Something strange occurs in the afternoon at a city park in Champaign. I have witnessed it a few times, and I have no explanation.
You know those tourist sight-seeing trolleys? The ones you might see in popular downtowns or at the zoo. They have many rows of benches down the trolley, with open sides and an awning-type covering. You expect to see someone sitting at the front next to the driver, facing sight-seers with a microphone in hand, pointing here and there.
Well, in this park — large expanses of grass with some bordering trees set in a busy residential area — there is one of those trolleys. Pulled by a team of horses. They come out in the afternoon to take a few laps. There’s never anyone riding inside. Just a couple of horses and a driver pulling a huge empty trolley around the grass.
This seems strange for so many reasons. A few that come to mind are: (1) How do the horses and trolley get to the park? This is the middle of the city. A city of 100,000. Where most people don’t keep horses in the backyard. And we don’t have horse-drawn buggies downtown for visitors to take instead of cabs. You ride the bus. (2) What is the purpose of lapping a park with a team of horses and a trolley? If it’s practice for some future job, why practice in a park in the middle of the city? I have a hard time believing that the final task will be in this park. Shouldn’t you practice in the performance context? Like your farm? (3) Why don’t people stop and stare? No one seems to think twice about this. I’m the only one to even look back. Did I miss the horse-drawn trolley movement, and now it’s oh so passé?
I’ve been trying to think of a conclusion for this little anecdote. But there’s no conclusion. There are horses working in the city park.
Magrilless 
