Red Racer Wagon – Denice Barton

Brittany Spaniel puppy

Having dreamed of horses before I really knew one, I wrote stories about them having super powers. My uncle started riding with me when I was an infant and that is when I fell in love. Being a very busy child who required constant activity, my mother had her hands full. She did crafts with me and encouraged me to play outside a lot. One day I dressed all my dolls in their finest clothes fora parade and scavenged the house and garage for anything and everything equipped with wheels including strollers, roller skates, a mechanics’ dolly and a Red Racer wagon.

The dolls were strapped into the vehicles with belts and ropes. My parents refused to help but my little sister had no choice, she was only four. Searching for additional resources there was a perfect length rope on dad’s boat. We needed more participants so I asked the neighbors to let me walk their dogs for our usual twenty-five cent arrangement. Most of the dogs were older and not very active. Using the ski rope, I joined my parade components together. The parade was fun, but the dolls, ropes and dogs became a tangled mess and the procession was much, much too slow. We looked like a Dennis the Mennis episode.

There had to be a better way to show off all of my beautiful dolls and my amazing skills.

If we were to increase our speed we had exactly what was needed, two high-energy Brittany Spaniels whose base speed was breakneck. It took everything we had to stop them once they were moving. Further investigation uncovered two worn out horse halters hanging just above the skill saw. The next step was exactly what you’d expect the halters attached as if they were horse harnesses and the Brittanys would pull our parade. The dogs waited tied to the swing set for me to find a helmet for my sister and line the wagon with her favorite stuffed animals. (She was a little nervous and needed some motivation).

The participants were staged along the swing set in order of size and beauty making it easy to connect the ropes. With the parade at the ready my little sister reluctantly climbed aboard. I gave her the handle. “Don’t let the steering wheel turn or you’ll flip.” I yelled as I released the dogs. Once the parade got underway the dogs, being a bit excitable, became fearful of the sound of the wagon and ran faster and faster. The dolls explosively flew and the dogs ran for cover. It took me an hour to clean up the debris and my little sister never rode again.

An education in physics helped me realize that energy was the enemy in this event so I began tiring out the dogs’ before I tied them to the wagon. Soon my plan was a system that allowed me to hop in after we began moving. (The smarter of the two dogs climbed in behind me after she became tired and that was the perfect amount of weight to control the wagon.) It became a daily exercise that we all enjoyed. I believe foreshadowing is what they call it in the movies.