Feb 22, 2013 Original Short Stories

The Horse With No Shame – A Transformation Story
©By Vijaya Sundaram
January 24, 2012 

I’m going to turn my teacher into a horse! thought Jim, as he watched her writing more words on the board, for them to copy and practise for their spelling test.

He squeezed his eyes shut and wished hard, then opened his eyes again.  Nothing happened.  His teacher wrote on, oblivious.  The other students stirred restlessly, glancing at each other, hands fiddling with objects on their tables – a ruler, a pencil, a paper airplane that someone had surreptitiously made.  Their feet tapped, their eyes dreamed on, minds elsewhere.

The hum of the electricity coursing through the lights in the room made his ears hurt.  He gazed out the window, and saw a man throw a stick to his dog in the distance.  A train rumbled by, and he watched that.

His teacher turned around, and caught him dreaming.

“Jim!” she snapped.  “Focus on your work.  Stop wasting time!  There are all these big words to learn.  Copy them down.  Are you listening?”

He looked back at her, with his face wiped of any expression.  Turn into a horse, he begged in his mind.  Come on!  Turn into a horse.  You can do it.

“Well?” said his teacher, looking at him.

Then, the class gasped.  There, before them, a transformation was taking place.

Jim felt all eyes on him, and stiffened in terror.  He felt taller.  Strange sensations coursed through him.  He looked down, and instead of shoes, he saw hooves.  Four legs had sprouted out.  He felt an irrepressible urge to eat hay, or an apple.  He flicked his ears back, swished something, and whinnied.

The teacher fainted.  The students cheered.

Then, he trotted to the door, looked back once, and cantered out.  A smile hovered mysteriously in the air where he had left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TheEnd~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: #Original Short Story, children, horse, Mysterious Transformations, school