My name is JIMBY

Early One Morning in Florida

Once again the sun came out and the owner opened the shutters on the shop front. Here we go again I thought with another boring day watching the shoppers look but never buying me. Not that I am too worried because I want to go to a home that is really a place to show off my talents.

Around lunchtime after being squeezed and shook but never hugged a strange person picked me off the shelf and looked me straight in the eyes. At last someone almost understood what I wanted. He looked at my price tag and smiled and I could almost hear his brain ticking. I was willing him to take me to the counter but instead he hid me behind his back and approached a lady looking at the other toys.

Suddenly I was looking over this ladies shoulder into her eyes and she burst out laughing and even asked who I was. Great at last I was on my way! However she went to look at my price tag and my heart sank until the man said I was only $8.99 instead of $18.99. Strange I thought I am worth the full price but had missed the human's intention. He said he only had that much and could he buy me. I just prayed she said yes for I was already thinking of being in a proper home with my own room and freedom.

The owner looked a little sad when I was taken by a smiling couple to be paid for. Funny that the man asked the lady to see if she could find anything else whilst he took his wallet out and paid the full price!!

Now I panicked, what was the world like outside the shop? I realised I had never been past the shelf let alone the door even if I was in a bag. What a surprise for outside the door were hundreds of other shops in long rows with so many people walking about. Then I was taken out of the bag and shown the real world.

I was turned upside down and heard I was called Jimby on a tag. Also that the man was Mick and his lady was Ann. I decided there and then to call them Mr Mick and Miss Ann. We sat down together and they gave me a hug and started to tell me that I was going to live in England wherever that might be. I did know I was in Florida and the shops were called The Eagle Ridge Mall. This was getting so exciting and as we got up I insisted in being carried and able to see where we were going. It was important I started to show them what I wanted which might not always be the same as them.

Soon I was sitting on a shelf again but this time the back one in a car zooming along the highways. I looked at the people in other cars and waved to them, some even waved back and all the children were pointing and laughing. This was fun with a capital F.

It turned out my new owners lived in a little town in England and the next day I would be flying in an aeroplane to start my new life. My hopes of looking out of a window were dashed when the next morning I was put with lots of other things and locked inside a suitcase.

Lucky for me I managed to get snuggled in the middle of some soft clothes and despite a few knocks and bumps managed to get some sleep. Just where would I wake up and what would it be like?