying into her arms. She seemed even smaller. "Don't cry," he said. "Everything's going to be okay." It was the sort of thing his mother said to him when he cried. He gently patted her hair like a big brother might do.
The girl blubbered. "I came here every day to feed her carrots, and I thought she liked me, too."
Drusus arrived, out of breath, and said, "Maybe she didn't like carrots."
At this, the girl cried louder. "But she was my only friend! Waaaaahhhhh!"
"There, there," Drusus said, comfortingly. When the words had no effect, he repeated them again, "There, there."
Hobart rolled up, whistling and beeping. He tapped Felix on his shoulder. "Show her the dragon."
Felix had forgotten he'd put the dragon in his pocket after their last adventure. He reached into his coat and pulled the dragon out. It curled up in the palm of his hand, sleeping. "You can always make new friends," he said. "Look at this dragon we found. When we met him he was huge and trying to destroy my house. We fought him and made him tiny. And now he's our friend."
The girl sniffed and looked up. Tears were still flowing down her face as she reached out a finger to touch the dragon cautiously. It burped a little fire in its sleep, but it didn't hurt Felix at all. "He's really cool," she said.
Drusus said to Felix, "Maybe we can be her friends."
She seemed to consider it. "Will you help me find my unicorn?" she asked.
&nbs
p; Felix shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Then we can be friends. My name is Stella," she said, and gave him a huge, crooked smile.
He told her, "I'm Felix."
Drusus stepped forward and tried to extend a foot in a greeting but stumbled. He turned it into a little dance and coughed self-consciously. "I'm Drusus," he said.
"What kind of a name is Drusus?" Stella asked.
The dinosaur looked confused. "It's my name," he said, simply.
Felix's robot friend rolled forward. "I am Hobart," he said. "I am a robot."
"He says that a lot," Felix said, confidentially.
Stella began to sing, "Good morning, good morning! You slept the whole night through. Good morning, good morning to you!"
Felix recognized the song. It was the one his mother sang to him every morning. He was about to tell her so when he opened his eyes to see his Mommy smiling down at him. It was morning. He told his Mommy all about Stella and the unicorn.
###
About the Author
Alyce Wilson is the editor of the online literary magazine Wild Violet and in her copious spare time writes humor, non-fiction and poetry, keeps several blogs, and is always working on a writing project. Her book of poems, Picturebook of the Martyrs, and collection of essays and columns, The Art of Life, can be found on her web site (alycewilson.com), along with an entirely silly personal history of the Penn State Monty Python Society, Dedicated Idiocy. She plans to continue Felix's DreamWorld adventures in a full-length children's