"Pa! Me and Albert are leaving now!" Yelled Laura to Pa on the night of Halloween. She, Albert and some
friends were going out to pull pranks and scare the people of Walnut Grove. Laura and Albert first went to the Oleson house to pick up Willie, then to the Garvey house to pick up Andy. "Who should we prank first?"
Laura remembered that the Wilders were a few months new to Walnut Grove. "Why not Miss Wilder and her brother?" suggested Laura.
"Isn't that a little risky? She's our teacher," worried Andy.
"Don't worry. If we're good prankers, she won't know it was us."
So Laura, Albert, Andy and Willie set out to Miss Wilder's house. They came up with a plan of getting a cat they saw outside into Miss Wilder's bedroom and she'd wake up with a cat on her. "Okay, Laura. Do you remember what to do?" Albert had to keep reminding Laura what she needed to do because if she did one thing wrong they would all get caught. Right when Laura was about to open a window, the kids received a visitor.
"I thought I'd see some kids at this house tonight." It was Miss Wilder's brother, Almanzo Wilder. "Now you kids run along, go put a cat through somebody else's bedroom window." Albert, Andy and Willie sprinted away, leaving Laura. "I thought I told you to leave." Laura still stay still. Almanzo didn't know what to do, so he went and got his sister.
"Laura sweetie, you should go home. Laura?" Laura could hear the calm voice of Miss Wilder but just stood there outside the house. A few seconds later, Laura realized where she was.
"Oh I'm so sorry, Miss Wilder. I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Laura ran off.
"What a weird child," mumbled Miss Wilder.
Laura ran to her house hoping that Albert went home and didn't go continue pranking without her. She looked through the window and saw Ma and Pa asleep. Laura snuck into the house and up the ladder to the loft. Albert lay down behind the curtain, asleep. Laura decided she was quite tired herself, so she got into her bed and tried to sleep. After half an hour of lying in the bed, Laura hadn't even closed her eyes, so she got up out of bed and snuck out of the house. It was dark and she couldn't see very well so she just walked to Plum Creek. Laura thought about the night she had just had. Then she found herself asking out loud why she hadn't run off with Albert, Andy and Willie. Laura realized that she couldn't leave Almanzo or even understand what he had said to her and the boys. She had fallen in love with him.
Laura got up and started walking back to the house. She stopped at a tree on the way back and picked up a stick. Laura left the tree with L.I. A.W. carved into it.