It was bedtime. Chris and his father sat down side by side on Chris’s bed. They talked of Chris’s friend Alexander, the red horse with green stripes.

“Alexander was a pretty bad horse today,” Chris said. “He wouldn’t eat his cereal. He wouldn’t sit up at the table and he spilled his milk.”

“That’s too bad,” said Chris’s father. “What else happened?”

Their ensuing conversation of Alexander’s bad day makes for an entertaining read, along with its loving ending as Chris’s father remarks, “Alexander will be a wonderful little horse tomorrow and you’ll be a wonderful little boy, too.”

Original retro illustrations by Tom Vroman.