Tranquil scenes display the autumn forest. Geese honk, crickets chirp, and turkeys cluck. The group walks through the woods, with Greg blowing raspberries by puffing up his cheeks blowing air out by poking his cheeks with his index fingers. Of course, it was exasperating though only a few of them weren't really paying him any mind. Kylie simply tuned him out by daydreaming, while Dana was more focused on the wildlife around them.
Wirt looked up at the treetops. "It's almost morning."
"Not almost, it already is." Zaira corrected him, pointing towards the East.
"Then we should've found a town by now. This is the way the woodsman told us to go, right?"
Greg glanced up at his brother and at the girls, "Haven't you listened to anything I've been saying? For the last couple hours, I've been saying-" and he continued blowing raspberries.
Wirt rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Well, that settles it. I'm gonna walk up ten feet ahead of you."
"And, we're back to the letting a group of girls he's never seen before to keep an eye on the youngest ones here." Beth frowned.
"Maybe you can look after Greg, but not me." Dana folded her arms stubbornly. "I might be your little sister but I'm not a baby."
Haruna sighed, "I'll go after Wirt. The last thing we want is to get separated AND lost."
"Maybe we missed a turn or went off course." surmised Yui with a shrug.
"Sounds plausible." Theo squinted. She and the other girls were looking into the other areas of the forest, trying to spot anything useful.
"Well I'm getting no premonitions here." Zaira said ruefully, "Usually the bad ones are the first to show up."
"Help!"
"Huh?" Greg paused.
"I'm stuck!"
Greg said to them. "I hear something!"
Wirt barely gave him a glance. "It's probably nothing." He, Haruna and Kylie walk over to a sign nailed to a tree. Hey, look." He read the sign aloud, "Pottsfield, one mile."
"Now why does that sound so familiar?" Kylie questioned, she looked thoughtful. She could've sworn she'd read about this at some point.
"A town! Let's go this way." Wirt exclaimed brightly.
"Okay, let's go this way." Greg walks off in the opposite direction, much to Wirt's chagrin.
Dana threw up her arms, "Alright, I'll go get him."
She followed after the younger child, who was glancing around.
"Hello? Hello?"
"Hey, you two." A female voice addressed them.
Greg spun around. "Who?"
"A-Are you talking to us?" asked Dana, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from.
"Yeah, you." The voice was coming from inside a nearby bush.
They peek inside and see the same bluebird from the other night tangled in a vine.
"Oh, hello." Greg greeted.
Dana smiled, "Well, Hi. Didn't think we'd run into you again."
The little bird gasped out. "I'm stuck. Help me out of here, and I'll owe you a favor."
"Whoa! I get a wish?" Greg asked excitedly.
The bluebird shook her head. "No, no. no. Not a wish. I'm not magical. I'll just do you a good turn."
"If you're not magical, then how come you're able to talk and we can understand you perfectly well?" Dana inquired.
"Never mind that!"
Greg chimed in, "Can you turn me into a tiger?"
"Um, no. I just said I'm not magical."
"It doesn't have to be a magical tiger."
"What's going on over there?" Wirt and the girls were approaching.
"Greg, stop talking to a bush."
"Okay."
He and Dana reach into the shrub and gently move the vines off the bluebird, freeing her.
"There you go." Dana beamed to the bluebird.
"Thanks. I owe you a favor. So, um," she said with a raised eye ridge, "You're a bunch of lost kids with no purpose in life, right?"
"Uh-huh." Greg nodded cheerfully. Behind him, Wirt frowned.
"No, we're not." Zaira replied coolly.
"Be nice." Beth whispered to her.
"How about I bring you to Adelaide of the Pasture, the Good Woman of the Woods?" offered the bluebird, "She could help you get home."
"Adelaide of the Pasture?" Even Yui looked skeptical.
"I never heard of her." Dana agreed.
"N-no, no. No, no. No, no, no, no, no." Wirt shook his head, "Magic talking birds leading us to fairy godmothers in the mysterious... I'm – we're going to Pottsfield."
He starts walking off, unsurely the other girls followed.
"Yeah, we're going to Pottsfield. Come on." said Greg.
"You're more than welcome to join us." Kylie offered kindly.
"What about the favor?" The bluebird flew after them.
Greg answered, "I'll think of my wish later."
"Ugh."
Soon they went down a dirt road through what looked like vegetable fields and farmland.
Greg turned to the bluebird flying beside him. "Let's small-talk. My name's Greg. What's yours?"
"Beatrice."
Greg added, "My brother's name is Wirt."
"Who cares?"
Wirt gives Beatrice a sideways glare.
"I'm Daphne but everybody calls me Dana." Dana chirped then pointed to each of the girls introducing them to Beatrice.
"And my frog's name is Wirt Jr, but that may change." added Greg.
"Okay, that's great." Beatrice said clearly disinterested, "How about you me and her ditch your brother and the other girls?"
"Yeah, I don't think so." Dana declined wryly. "Someone has to keep them out of trouble."
Greg didn't catch on to Beatrice's idea, "Mm, maybe later. So is it nice being a bird?"
"Nope."
"Oh. Do you like waffles?"
Beatrice winced a little. "No, waffles make me sick. I eat... m-maggots. "
"Aah!" Greg shrieked at her reply.
His reaction made the girls jump in alarm. "What is it?!"
Greg asked Beatrice in horror, "How can you not eat waffles?!" there was a sudden squishing sound near his feet making him shriek again, "AAH!"
"What?!" Beatrice cried.
"I stepped on a pumpkin!"
"Aha!" Wirt said triumphantly making everyone else look at him and see what he's discovered. Just down the hill was a little old fashioned town.
"Civilization, see? Now-" Wirt exclaimed only to step on a pumpkin and shakes it off. "All right. Let's rejoin society."
Beth stood staring at the town in mild disdain. "A little out of date for civilization. Even those medieval fairs had more modern conveniences."
"You coming or not?"
"Fine." The tomboy sighed, "Bring on the biddies."
They walk into the town only to find it seemingly deserted. Wirt and Yui check a nearby house for its residents so he can get to a phone, but inside the house is a large turkey much to their surprise. Awkwardly apologizing, they close the door and move on.
"Hey, not to be obnoxious, but an abandoned ghost town doesn't seem like it's gonna be that useful getting you guys home." Beatrice said tartly.
The group hears singing and follow it to a distinctively large barn. They peered inside and saw many figures covered completely in pumpkins and fabric dancing around a tall maypole adorned with a large painted pumpkin head. They were singing, shucking corn, peeling apples, and dancing.
"What the... "
Theo cocked her head uncertainly, "Either I'm tripping, or I'm actually seeing pumpkin people acting like farm folk."
"It looks like one of those old country festivals you sometimes see in old movies." remarked Yui.
Behind them, a pumpkin person enters the barn.
"Oh, pardon me there." It apologized then looked at the group, "Say, you folks ought to don your vegetables and celebrate the harvest with us."
"Uh... oh!" Wirt said in relief, "You're wearing costumes!"
"Well, sure. Pumpkins can't move on their own... can they?"
"Isn't it a little early for Thanksgiving?" Dana asks, "If any, the holiday celebrated should the Day of the Dead."
"In Autumn it's never too early to gather the fruit of the harvest." The pumpkin man said before walking off to join the celebration.
Greg grinned looking at the pumpkin stuck to his right foot, "Good thing I didn't take this off."
"You guys find this place as creepy as I do, right?" Beatrice asked warily.
"I'm gonna have to say…yes." Zaira agreed.
"I don't know that party looks like it could be fun." said Sara G.
Wirt shrugged, "So it's some kind of weird cult where they wear vegetable costumes and dance around a big thing. They seem nice enough."
"Okay, you're in denial. That's fine." Beatrice acknowledged, "But I'm just saying, something feels off about this place."
A pumpkin person carving a jack-o-lantern slowly turns its head to stare at the group which leaves them except for Greg, rather uneasy.
"Well, maybe we can find someone here who will give us a ride home. Greg, you stay out of trouble. Beatrice, thank you, but you can leave."
Beatrice sighed, "I can't leave. I'm honor-bound to help you since you guys helped me. That's the bluebird rules."
"Uh, okay. Beth?"
"Right." The redhead nods.
They walk over to a pumpkin girl who turns towards them questioningly, "Say, aren't you a little too... early?"
"What do you mean?"
"Early for what?" Beth asked.
Pumpkin Girl responded, "I mean, it doesn't seem like you're ready to join us just yet."
"Join you? Yeah, no, we're just passing through." Wirt told her.
"Folks don't tend to 'pass through' Pottsfield."
"They don't?" Beth looked at her in mild bewilderment.
"Oh... yeah?"
"Yeah. It's nice here."
"I'll admit it does look…" Beth struggled for the right word, "Er, cozy."
"Um, we're really just looking t-to leave here as fast as possible." Wirt insisted.
An Old Pumpkin Man held up a cornucopia like an ear phone, "Eh, what, what? Leave Pottsfield? Who wants to leave Pottsfield?"
That was when eerily enough, all the pumpkin folk stop and turn to them, muttering dubiously. The atmosphere had gone terribly tense.
"Oh, are we leaving already?" Greg asks innocently.
"Let's leave immediately!" Beatrice flapped nervously.
"Good call." Haruna said looking around.
The door abruptly shuts bathing them in shadows, and the pumpkin people form a circle around the group, talking amongst themselves.
"They're not supposed to be here..."
"Maybe he's here to steal our crops..."
"To ruin our party..."
Wirt and Beth back up fearfully towards the others.
"Or take off our pumpkin shoes!" Greg interjected, oblivious to the edginess.
"Now, hold on, everybody." A male voice chuckled blithely, "Let's not jump to any conclusions."
It was coming from the rather large maypole, mainly the large pumpkin head at the top.
"Enoch, what shall we do with them?" The Old Pumpkin Man asked.
"Now, let's see here. How did you young ones end up in this little town of ours?" Enoch asked them.
"Well, we were trying to get home." Wirt explained. "We came into town from the woods. Uh, we saw your farms and your houses and thought. 'Hey, here's a normal place with normal people.'"
Beth nods earnestly, "Yes, that's about right."
"And we both stepped on pumpkins." Greg said excitedly.
"Yeah, a-and then we heard the music from the barn, and, well, uh- h-how about we just leave?" Wirt stammered.
Enoch steepled the ribbons he used as hands together a little ominously. "Now, let me get this straight- You come to our town, you trample our crops, you interrupt our private engagement, and now you want to leave?"
"Uh... yes." Wirt answered anxiously.
"You'll never convict! You have no proof!" Greg said with a little too much bravado for the situation.
In alarm, Dana grabs him and covers his mouth. Then the same old pumpkin man came over holding a struggling Beatrice.
"This one's trying to escape!" he declared.
"Let me go! I don't know these clowns!" cried the bluebird furiously.
Enoch addressed the group, "Children, it saddens me that you don't wish to stay here with us, particularly because I simply have to punish you for your transgressions."
"Punish?" Yui gulped.
Beatrice glowered at Wirt, "I told you this place was bad news."
Enoch continued undeterred, "So, by order of the Pottsfield Chamber of Commerce, I find you guilty of trespassing, destruction of property, disturbing the peace, and murder."
"Murder?" Both Wirt and Beth yelped.
"Oh, no, not murder. But for those other crimes, I sentence you to... a few hours of manual labor."
Wirt blinked. "Wait, what? Really? That's it?"
Zaira elbows him. "Let's not push our luck." she said out of the corner of her mouth.
There was no need to have an angry mob chase after them.
And so the group and Beatrice were manacled – complete with ball and chain – were set to work in the fields: raking hay, collecting pumpkins, picking corn. Beatrice looks on disapprovingly, mainly at an equally irked Wirt.
While the boys and the pumpkin villagers weren't looking, Haruna and Dana discreetly used their powers to hurry along some of the work. Perhaps if they do a good job they can leave without any bad reprisals.
Their final task was digging holes next to the cornfield.
"I knew I should've gone as the super-heroine Crimson avenger." Theo grumbled, "I thought I could go looking classy for the night and now I'm paying for it."
Wirt wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, "Just a few hours of manual labor, and we're almost done."
"And then what are you gonna do-" Beatrice asked skeptically, "Just wander around this way and that way through the woods forevermore?"
"Uh... uh- maybe we'll just stay here in Pottsfield. It's nice here."
The girls looked at Wirt as though he'd just turned purple. He can't mean that, surely his family would be worried about him and Greg by now.
He chuckled then sighed, "I don't know. I don't know!"
"Why do they even have you digging these holes?" Beatrice pointed out.
Wirt continued to dig, "Planting seeds or something."
"Well they haven't corrected us yet on that subject so it must be." Beth agreed as she continued using a pick axe.
Haruna reasoned, "Or perhaps they plan on growing some recently acquired fruit trees such as apples."
Beatrice gasped mockingly, "Maybe they're gonna bury you out here."
Wirt scoffs at the idea. Of course they wouldn't.
"Would they?" Yui asks, looking furtively in all directions.
Suddenly Greg yelled, "Hey! Buried treasure!"
"What?" The girls paused in surprise.
"Whoa! Really?" Wirt looked at his brother, "See, Beatrice? What'd you find?"
Greg moved away from the hole to show them. "A skeleton!"
The revelation filled the others with fear and disgust.
"Oh gross!"
"Eek!"
Wirt blanched. "We're digging our own-"
"Nobody panic." Beth tried to calm them, "I-it's probably just a freaky coincidence."
"I-I-I was wrong. I was wrong along. I-I don't know how to get us home." Wirt then looked to Beatrice, "Use your little feet to pick our locks!"
"Oho! Now you want my help?"
Her taunt made him scowl, "I don't want your help-"
Except he was cut off as a slow march approached. Enoch is carried through the cornfield towards them.
"Yes, I want your help! Beatrice, serio-"
"Your time is up!"
The pumpkin people are lined in front of them as Enoch leans forward menacingly.
"Have the holes been dug?"
Wirt stumbled over his words then Beatrice gets his attention. She's tapping at the manacle with the tiny shovel. "Keep stalling!" she hissed to him.
As he and the girls jabbered on abut finding rocks in the holes Beatrice hops to Greg and Dana's hole to pick their lock. Only for them to run off.
"So, what happened to the rocks?" one of the pumpkin men asked Wirt.
"Uh, the rocks. Yeah, they- they were, um, you know... "
The girls turned and paled at what they saw then tried to get Wirt's attention. Yui and Kylie were fairly sure they probably hyperventilating in fear.
It was because the skeleton climbs out of the hole Greg dug earlier.
"They- they... they got in the way of all the- well, the dirt, you know, and..."
"Wirt, look!" Zaira managed to choke out.
He turns and sees the skeleton and shared the girls' shock. "W-whoa! Ohh!"
To their even greater astonishment, the pumpkin people went over to the skeleton greeting it as if it were an old friend.
"Welcome back, Larry!"
"He looks exactly the same..."
"Are you seeing this?" Haruna asked, her cerulean eyes wide.
Larry the skeleton puts on a jack-o-lantern and hops into a larger pumpkin, putting on a costume like the others who cheer him on. A skeleton climbs up next to Wirt and the girls making them scream.
"Edward, this one's for you!"
The second skeleton, Edward, puts on a pumpkin head.
"They're all skeletons." Wirt said as the pumpkin people dance and celebrate
Sara G. then straightened up. "That's it. Theo, question. What are these known for?"
"Oh, no. It's sixth grade all over again. Just give me the 50% which is basically an 'F' and move on."
"Don't you all see? Pottsfield is actually a potter's field. Historically speaking a place for the burial of unknown or impoverished people who couldn't afford marked graves."
Understanding dawned on the others' faces.
"What a wonderful harvest. And what about you? You sure you want to leave?" Enoch inquired them.
"Me? Yes." Wirt answered.
Beth nodded, "Yes, we must."
Enoch shrugged, "Oh well. You'll join us someday... "
As the youngsters watched, Beatrice got their attention from the tall grass. "Psst! Why are you still here?"
"What do you mean? You left us!" Wirt protested.
Beatrice points to her leg with a glare. They look down and see the broken manacles. "Oh."
Without delay, they hurry into the forest. Dana and Greg are playing with the frog, sitting patiently for the others.
"There you are! We were wondering what was keeping you." Dana remarks.
Wirt looked behind them. "Are they chasing us?"
"No."
"I thought you guys-"
Beatrice smiled, "You're welcome."
Wirt bowed his head briefly. "Thank you. I guess we're even now, huh? You're not honor-bound to help us anymore. "
Beatrice sighed, "I wish. But you weren't actually in any danger with those weirdos."
Wirt grinned at the implication of her words, "Oh, yeah! Then you still have to help us get home."
"I got it!" Greg chirped, "I wish Wirt Jr. had fingernails so he could play the guitar better."
"So... yeah. I'll bring you to Adelaide. I mean, that's where I'm going anyway." Beatrice said after a pause.
"Hope she can." Haruna said thoughtfully, "Considering we live a different country than the boys."
"Why are you going to Adelaide's?" Greg asked Beatrice.
And they begin walking down the path under the guidance of the bluebird.
"I guess, in some ways, I'm trying to get home too." she replied.
"That's vague. What does that mean?"
"He's got a point." Zaira added dryly.
"I don't have to tell you anything."
"Well, I sure hope Adelaide is more helpful than that Woodsman was." Wirt comments, "I think his directions were... not very good."
He didn't know how wrong he was.
They were walking through the forest along a stone wall while Greg is singing a song about visiting Adelaide's house after a playful singing dare from Yui and Dana. Beth had to admit the kid did have a knack for making up his own songs.
"Nobody is singing anything anymore." Beatrice disagreed, "And Wirt, keep moving."
"But we have to do something fun." said Greg.
"It would be best so that we can pass the time."
"You know, we really don't. We can just keep walking silently, you know? And-" Beatrice turns to Wirt is tying his shoe again. "Ugh. Wirt, let's go! Come on."
"Sorry, sorry."
Greg insists, "But shouldn't we-"
"Greg, don't you want to be more like your brother?" Beatrice motioned. Next to them Wirt smiled smugly only the following words erased it, "Just always doing what you're told?"
"Huh?"
Inevitably the girls giggled at the look on his face.
"Just a pathetic pushover who relies on others to make all his decisions?"
Wirt interjected indignantly, "Hey! What? I'm not a pushover."
Beatrice held up a wing, "Hold on, Wirt. Let me get to my point."
Wirt scoffs, "Fine."
"This oughta be good." Beth folded her arms wryly.
"See, Greg? No willpower whatsoever."
Wirt scowled, "Hmph!"
Again the girls giggled except this time Wirt glared at them, causing the more demure ones to apologize.
"Or at the very least – passive like Kylie, Sara and Haruna. You need to be more like that."
"I'll pretend we didn't hear the first part." Sara G. rolled her eyes.
Greg frowned a little. "But that doesn't really sound that fun."
"The world is a miserable place, Greg. Life isn't fun."
Greg breathes deeply. "Then I'll do what I need to do, I guess."
"Thank you."
Yui spoke up sounding a little piqued. "Hey, the world may be cruel and wicked, but it's only because of people and creatures that make it that way."
"There are times and there'll be people when the world is not." added Kylie in concern.
Zaira said matter of factly, "And at its cruelest, it's still the only world we've got. Light and dark. Foul and fair, all that jazz."
Beatrice shook her head lightly, "We'll just focus on getting you guys to Adelaide's so I can wash my hands clean of this whole affair. And if you could pick up the pace a bit, that'd be great, okay? Okay?" That's when she noticed Greg has vanished from sight. "Hey, where's Greg?"
"He was here a minute ago." said Kylie.
"Oh. Uh, wandered off, I guess." Wirt shrugged.
Beatrice facepalmed with her wing, "Cheese and crackers!"
"Someone's got to nail that kid's feet to the floor." Theo mumbled then facepalmed herself, "God! I'm getting old!"
Greg, wandering alone through the woods, finds a small school house, yet he steers away from it in disdain because he doesn't want to go to school.
The others soon come across the schoolhouse and peer inside looking for Greg.
"Excuse me?" The schoolteacher addressed them. She looked to be something out of the 1890s Victorian period one of the 'Gibson girls.' She stood in front of the class: the students composed of small farm animals, all dressed in Victorian era human clothes. "Please, take your seat, children. You're late.
"And I'm out." Theo backed out of sight in exasperation.
"Me too!" Yui went after her.
"Wait for me!" Dana was the next to scurry off, leaving the others bemusedly at the entrance.
Kylie looked uncertain, "Uhm, I beg your pardon Miss?"
"You know the rules- 'Once the bell has rung, class has begun.'" said the teacher.
Beatrice said, "Oh, sorry everybody, sorry. No, he doesn't have a brain. He can't learn anything. Let's go, Wirt. Come on." She whistled, "Here, boy."
Wirt looked at her slyly, "What? Did you say something? I can't hear you because I'm too busy doing what I'm told."
He walks in and sits at one of the desks located at the back. The girls only went inside out of courtesy, perhaps after the class they could explain things to the teacher and ask directions.
Beatrice was stunned. "What? What are you all- No, no. Let's go."
"Oh, no. See. I'm a pushover, remember? I have to do what she tells me to do."
Beth actually snickered, "Seriously?"
"And what's your excuse?" Beatrice glanced at the girls.
"We think it best to keep an eye on him." Sara G whispered. "Also it would be very rude to leave after she graciously told us to come inside."
"Ugh. Wirt, your brother and the other girls could be in trouble somewhere."
"Think again." Zaira points outside.
Greg is seen knocking on the window he waves hello cheerily. Then his face falls as he motions to Wirt, the front of the class, and makes a thumbs down. His frog croaks, and Greg cheers and runs with Dana, Yui and Theo to go after him.
Beatrice sighed. "Bluebirds have a short life span. You lot are literally killing me every moment I'm forced to spend with you."
"Oh."
The teacher suddenly chides Wirt mistakenly, "Young man, I will not stand for such nonsense in my classroom. I got enough nonsense from that no good, two-timing, low-down handsome man of mine. Oh, Jimmy Brown, why did you have to leave me so?" she paces to the window. "And now, with my father threatening to close the school, and that wild gorilla on the loose, why, Jimmy, I just have one thing to say… A is for the apple that he gave to me, but I found a worm inside. B is for beloved that I…"
Beatrice rolled her eyes, "Oof. That lady's got some baggage."
Again the teacher scolds Wirt mistaking Beatrice's taut remarks for his own. "What's that? Young man, go to the dunce box."
Wirt didn't really mind though and simply got up to do as he's told. "Oh. Sure, okay."
Beatrice shook her head. "No, no."
The girls simply giggled silently finding their banter just a little bit amusing.
"Now, where were we? Oh, yes. G is for the gentleman I thought he was, when he first said hi…"
Wirt peers out of the dunce box and smiles smugly at Beatrice, who glares at him.
"Oh honestly." Kylie covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Then the bell rang, making the teacher get up from her spot. "Mealtime already? Well, come along children. We don't want to be late for mealtime. My father will be visiting today, and we'll need to be on our best behavior."
Wirt gets out of the dunce box followed by the girls soon they were joined by the others who'd avoided the school.
In the dining room, everyone was served a plate of potatoes. The teacher plays a slow version of Patient is the Night.
"Oh boy! Mealtime! This is way better than being chased by a gorilla." Greg smiled.
"Gorilla? What happened out there?" Haruna asked.
"We'll tell you later." Dana cut off.
The possum beside Greg sniffs the food, takes a bite and groans.
Greg look over. "Aw, what's the matter?" He eats some. "Mm, kind of bland." He notices the student animals look sadly at their food. He looks around and spots a jug of molasses on top of the piano. "Hey! I know what to do!" He goes over to the teacher, "Here, Ms. Langtree. Play something like this." He slams his fists on the keys.
Ms. Langtree looked surprised. "Oh, like this?" And she plays a cheery little tune.
"Mm, good enough." He climbs onto a stool and sings up a song about potatoes and molasses.
The performance features Greg walking across the dining hall tables and passing the bottle of molasses to the different school animals to pour on their potatoes. Many of the school animals started playing instruments to accompany the song. Everyone was starting to enjoy themselves when they were interrupted.
"That's enough!" The shout came from a large, broad-shouldered man. He could only be Ms. Langtree's father.
Ms. Langtree gasps. "Father."
"Is this what I've been paying for?!"
"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Theo mumbled.
Greg looked a little dismayed. "Hey, we just wanted to have a little fun."
Langtree scowled deeper. "I didn't invest in this school for fun. I thought we were trying to do important work here: teaching animals to count and spell."
Ms. Langtree said earnestly, "We are! Oh, please, father, don't close the school. It won't happen again."
"I should say it won't. This… this and this," he snatches all the instruments out the students' grasps, "Are all coming with me. Now send them to bed!"
Ms. Langtree sighed, "You heard Father. Off to bed with you."
"And I thought Professor S was bad." Yui said behind her hand to Haruna.
"I want silence back there!"
Everyone files out of the room. Oddly enough, night had already fallen. The animals, dressed in nightgowns, sadly walk to their beds, sighing and whimpering. The boys and girls follow suit at the end of the line.
"I just wanted to have fun, change the world, and make it a better place. But I just made everything worse." Greg said to his to his frog.
"As someone once said," Kylie consoled him, "You can't right the wrongs of the world all by yourself."
Beatrice acknowledged, "Okay, Wirt, I'll admit it- you seem like a pushover, but you're not."
Wirt glanced up at her from the bed. "Oh?"
"Deep down in your heart, you're a stubborn jerk. When are you gonna give this up?"
"Maybe never." Wirt said with a frown, "Maybe I'll never give this up."
"Are two still at it?" Zaira glared.
Greg brightened. "Hmm… yeah! Wirt's right- never give up!"
"Wait what?" Zaira looked confused.
Greg didn't answer, he only got out of the spare nightgown (which he was wearing over his clothes) then tosses a rope made of sheets out the window.
"Come on, Wirt. Let's go save the day.
"Okay, if you say so."
Beatrice scoffs, practically fed up with Wirt's stubborn insistence to 'do as he's told'.
"Only because there's not much reason for us to stay cooped up in this place." replied Yui.
Finally they were outside the schoolhouse walking along the white picket fence.
"So, what's the plan, Greg?" Wirt asked his brother.
"We're all ears," added Dana.
Greg paused in his racks, "Plan? Ohh, I don't know."
Just then they heard Mr. Langtree lamenting from some bushes. "Ohh! Who would've thought making a primer school for animals was a bad idea?"
Carefully, the group looks over and see Langtree sitting dolefully in a clearing with the instruments.
"My life savings, my home- everything I had went into that dear, dear school. And now I'm forced to sell these instruments just to keep it open." He removes the overcoat, revealing to have small, wiry frame. "All the while that loathsome Jimmy Brown is off gallivanting who knows where! Not to mention that wild gorilla on the loose. If only something would go right for a change." He then curls up under his coat into a deep sleep.
And it gave Greg the idea he needed.
"Okay, I think he's asleep. Let's go steal his stuff."
Wirt and Beatrice looked taken aback, "What?"
Soon enough they found out Greg's plan was to use the instruments in a fundraising concert for the school, complete with stage and all. The girls helped out with a few of them singing, dancing or playing an instrument - a little conjuring up music sheets- to keep it going until they have enough money. Yui and Haruna sang 'A place called forever', a song they'd performed on their school festival two years ago.
Theo, who was already costumed as a gypsy (after all the Romani originated from India), was up next with a song and dance number and some 'magic tricks' meant to captivate.
"Hey soldier boy, I see how you stare. Hey butcher man, I see you admire. Come gather 'round! Hey Jacques and Pierre. Come see me dance, to the rhythm of the tambourine!" She started out balancing a tambourine like a spinning basketball.
Of course she toned down her dancing to make it both catchy and more family friendly.
"Flash of an ankle, flip of a skirt, feel them delight, inflame and inspire. Come see me dance. Hey, what can it hurt? It's just a dance to the rhythm of the tambourine..."
Fortunately, the crowd – most of them looked like something out of the 1890s or 1900s – liked it, some were even clapping along to the beat.
Greg walks through the crowd holding out his teapot for people to put money in, chattering animatedly amongst themselves. A large barrel is already full of coins, and Greg dumps his in.
Mr. Langtree walks out of the bushes looking baffled. "What is this?"
Wirt, who was leaning against a tree enjoying the show replied. "It's a benefit concert for the school."
"Everybody! Before we get old, come feel the heat, come taste the fire! Feel them within you, crimson and gold! Gold like the coins you will toss into my tambourine! When I dance to the rhythm of the tambourine!" Theo finishes by having one of the girls toss the tambourine back to her.
The crowd applauds, several placing coins into the same instrument she's holding out.
"Ah, isn't it grand? All these fine people giving out of the goodness of their hearts. Not like my Jimmy Brown." Ms. Langtree sighed.
Beatrice groaned, "Ohh, here we go."
"All he ever did was steal my heart away…" Ms. Langtree didn't notice the shadow that feel over her until Greg cried out. "Gorilla!"
Ms. Langtree shrieked as the gorilla towered over her, roaring. Before the girls could get down to help, Wirt unexpectedly charges at the gorilla, but trips on his shoelace and knocks the gorilla over. The head falls off making everyone gasp. To their surprise, it was only a blond and handle bar mustache man in a gorilla suit all along.
"Finally."
Ms. Langtree gasped, "Jimmy?"
The man Jimmy Brown said, "That's right, darlin'. I was the gorilla."
"But why did you do it?"
Jimmy admitted "Got a job in the circus so's I could finally buy ya that wedding ring. But when I got stuck in the dang suit, everybody was too doggone scared to help me out."
"Aw, Jimmy. Oh!"
"Darlin'."
They embrace. Everyone cheers, the animals chittering.
Mr. Langtree wiped his eyes with one finger. "I guess the world really is as sweet as potatoes and molasses."
Greg then conducts the band with a reprise of his song, "Oh potatoes and molasses, if you want some…"
Wirt looked up at Beatrice, "So, want to tell Greg and the girls it's time to get going?"
Beatrice declined. "Nah, let him have his fun."
To be continued…
