by Diana Cooper
In an instant, the magnificent white horse with its shimmering horn stood in front of them. “Hello, everyone!” he said, showering them with golden sparkles. “I have something to show you.”
He looked rather serious and they scrambled quickly and quietly onto his back.
The unicorn helps Rocky
“Where are you taking us,” demanded the irrepressible Tara as soon as they were in the air. “I’ve got to be home in half an hour.”
“That’s fine. You’ll be back in plenty of time,” the unicorn responded with a shake of his mane that made the fairies on his head jump in alarm. “I’m taking you to see someone,” he continued. “You see, Ash-ting is very wise. Bullies feel sad or bad inside, and they need help, too.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Tara, hanging her head in embarrassment. But when she thought of Rocky pushing Kevin over she felt furious all over again. She didn’t care if he was hurting. She hated him.
They stopped above a house, and the unicorn asked them to look down at what was happening inside.
“There’s Rocky.” Tara pointed down to where the boy was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework. His father was leaning over him, shouting at him. They could see Rocky biting his lip trying not to cry.
His mother was lying on a sofa in the dining section. Her eyes were closed. “She’s been drinking,” explained the unicorn. “It’s the only way she can cope.”
Suddenly, Tara felt sorry for Rocky and hated the boy’s father. She wanted to shriek at the big bullying man.
Ash-ting whispered, “The dad was bullied when he was young. He named his son Rocky because he wanted him to be hard, but the boy is sensitive inside. Rocky feels bad about himself, so he tries to make others feel bad, too. We’ll try to find a way to make them feel better.”
Impulsively, Tara asked the unicorn if he could send light down to the family. The wonderful creature nodded, saying, “I hoped you would ask.”
He sent three balls of pure white light down to the trio below. One went right into Rocky, who looked up with a start as he suddenly felt better.
The second ball of unicorn light bounced off Rocky’s father without him noticing anything. “We have to help him before he can take it in,” commented Ash-ting.
Then they saw the third ball of light go into the dozing mother, and she stirred as she felt something.
Tara smiled.
Kevin gets stronger
“And now, we’re going to see Kevin,” murmured the unicorn, and they whooshed quickly to the boy’s house a few streets away.
They looked down eagerly. Kevin was sitting by his father on the sofa, showing him the unicorn picture Tara had given him. His dad gave him a hug, while warning him that unicorns were make-believe. They could see from Kevin’s face that he knew better, but he didn’t say anything.
“Grownups can’t help it,” murmured Ash-ting. “That’s what they are told when they are little ,and they have forgotten about fairies and angels and unicorns.”
Ash-ting said that when a child was confident and happy, their aura was strong and protected them from bullies. So Tara begged the unicorn to send Kevin some light, and they watched as a ball of pure white flew down to the child.
This time he accepted it. His aura lit up and became stronger. He smiled, as he said to his father, “Mum’s going to get better. I know she is.”
On the way back to the oak tree, they hovered briefly over the hospital. Tara, two fairies and an elf all pointed at the same time calling, “That must be Kevin’s mum.” They could see her sitting up in bed surrounded by beautiful, green, healing angels. When they saw it Tara, Ash-ting and all the fairies, elves, brownies and imps grinned with relief and delight.
The unicorn glided to the oak tree, and they all scrambled down. Tara called, “Thank you” and Ash-ting said, “Meow” very loudly, as they ran through the gate and into the house.
The swimming pool
At school assembly on Friday morning, Mrs Bright told all the children that she had a plan to build a swimming pool for the school. Everyone cheered and cheered, and Mrs. Bright laughed. She said the schools in the two neighbouring villages, Littledown and Whitcliff, would share it, but they would all have to think of ways of raising the money.
“It’s very expensive, but I know we can do it if we all think about it,” she told the school.
All day, the children talked about nothing else, but no one knew how to raise that sort of money.
An exciting idea
Next day was Saturday and Tara’s granny was coming to lunch. Tara phoned her early in the morning and asked her please to bring some wool and teach her to knit. Granny was delighted and arrived at lunch time with a whole bag of wool and lots of knitting needles.
When they were all sitting round the fire before lunch, Tara revealed Ash-ting’s plan. Only she couldn’t say it was his idea, so she pretended it was her own. She perched on the edge of the sofa swinging her legs and announced. “I have a plan to raise some money for the new school pool.”
“Go on then, Tara,” prompted Dad.
“Well, Granny, it means some work for you. Would you knit some scarves all in different colours with blue tassels?” Then she added, “Please.”
Mel and Jack, Tara’s brother and sister, sniggered. “That’s not a plan,” jeered Mel scornfully. “We’re talking about proper money here, not fifty pence.”
Tara was furious and was about to shout at her, but Ash-ting buzzed. “No, Tara. Take a deep breath and explain more.”
So Tara took a deep breath, swallowed and said loftily. “Try listening clever clogs.”
She looked again at Granny, while Ash-ting prompted her. “Step one!”
“Step one,” she repeated, “is to knit about six or seven scarves, all with blue tassels, then Mel, Jack and me and my friends Rosy, Tracy and Rebecca will wear them to school.”
“I won’t,” scowled Jack.
“Me, neither,” agreed Mel.
Tara felt crushed, but Ash-ting urgently buzzed. “Take no notice. Say that six of you will wear them to create interest.”
Dad said encouragingly, “Go on, Tara. What happens then?”
Tara ignored her brother and sister and listened to Ash-ting. Then she repeated, “We’ll tell everyone to buy one for the swimming pool fund, and the children will all want to wear one. And Littledown School will have red tassels and Whitcliff yellow ones.”
Mel and Jack were silent now.
Granny said, “We could have a ‘knit-in,’ and everyone could knit scarves for the fund. And not just for the children. I’d like to wear one!”
“Me, too!” added Dad.
Mum thought it would be fun if it caught on. “I like the idea of a ‘knit-in’—and you could teach everyone,” she said, turning to her mother, Tara’s granny, who nodded happily.
“I’d love to,” Granny said. “I’ve got bags and bags of wool in my attic. So have lots of my friends.”
Dad reminded them that even if it did catch on and everyone bought one it would only raise peanuts.
Everyone looked glum. Ash-ting quickly said to Tara, “Say this. Every journey starts with the first step.” So Tara repeated those words very clearly, and the grownups were surprised. They nodded.
Jack piped up suddenly, “I’ll wear one.” Mel agreed, saying, “So will I and my friends.”
Tara flashed them a great big grateful grin.
After lunch, Granny and Mum started to knit with the wool Granny had brought with her. They tried to teach the children, but Tara’s efforts were not very successful and she kept dropping stitches. Her rows were full of holes so she got bored. Jack was even worse. But Mel proved surprisingly good at it and was enjoying it.
“Why don’t you take Jack and Tara to the shops to buy some blue wool for the tassels for Oakhurst School,” Mum suggested to Dad at last, and he took the two of them off to town in the car.
Rocky’s challenges
Ash-ting lay on the hearth and
purred. He was thinking. The most important thing is to help a vulnerable child who is being bullied, but he felt Kevin was getting stronger and was safe now. He turned his attention to how to help Rocky, so that he would not feel the need to bully small children any more.
Later, he asked Tara to watch Rocky and notice what he was good at. At school on Monday, she saw for the first time that he was good at drawing, but he often spoilt his pictures. Why, she wondered? She also noticed that he was a fast runner and good at soccer, but he was sneaky and often tripped boys up so they didn’t like playing with him.
When she got home she told Ash-ting. The kitten sighed. “Rocky’s good at drawing, and he loves it, but his dad wants him to be macho. He thinks drawing is girlie.”
Tara was indignant. “My dad is a very good drawer.”
“I know,” nodded Ash-ting, “and he’s gentle but also strong.”
“Uh-huh,” agreed Tara. “So why does Rocky mess up his pictures?”
“Because he doesn’t want his dad to know he’s good at art in case he thinks it’s girlie,” replied Ash-ting.
“Oh,” murmured Tara, nodding. “But soccer? Why does he spoil it for everyone?”
“His dad was a very good player, and Rocky doesn’t think he’ll ever be good enough for him,” answered Ash-ting.
Tara sighed. “What are we going to do to help?”
Ash-ting announced, “We’re going to get your dad and Rocky’s dad together.”
“But why?” asked Tara.
“Your dad’s good at drawing, and Rocky’s dad will start to see that art is okay. And they are both good at soccer.”
“And how are you going to get them together?” asked Tara.
“That’s simple,” replied the kitten. “We’ll ask their guardian angels to arrange it.”
And so it was that the following weekend Rocky and his dad found themselves at the barbers sitting next to Tara’s dad and Jack. There was a long wait and they had plenty of time to talk.
The knit-in
Mummy and Tara spoke to Mrs Bright about their idea for a “knit-in” for scarves to raise funds. Mrs. Bright was delighted with the plan but doubted it would bring in much money.
“Every journey starts with the first step,” said Mum, and Mrs Bright nodded in agreement. Then she added suddenly. “Perhaps we could make it a sponsored knit-in.”
“Great idea,” responded Mum enthusiastically.
All week Mum, Mel, Granny and her friends knitted hard. On the following Monday morning, Tara and her friends Rosy, Rebecca and Tracy, Mel and two of her friends and Jack arrived at Oakhurst School proudly sporting multi-coloured scarves with blue tassels. At Littledown and Whitcliff Schools, several children were wearing scarves with yellow and red tassels.
Everyone admired them and wanted one. In assembly, Mrs. Bright announced the plan. All the children took home notes about the School Pool Scarves and the sponsored knit-in, which was arranged for two weeks on Saturday in the school hall. And the same thing happened at the other schools.
So many orders flooded in that they could not wait for the knit-in. Granny got her friends together and soon almost every granny, mother and auntie in the area was knitting for the pool, and a few fathers too. And they were having great fun chatting as they did so.
Mrs. Bright got the fund-raising knit-in for the school pool mentioned in the local paper and even talked about it on local radio. Some people sent in donations. It was very exciting.
The dads get together
Dad and Jack left the barbers at the same time as Rocky and his father. They strolled back through the village together and bumped into Mummy and Mel with a reluctant Tara in tow. She was delighted to go home with Dad and Jack rather than shopping.
As they walked past the village green, they spotted Kevin Abling playing soccer with his daddy.
“Hi, Kev,” shouted Tara in her boisterous way. The boy came running over to them, his eyes shining. “Mummy’s home from hospital. She’s better. You were right, Tara.”
Everyone was very pleased, but Rocky looked at his feet. He was ashamed of the way he had behaved to the little boy.
Kevin said to his daddy, “This is Tara who gave me the unicorn picture, and Tara’s dad drew it.”
Dad looked at Tara. It was the first he’d heard about her giving away his picture, but she was smiling so sweetly at Kevin that he knew she must have had a very good reason.
Rocky’s father, Mr. Jones, looked surprised. “I didn’t realize you were an artist,” he said.
“I’m not,” said Tara’s dad. “I just love drawing.”
“Rocky’s good at drawing, too,” added Tara.
“Is he?” exclaimed Mr. Jones, as he looked in surprise at his son who was kicking a ball with Jack and Kevin. He was playing nicely because the adults and the scary Tara were watching.
Tara ran off to play soccer with the boys while Dad told the men about his hobby and how he had drawn animals to raise funds at the village fair and now his drawings were a second income stream. Then they joined the children in their energetic, boisterous game.
When they finally left the green, happily covered in mud, Mr. Jones said he was a builder and offered to send some of his men and a digger to dig out the pool and lay the foundations for free.
“Thanks. That’s a great offer,” Dad responded with delight, and he said he’d show Rocky a few things to help his drawing. Rocky heard this and glanced at his dad, expecting him to frown, but he looked pleased.
The boy grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you. I’d like that,” he said. His aura became pink!
Making people welcome
There was a note on the table when they arrived home, saying Mel was at her friend’s house and Mum had gone to see Mrs. Jones.
“I wonder why she’s gone there!” exclaimed Dad, perplexed.
Tara said that Mum wanted to invite Rocky’s mum to the knit-in.
Ash-ting buzzed her. “Tell your dad that it would help Mrs. Jones feel she belonged in the village.”
When Tara told him this, Dad replied, “Oh, I see. I hear she is often unwell. Perhaps she’s lonely. Mum will make her feel welcome.”
“Bingo!” murmured Ash-ting.
Working together for the pool
Later, Tara lay curled up on the sofa with Ashting on top of her. She told him about Rocky’s dad’s offer to help with the school pool.
The kitten looked at her with his big green eyes. “Excellent! And it will help him to feel he belongs in the village if he gives something to it. He’ll be much happier, and I don’t think he’ll bully Rocky again.”
“Good,” said Tara. “Rocky’s nice to Kevin these days.”
“Have you noticed how Kevin’s aura has changed, too,” said Ash-ting. “All the fear that made him vulnerable has gone. He’ll be alright now.”
He purred and snuggled up to Tara and said, “Tara, if you want to make something happen, it helps to picture it, and it is even better to draw what you want.”
“You mean it would help to draw the swimming pool?”
“Yes, draw it exactly as you want it to be! Suggest it to your teacher. Perhaps you can all do it, and she’ll put them on the wall where you can all see the pictures.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the little girl.
When she saw Mrs. Bright at school, Tara did as Ash-ting had suggested. She mentioned she’d like to draw the swimming pool.
“Great idea, Tara,” her teacher said, smiling at her.
That afternoon, the whole class drew the school with the swimming pool they wanted. Tara drew herself swimming in it, and she could feel the cool water as she did so. Some children drew a diving board, and their teacher said, “Well you never know.” Tara’s eyes shone.
Mrs Bright put them all up on the wall.
After that, it seemed to Tara that lots of parents came up with ideas for raising funds for the project. Loads of people donated money and offered to help. The three villages all worked together to bring
it about.
Going to the school
A few months later the whole family was getting ready to go to the school to watch the digger take the first scoop for the pool. They were all wearing scarves with blue tassels. Granny, Mum and Dad wore them, too.
“Meow. I want to come, too,” said Ash-ting, rubbing himself against Tara’s legs.
“No, you’re a cat, not a dog,” Tara giggled.
Ash-ting glowered at her, so the little girl asked her parents, “Can I take Ash-ting, please?”
“No!” her parents responded in unison. “He’s a cat, not a dog.”
Tara gave the kitten an I told you so look, so he sat under the hedge with his back to them and sulked. But when they walked down the road Tara was sure she saw a little grey streak following them.
The swimming pool is built
Crowds of parents and children were milling round the cordoned-off area set aside for the swimming pool. All were sporting scarves with blue, yellow or red tassels, depending on which school they attended.
Tara dragged her parents into her classroom to see her work. Rocky was there with his parents, pointing out his picture of the school pool. Mr. Jones had his arm on the boy’s shoulder and was telling him how proud he was of him. Rocky looked happy and relaxed and softer somehow. Tara’s mum smiled at Mrs. Jones and asked her to help with the teas. She was very pleased to do so.
Then the bell rang, and everyone trooped outside. Tara and her family sat on a hillock under a tree to watch. Suddenly they heard a soft “meow” and looked up to see Ash-ting on a branch above them.
“Oh, naughty Ash-ting,” Tara giggled, as the kitten jumped to the ground beside her. Even Dad had to laugh.