Miss Pickles lives up to her word

Whooping with glee, the children ran down the sidewalk in front of the school. The afternoon was a crisp and clear fall day. It could not have been more perfect for an adventure. Mason shed his parka and clutched it in his hands, wondering where to put it. The coat was too thick to tie around his waist.

"Here, duckie," Miss Pickles said, holding out her tiny pink purse. "Just drop it right along in there."

Mason looked dubiously at the small pocketbook. He doubted he could even get his hand inside. Miss Pickles grinned and plucked the coat out of his hand. Mason's eyes bugged out as he watched the minuscule jaws of the pink silk swallow his enormous parka.

"How does it do that?" he asked in awe.

"Never underestimate a woman's purse, duckie," Miss Pickles grunted as she fished around in her purse. She shoved her arm so deep that Mason gasped as her shoulder bumped the top edges of the purse.

"That's amazing!" he cried.

"What's amazing is that my pogo stick is still in there," Miss Pickles exclaimed, extracting a hot pink pogo stick with purple ribbons wrapped around the handle from her purse. "I've been looking for that for months?"

Ralph widened his eyes and held out his five boxes of pies. "Miss Pickles?" he asked. "Do you have a refrigerator in your purse?"

After the pies had been put away safely, Mason and Ralph scuttled after their classmates. Miss Pickles hopped behind them on her pogo stick, now singing a interesting rendition of "Silent Night." As far as Mason could tell, she had forgotten most of the lyrics and was replacing them with random phrases.

"Silent night," Miss Pickles warbled.
"Holy night,"
"All is calm, all is bright."
"There's a Big Mac,
For every child.
Holy french fries,
so salty and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace."

"Do you think she'd marry me?" Ralph whispered to Mason, wiping the drool off his mouth. The only thing Ralph liked more than pie was hamburgers. "I love her."

"It's illegal," Don responded automatically before Mason could answer.

"You're right," Ralph said, tapping his finger against his rosy plush cheek. "I need a ring first." He began to scour the sidewalks for dandelions.

"Miss Pickles?" a small girl named Eliza asked. "Where are we going?"

"On an adventure," Miss Pickles shouted as she leaped over a kitten sunbathing.

"But to where?" Eliza asked. She looked around. They had walked far past the school and were now surrounded by cozy little houses and tall trees that shaded the sidewalk. "I mean, no offense, but there's not much of an adventure here."

"If we go two more blocks, we can play video games at my house," a little boy offered.

"Video games are no adventure!" Miss Pickles shouted as she bounced over a mailbox. "It was kind of you to offer, little duckie. But we need a real adventure! The kind you can only find, not plan!"

Eliza looked very frustrated, but nodded. Mason smiled sympathetically. He was beginning to feel restless as well. After so much talk about an adventure, he'd like to be on one by now. What kinds of things could they do in a neighborhood? Another mile or two and they'd stumble upon the same restaurants and stores they saw everyday. And there wasn't any adventure in that.

No, Mason thought. What they needed was something real. Something that had never been done before. They needed something that would be burned in their memories until they were 80 years old and bond them together forever.

Then he saw the sprinklers.

"Hey guys!" he shouted, pointing to a large front yard. Half a dozen sprinklers were scattered all over the thick grass, the cool droplets soaring throughout the air. "Let's go play in the sprinklers!"

"I'm up for it!" Don yelled, running and leaping into the yard. "Even if this is technically trespassing!"

"Maybe the ice cream truck will come by soon," Ralph said, jumping in after Don. "Wouldn't that be a treat!"

"That's right, duckies!" Miss Pickles whooped, jumping in the puddles on the sidewalk as the children twirled in danced in the cold streams of water. "Jump right in!"

Mason beamed as a jet of cold water doused his entire front. He hopped right into a soaked patch of grass. Mud splattered up to his knees and his tennis shoes squished as water and grass soaked into the cloth.

"Hey, Ralph, look!" he cried, hopping to another puddle. "I'm a frog!"

Ralph laughed and clapped his hands as Mason hopped from one puddle to another, making loud croaking noises. Mason spotted a enormous puddle towards the sidewalk and took a running leap towards it.

"Ralph, look!" he cried as he flew in the air. "Ribbbbbittt!" His feet touched the soggy earth and suddenly Mason felt himself falling. But he wasn't falling on his back. Instead, his body was twisting in mid-air as blackness raced around him. With a loud thump, he landed on a thick pile of dust and rock. He looked up and saw a tiny bit of light above him, no bigger than the tip of a pen. He must have fallen for miles. Looking around, Mason gulped.

He had found his adventure.