CHAPTER 18: FARM WORK
It took about another thirty minutes of nonstop driving on the road for the kids to finally reach their very first stop on their trip,and that place was none other than Pierre's own little farm in the countryside as Snoopy parked the car on the side of the road so they kids could get a look at the place before they would get out. Honestly the place looked practically untouched since their last trip,for everything looked just the same like nothing had ever happened,it was just like they had gone back in time to their very first trip. The only thing that looked remotely different was that there were some small farm animals walking around in the yard such as some chickens,ducks and pigs. All of the kids were looking forward to seeing Pierre again,not just so they could see him and see how he was doing after all this time,but also so they could see if he could help out with Ed's search for his mother.
As the gang got out of the car and began to slowly make their way towards the front door,Peppermint Patty wolf whistled at the look of the place and reminisced in awe "Wow,call me impressed,the place looks exactly the same save for a few animals." before Franklin softly sighed and politely retorted as he glanced at some of the animals "I wouldn't know for obvious reasons,but it does look like a nice place regardless." to which Marcie smiled and happily replied in response "From what I remember of me and her staying here,it was pretty nice."
"I bet you also remember the "romance" as well too." Linus chuckled and jokingly asked with hand quotations to which both Marcie and Peppermint Patty lightly blushed at the reminder before the former tried to brush it off as she and Franklin began to hold hands "That was a long time ago Linus,many things have changed since then." which resulted in Patty adding in agreement while she and Franco also held hands "Marcie's right,that was indeed a long time ago,even to the point where I was dumb enough to think that Pierre had the hots for me instead of Marcie."
"T-that sounds straight of a s-soap opera to me." Claudia lightly laughed and playfully stated in response as Skylar promptly nodded his head in agreement before Lucy wondered out of curiosity when she saw how many animals were walking around in the yard "You know I get that this place is a farm and all,but I wonder why there are so many animals out here. Shouldn't there be a barn or a stable?"
"Come to think of it,I do remember there being a barn around here,but it seems that Pierre may have moved it somewhere." Marcie lifted her head up and promptly replied as she looked around the yard only to see that the barn was missing,and in its place was only a few piles of wood and paint to which Eudora shrugged her arms and merely tried to brush it aside "You probably just got a hazy memory when it comes to that. I'm sure Pieree will tell y'all if anything's changed." before Rebecca politely asked once they made it to the front door and knocked on it "So are y'all sure that Pierre will be able to help out with Ed's search? He's got a lot of ground to cover to search for this chateau."
"If Charlie believes he can,I do too." Freida smiled and confidently retorted as she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek to which Peppermint Patty scoffed and firmly insisted in response "This kid knew a lot about some of the local places and such. I'm sure one chateau won't be that big of a hassle for him." before the door suddenly opened to reveal a very familiar face as a boy with short red hair appeared from behind.
"Oh hello you guys! What a surprise!" Pierre happily greeted the kids at the first sight of them as Peppermint Patty quickly grabbed a hold of his hand for a shake and ecstatically greeted him back "Why hello there Pierre,it sure has been a while hasn't it?" to which Marcie smiled and added a little more calm and collected "It's been a long time Pierre,we just felt like stopping by for a quick visit while we were over here."
"It's very nice to see you again Pierre." Charlie Brown chuckled and happily greeted the boy as well before Pierre politely offered in response while Snoopy walked up to him and shook his hand "It is very nice to see all of you again indeed,come on in if you want to! All my farm work is done for the day anyway." to which the group promptly began to make their way inside. Pierre was very quick to notice that there were a lot more people that had come this time,and many of them were people he hadn't even known as he respectfully brought it up while he shut the door behind them "So I see that y'all got an even bigger party this time. And a lot more dogs too."
"Yeah we do Pieree,this whole trip actually came out of left field believe it or not." Charlie Brown smiled and happily stated in response before he pointed at the new kids and introduced them "This is my girlfriend Freida. The youngest one is my sister Sally. Over there is Marcie's boyfriend Franklin along with Patty's boyfriend Franco. There's Linus's sister Lucy along with his girlfriend Eudora. There's Claudia and her boyfriend Skylar,as well as her dog Gracie. The fuzzy dog is Andy,the big one is Olaf and the one with the red bandana collar is Roger. The kid with the eyepatch is Ed and….I don't know if you remember Rebecca too well." to which the boy raised an eyebrow and questioned as he glanced over at the girl in question "Rebecca? Oh yeah I do remember her,from the Fourth of July thing you invited me and Violette to years ago,we tried to teach you a little bit of French but it just wasn't working out well for you." which resulted in the girl blushing a little before Pierre looked around at everyone else and happily continued "I actually remember seeing all of y'all there too,I just don't remember really speaking with a lot of y'all aside from the ones I already knew,however I don't really remember… Ed was it?"
"It's because you don't,I didn't really want to make my presence well known around that time." Ed nonchalantly explained the reasoning for Pierre apparently not remembering him before the boy noticed another kid in a trench coat with his face covered up by a hat along with him strangely enough walking on all fours as he politely wondered due to curiosity and confusion "Who is the crawling kid with the-" only for him to be swiftly interrupted when the kid lifted up his hat to reveal a-
"Wolf?!" Pierre jumped back and exclaimed in shock as Lucy sighed and promptly explained the situation to the boy "That wolf over there is Herman,he's Ed's." before Ed himself calmly added afterwards in an attempt to calm Pierre down "Relax Pierre,he's harmless and very friendly with people. I like to keep him around because I found him when he was an abandoned cub. It's a long story that I'll have to tell you later believe me." and it seemed that this was indeed enough to calm down Pierre a notch as he took a deep breath and cautiously stated "All right,but please watch him or cover him up if he's let outside. I don't want him to be scaring the animals."
"You know speaking of which,what's with all the animals outside anyway? Even for a farm there seems to be a lot of them out there." Franklin perked up and asked out of curiosity at the mention to which Pierre hung his head a little and somberly explained "I see y'all have noticed,it's because there was a pretty bad storm that hit the farm a while ago,and it completely demolished the barn where some of the animals are kept. Unfortunately I haven't been given the time to rebuild the barn because of other farm duties getting in the way,and by the time I'm done with them,I'm way too tired to get started on the barn,and who knows if the animals will even want to get back in at this point?" before Freida frowned and sincerely replied "Aww,sorry Pierre,that definitely seems like too much work to do before you can even get started on the barn."
"You said it,it's like trying to do a batch of chores before you can do your homework. It can't be done!" Sally nodded her head and fiercely added in agreement before Claudia suddenly perked up and politely offered "Wait,w-why don't we help you rebuild it?" to which everyone gasped at the idea and turned to face Claudia before Marcie sighed and respectfully tried to decline the offer "Look Claude,it would be great if we could help out,but we aren't exactly the best when it comes to construction."
"Nuh-uh,Patty once t-told me that y'all rebuilt the whole c-community theater during that one Christmas." Claudia shook her head and immediately debunked Marcie's argument before the brunette perked up and couldn't help but agree with the reminder "Oh yeah,I guess we did,well Pierre would you be willing to accept some help while we're here?" to which the boy sighed and gratefully retorted "I really appreciate the offer Marcie,but honestly it's up to y'all if you want to help out."
"How hard could one barn even be? I'm up for it for the challenge alone." Lucy scoffed and egotistically showed her support for the idea before Peppermint Patty pointed over at the girl and nonchalantly added "What else can I say? She said my reasons before I could even say anything." to which Linus nodded his head and also decided to join in "I mean Pierre is our friend after all,it wouldn't hurt to quickly help him out and such before we hit the road."
"Hey I may not know Pierre,but these hands can work around some wood. I'll help." Ed chuckled and happily decided to help out as well before Charlie Brown smiled and added "Not only that but you have a thing with animals too,you can easily round them up into the barn when we're done." to which the hermit nonchalantly continued while he pointed over at the beagles "That too,and I'm sure some farm dogs could prove useful too. What do you fellers think?" which resulted in Snoopy, Andy, Olaf, Roger and Gracie ecstatically nodding their heads in agreement,ironic coming from Andy and Olaf since they actually used to be farm dogs.
"Well I'd say that's already a big vote among us,let's get this job started." Franco stretched out his arms and cheerfully suggested as he began to make his way outside with everyone else following shortly afterwards aside from Herman while Pierre happily showed his gratitude "Thanks a lot for the help everyone,when we're done we'll sit inside and talk." before Ed cracked his knuckles and enthusiastically stated as he looked at the empty spot of land where the barn used to be "All right,let's get to it!" and the kids immediately proceeded to get work done on the new barn so they could talk to Pierre about the chateau.
Ed:
Raise this barn.
Raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Together we can raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Up,up,up go the beams.
Hammer those joints.
Work in teams.
Turn 'em round quick by the right elbow.
Grab a new partner here we go.
Raise this barn.
Raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Together we can raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Finish the frame.
Recycling wood.
Workin' hard.
You're doin' good,
Turn 'em round quick by the right elbow.
Grab a new partner here we go.
Raise this barn.
Raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Together we can raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Slats of food come off the ground.
Hold 'em up and nail 'em down.
Turn 'em round quick by the left elbow.
Grab a new partner here we go.
Sally:
Look at us we're family.
Charlie Brown:
Workin' togehter thankfully.
Snoopy:
We beagles we are proud to say.
Snoopy, Andy, Olaf, Gracie and Roger:
Stick together the beagle way.
Ed:
Bow to your partner circle right.
Get down if you're scared of heights.
Forward,back and twirl around.
That barn's gonna be the best in town.
Everyone:
Raise this barn.
Raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Together we can raise this barn.
One,two,three,four.
Ed:
Take your brushes young and old.
Together paint it bright and bold.
Turn 'em round quick by the left elbow.
Grab a new partner here we go.
It didn't even take three hours of work for the kids to finally finish up the new barn and round up the loose animals thanks to their teamwork,and they all felt that it was time to take a break as they all began to head back inside.
Everyone:
We raised this barn.
We raised this barn.
Yes we did.
Together we sure raised this barn.
Yes we did.
Bein' together counts the most.
We all came here from coast to coast.
All we need to strive to be is part of the friendly family!
Yeah!
NEXT CHAPTER: DIRECTIONS TO THE CHATEAU
"Raise This Barn." Written By Daniel Ingram.
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