Benny's Dreamland

This was written by 279 different people during the 2014 Canal Days Festival in Port Colborne, Canada.  
It's Benny's day off and he's about to have the craziest day he could imagine. Follow along as he gets stranded on a deserted island, eaten by a fish, and someone even visits space. 

​On a warm, sunny Friday afternoon Benny the Confused Panda Bear woke ready to start his day.
It was Benny’s day off today so he wanted to spend the afternoon listening to music and watching TV.
He turned on his record player and danced along with a silly Macarena.
He danced for so long that he had to take a nap.
Benny dreamed that he was eating a piece of bamboo and it was so delicious he wanted to eat it faster.
He started choking and that’s when the confused panda woke up in a cold sweat.
He looked around his bedroom, nothing there.
Then he looked beside him and sitting in his bed was the biggest piece of bamboo Benny had ever seen.
He screamed so loud, that it reached the ears of Ellie the Elephant. 

Ellie went over to Benny’s house to see what was wrong.
When Benny explained the situation, Ellie laughed out loud and rolled on her back holding her sides.
She told him she was on her way to California and that she was taking her magic carpet to get there.
She invited Benny aboard and they set off for the coast!

On their flight, they saw a genie uncontrollably flying towards them.
“TAKE YOUR 3 WISHES NOW!” the genie yelled.
First, Benny wished for a magic bow & arrow.
Next, Ellie wished that it would rain hot dogs and popcorn.
And lastly, Benny wished for infinite lemonade.
But Ellie did not like lemonade so she stole 27 gummy bears from the genie.
When the humane society saw what Ellie had done they began chasing the two all over town.
As they had them cornered, a faerie princess named Saraphena saved their lives.

The place was filled with bubbles, each one containing its own faerie.
Saraphena took them down a magic path where they met an evil witch with her elephant sidekick.
The evil witch took down everyone except for Ellie the Elephant.
She stomped on the witch and the witch disappeared from sight.
The other Elephant laughed really loud because the evil witch was gone. He was finally free!

Suddenly the witch came back and stole all of Ellie’s gummy bears.
She would have to go door to door to find some more.
She knocked on the door of a house in which the lawn was full of garden gnomes.
A dwarf answered the door and said: “What do you want?” Ellie asked if the dwarf had a bicycle to spare. Her feet were tired from stomping witches. “I have the shiniest bicycle!” said the dwarf.
The bicycle had training wheels so that Ellie could keep her balance on her long journey home. 

Along the way, Ellie spotted a mouse and jumped so high that she hit her head off the moon.
She was knocked out and floating through space.
When she finally came to, she missed home but couldn't get back to Earth.

Benny was looking for Ellie but couldn't find her anywhere.
He saw a raccoon by the name of Chipotle.
Chipotle tricked Benny into a trap with a piece of bamboo.
He wheeled him down a trail towards a hut. Chipotle went inside the hut.
In a cage beside him, Benny saw a Polar bear named Nolan and a squirrel named Val. 

Out from the hut came a man named Chill Guy Jordan
and he ordered Chipotle to free all three of them because he didn't believe them to be enemies.

He gave them gifts and introduced them to a friendly dolphin named John.
He carried him all the way back to Port Colborne where Canal Days was being held.
The bridge went up and Benny decided to climb to the bottom of the bridge.
When the boat passed underneath, they jumped on board.
He figured his new destiny was to jump onto and off of as many boat as he could. 

Suddenly, a gigantic fish came and swallowed them all whole.
Benny got angry at the fish. “LET ME GO! OR I’LL USE MY SUPER PUNCH ON YOU!”

He punched the fish as hard as he could but the fish hardly flinched.
“Is that the best you can do?” asked the fish.

Just then, a large object was seen in the sky headed towards the earth like a fireball.
It was Ellie the Elephant coming back into orbit from space.
She landed directly on the fish, squashing it and freeing them all in the process.
They celebrated by jumping off the boat again but just as Benny hit the water he fell off his bed.

It was a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon.
Benny the confused panda bear woke ready to start his day.
He looked around his bedroom, nothing there.
Then he looked beside him. Ellie, John, Nolan, and Val were all sleeping in their beds
​Benny just shook his head. “I've got to stop eating before bed… My dreams feel way too real.”
​