Nicole waited restlessly aboard the ferry that would take both her and her best friend Paola to Pleasure Island. They had been waiting there with dozens of boys and girls for over an hour.
The Coachman, who had offered them refuge on the island, had departed a while ago on his stagecoach to pick up another load of kids before they would venture off towards Pleasure Island.
"I sure hope he comes back soon, Paola," Nicole remarked impatiently to her friend. "I'm getting bored."
Paola placed her hand onto Nicole's arm and smiled.
"I wouldn't worry, Nicole," Paola said reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. At least we won't be alone on the island. Just think of all the things we're gonna do. We're gonna get to ride roller coasters, eat dessert all night long and get to break things without getting spanked."
Nicole nodded. "That sure sounds like my kind of fun." She could tell Paola was just as excited about Pleasure Island as she was.
"I'm so glad we played hooky from school today, Nicole. Why, we might of never been able to go to Pleasure Island if we had just gone to school."
"You two played hooky too?" came a voice behind them.
Nicole and Paola turned to see a thin girl with two thick pigtails in her black hair standing behind them. She looked to be about a year older than them and she wore a light yellow adorned dress of knee length with trimmings at the hem and a blue sash around her waist, a bonnet that match the dress and brown button up boots and woolen stockings went with her dress.
The girl smiled "Name's Giovanna," she said. "What's yours?"
"Paola and this here's my friend Nicole," Paola said. "Have you ever heard of Pleasure Island before?"
"Yeah, kinda," Giovanna said with a shrug. "I've heard stories about it before. They say the place is one big amusement park where your fun never ends and you can do just about anything. I've heard kids that travel there usually stay there as they don't wanna go back home. It’s a children’s paradise."
"So, Giovanna," Nicole started to ask. "You said you played hooky from school today too. What did ya do?"
“I went to a pastry shop,” she replied. "While the baker was distracted, I went in and ate several cannoli and bomboloni, plus I took a bite out of the big wedding cake he had." The three girls continued to talk for several minutes, ultimately deciding to stick together when they got to the island.
Suddenly they heard the sounds of galloping hooves and turned to see the Coachman return with a new group of kids crammed in his stagecoach.
"Here now, stop," the Coachman commanded the exhausted donkeys that pulled his coach, which they obeyed without question.
After the coach had come to a full stop, the Coachman directed the boys and girls in his coach to disembark and board the ferry, which they did in an excited rush.
After making sure everyone was aboard the boat, the Coachman once more cracked his whip at his donkey workforce and commanded them to pull the coach aboard as well. The donkeys once more obeyed, their eyes filled with both pain and torment.
The Coachman then untethered the ten donkeys that had pulled his coach and led them down to the ship's cargo hold. As the Coachman did this, leading two of them at a time below deck, the others turned and stared directly at all of the kids on the ferry.
A chill ran down Nicole’s back as one of the donkeys seemed to be staring directly at her. She could see that behind the pain and torment in the unhappy donkey’s eyes was a look of longing, as if the donkey wished he could be as happy as the boys and girls aboard the ferry were. Perhaps the little animal even longed to be a kid as well.
“Nicole, what’s the matter?” Paola asked her friend quizzingly.
Nicole pointed to the donkey that was staring right at her, whose ears perked up. “Those donkeys,” Nicole started to say. “I feel bad for them. They look so unhappy, so very sad. The Coachman seems nice to us, but he’s not at all very good to his donkeys.”
“I know what you mean,” Giovanna said with a sympathetic nod. “I saw them crying earlier when the Coachman picked me and a few other kids in my town up earlier tonight. They don’t seem to enjoy having to pull that heavy stagecoach up and down the countryside all night.”
The Coachman returned shortly and began to lead the donkey that had been staring at Nicole down to the cargo hold. But the donkey was very slow to move and kept turning his head and staring directly at Nicole. His long donkey ears were still raised up and he looked almost like he wanted to bray something aloud.
The Coachman quickly grew angry at the donkey and grabbed him by his black mane of hair, violently slamming his head into the floor of deck and pinning him to the ground. The poor little donkey let out a pitiful cry and tried to shake his head loose from the Coachman’s grip, but he could not.
The Coachman then leaned down and seemed to whisper something into the donkey’s ear. Nicole couldn’t make out what it was, but it was enough for tears to start streaming down the donkey’s face as the Coachman released his head from his grip.
The donkey then lowered his head sadly and obediently allowed the Coachman to lead him down below deck.
“See what I mean?” Nicole said as she pointed after them. “He’s downright cruel to those poor little donkeys. I even noticed realized that not all of them are male, several of those little donkeys are female. And why does he have donkeys pulling his stagecoach anyway? Horses would be more efficient than having little donkeys pull it.”
Paola shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, but I’m sure glad I not one of them. Donkeys are stupid and smelly. And they have to work really, really hard. I’m glad I’m just a girl.”