Hop Luck
It was another beautiful day in Amphibia: the sun shone, the wind swayed trees bushes, and giant dragonflies hunted their favorite morsels.
"Aah! Help! Somebody help me!"
It had been a quiet day, and having finished their everyday helping chores, the six human guests in the Plantar house (plus Polly and Sprig, of course) were at the back of the house, enjoying their free afternoon under the warm kiss of the sun.
Marcy was seated at a wooden table, writing and sketching on sheets of paper, which she then placed inside her note book; Jacob, Sasha and James were also seated at the table, and were playing some sort of board game that Sprig and Polly had taught them; Amelia was standing a few feet away, and was using a dried-up old tree as a "puppet" to practice her katana (or rather, she was pretending to practice, as she only knew what she saw from the movies); and Anne, was showing some photos and videos from her phone to her amphibian friends.
"And this bad boy is my kitty, Domino." she said, activating the video and making the Domino on tape meow "You guys would like her: she's got fire."
"Ooh!" Polly exclaimed with wonder "Aw, she's so tiny! I feel huge!"
"I am sure she would see you as huge too." Anne joked.
"Hmm. I will... set her free!" Sprig yelled, suddenly pulling out a hammer, making Anne moves her phone away from him.
"Sprig, please stop doing that! I told you: she's not really inside it: this is just a videotape."
"Huh, what is a videotape?" Polly asked.
"Ok, you remember when we made a photo?"
"Uh…" she looked aside
"It was when you believed this was stealing your souls."
"Oh yeah, that!"
"Basically is like having my phone taping the object in movement, as well as the sounds it makes, so you can see it moving and her its verses just as you would be watching it for real."
"Oh." she nodded in understanding "So, the real Domino…"
"She's still at my home, with my parents, where I used to live before…" she stopped talking, and a lone tear ran over her check "I miss her. And my parents, my home, my…"
"Sh, Anne, it's ok, it's ok." Sprig gently hugged her "The mountains around the valley will not stay impassable forever; before you know it, it will be possible to travel outside, and we will help you find out how to return home. All of you." he underlined, his voice full of determination.
"Thanks Sprig" she smiled again, returning the hug. Even Sasha and Marcy, from the table, smiled as they heard those words.
"So…" Polly asked, "Why do you keep such animals in your houses? You fatten them up before eating them?"
"What? No!" Anne protested "They're pets: they're creatures we keep in our lives to make our daily lives more bright and happy."
"She's right," Sasha said, looking away from the game "Back in our world, many people like to have small animals to take care of."
"Did you have a Domino too?" Sprig asked the blonde girl
"No, I was too busy with my social life to be able to proper take care of a pet. Besides, even if I did, I always has been more of a dog person."
"I always wanted a pet" Marcy added "But my parents never allowed me to keep one: they said I was not responsible enough to keep one."
"And you?"
"I used to have a couple of turtles once" James said "But in end, I grew bored of it."
"I once wanted to pet a snake." Jacob admitted.
"A SNAKE?" Sasha, Anne, Sprig and Polly exclaimed at the same time with fear in their voices.
"Yeah. Not a poisonous one, of course: just a small one, for the novelty of it."
"I confirm" Amelia said "When his mom found out, she bought him a book that explained in detail how much care a snake needed, every day. And he dropped the idea."
"Hey, it would have been cool nonetheless."
"At least, you did not tried for a spider."
"Huh, Anne, how could someone like Jacob wish for a snake or a spider as a pet?" Sprig looked at him puzzled "I mean…do you remember the snake we saw, back at the lake?"
"Oh, right" she shrugged, remembering the giant carnivorous lizard that almost killed them "Well, let's say that earth snakes and spiders are not like Amphibia's: they are smaller, so even Polly would be bigger than most of them."
"Wait, for real?" the pollywog gleamed.
"This is something we have seen since we are here," Marcy said, stopping for a second to add notes "In comparison to our world, many creatures that we can see in both worlds are way bigger here than from where we came from: bugs, reptiles, frogs…"
"Wait a moment, frogs?" Sprig asked, "There are frogs in your world too?"
"Yes, of course" Marcy said.
"And…how are frogs in the world where you lives?"
Marcy stopped, thinking what to say: what could they tell them, that frogs were insentient creatures living in swamps and dirty water pools, that humans universally considered them ugly, disgusting creatures and mostly used for vivisection experiments at school?
Luckily(?) for them, a strange stinky smell wafted into the clearing, reaching their nostrils and making them forget the question.
"Ugh!" Sasha said, covering her nose, "Did a sewer burst?"
"Gaaah, that's disgusting!"
"This is even worse than my stink bombs from school!"
"What is that?" Anne asked, trying to block the smell from her nostrils "Did something crawl under the house and die?"
Sprig sniffed the smell, and a terrible realization hit him: he already knew what this smell was, and both he and Polly were familiar with it.
"Worse, Anne. Much worse. Hop Pop …is cooking!"
Polly released a scream, and Sasha and Amelia's faces filled with dreads. They all were aware of Hop Pop's poor cooking skills, by now, but this did not make the tough more pleasant.
In silence, Marcy put her notebook to safety, the boys put the game on hold and Amelia leased back her katana; then, they all moved to the door.
"Brace yourself, everyone."
"Brace ourselves for wha-" Sasha started to ask, before Sprig opened the door, and the whole smell still inside the farm was released in one go, with so much strength that Sprig was flown away. Sasha, Anne and Jacob desperately used their free hands to cover both their noses and mouths, Marcy felt tears leaking out of her eyes, Amelia looked away, and James hold his breath.
"That's not cooking!" Sasha lamented, once the strongest smell was gone, "That's a chemical weapon!"
"A garbage dump is fragrant by comparison!"
Inside the farm house, Hop Pop was slicing live insects and other ingredients of dubious taste, then mixing them all together in a large pot (from which the nefarious smell continued to emerge), a large recipe book open on the table. As the humans peeked from the doorway, Sprig stepped forward, while Hop Pop sampled the contents.
"What's the plan this year, Hop Pop? Poison the competition?"
"If it's a poison you're making, I'd say you're on the right track," Sasha added, gripping her own nose tightly with her fingers, "Whatever it is, smells lethal even from here!"
"No." replied Hop Pop, lightly tapping Sprig on the head with the wooden tasting spoon "The plan is to win."
"Win?" Anne asked, as she and Marcy moved on the kitchen.
"Yes! The annual village potluck. You see, every year we frogs gather for a great contest, and every family brings a dish. The family who brings the best-tasting dish is showered with love and copper coins." he explained, showing some portraits of frogs, all of them with a banner saying "Grand Prize" behind them, and a large trophy nearby "The family with the worst-tasting dish spends the night in... the shame cage!"
He pointed outside, and the humans saw it: a square cage, made of wood and metal, with some mushrooms growing on its roof and a sign with the inscription "SHAME" on the front, which was hoisted up a tree by a frog with a black hood.
"Brutal," commented Anne.
"Tremendous" Jacob echoed her.
"Stupid" announced Sasha.
"And guess which family ends up there every year." Sprig said, and all three the Plantars sighed.
"What?" Marcy asked, "You end up in that cage every year?"
"Every time we participate to the potluck, we end up last, and we have to endure the night in the cage."
"And you never win?" Amelia asked, puzzled "You do not even manage to end in any other position but last?"
"Every time the potluck is here, I strive to make a dish better than ever." Hop Pop answered her, with sadness "But we always end up losing to everyone else."
"So, if nothing changes even this year…" Polly started
"…we'll have to endure the humiliation of the cage once more." Sprig sighed again "I just wish, for once, we would be spared of it."
Anne, Marcy and Sasha looked at each other, determination forming on their faces. The Plantars took them in, and gave them a shelter and food (even if a very poor one) when all the rest of the townsfolk wanted to run them out with torches at pitchforks. The idea that they would have to spend a whole night in shame, just because of some poor cooking skill, was…infuriating, to say the least.
"You will." Sasha replied, her voice full of willpower.
"Huh, Sash?" Sprig said, looking at her expression "Don't worry, is ok: we are used to it. Besides, what's difference there is between this year and the previous ones?"
"We!" Anne said, punching the table "If you think I'm going to let our favorite froggy family end up in a dumb cage, you've got another thing coming. I may not be technically a Plantar family members, but I can help."
"And so can I!" Marcy supported her "After you guys taking care of us, we are not going to just stay and watch. We'll do everything we can to help you!"
"Marcy…" Hop Pop started to speak, before being cut off.
"I'm in" Sasha said, her voice now equally-part anger and determination "While you cooking may lack skills, being put in such a cage to be humiliated and have gawk at you is no way a proportionate answer. Plus, I would never, NEVER allow people that I live with to be losers: You're going to be a winner, because that's what we say!" she shook her first, as preparing for a battle.
"I'm in too!" Jacob roared "Helping you guys is a good reason enough, but to actually help you get the last laugh on those obnoxious jerks? We are going to make a dish so delicious, everyone is going to kneel before you!"
"Kneel?" Polly asked. While their speeches looked a little unrealistic, she liked that word.
"On my honor" Amelia intervened "I'll do everything I can to assure you'll not end up last place this year, Hop Pop!"
"Then we are all in agreement" James spoke for last "I'm not very good with cooking, but I want to help too, so whatever I can do, I will."
"Guys, we'd sure appreciate it." Sprig said, his eyes once again full of optimism.
"Plus, we do have an expert here" Sasha said, nodding at Anne "Boonchuy's the most expert into cooking among us: her parents own a restaurant!"
Hop Pop gasped "For real?"
"Well, yes" Anne shrugged "Sure, is not a big place, however…"
"Not a big place? Are you kiddin me?" Jacob smiled at her "It's the most popular restaurant of the neighborhood!"
"Yeah: the dishes your family did were delicious and much loved." Marcy gleamed "You have steady customers!"
"I went then whenever I could" Jacob confessed "Even if I tried to not make myself recognizable."
"I went there too," Amelia said, before backpedaling "I mean, before your parents banned me for life…"
"They didn't ban you for life, Amelia!" Anne glared at her in frustration "They banned you just for a week, and that's because you took out your shoes on the shop and remained barefoot."
"Anyway" Sasha continued, "I do believe Boonchuy here is the best expert we have available so far in cooking skills: how about put her experience to use?"
"Huh, sure Sash" Anne replied looking at the cauldron "So, what were you making over there, Hop Pop? Sock gumbo?"
"No, silly." he said, showing her a book with some kind of snail-soup and the title "Ye Olde Ways" on the cover "It's a traditional recipe from my family's cookbook: we have been using this baby ever since I was a pollywog."
Anne took the book and opened it, while Sasha and Marcy peeked from behind. After a few seconds (and a couple of disgusted expression from the other two girls) Anne spoke up again.
"Ok, even if my experience is limited to making sauces and cutting vegetables or meat…I think I found your problem, guys."
The Plantars gasped "And …what is it?"
"In a short and concise way … Old things are dumb!" she threw the book behind her, while Marcy quickly grabbed it
"Oh, that makes sense."
"It's all so clear now."
"But we Plantars have always cooked these recipes!" Hop Pop protested.
"And did any of them ever end up winning, or at least, not last place?" Sasha looked at him.
"Well…no?"
"You just answered yourself"
"But what would my great-gam-gam say?"
Sasha, Jacob, Anne and all the humans looked back at a portrait of a very, VERY old frog knitting a large blanket. On the blanket, it was written "TRADITIONS MEANS EVERYTHING."
"She'd say "Move on."" Anne turned to Hop Pop.
"And fast" Sasha added
Hop Pop sighed, "She was a fierce woman."
"OK then, brainstorm time!" Anne announced "If we're going to win this thing, we need something new, something revolutionary, something no one in the swamp has ever seen before."
"It must be something that it can be done with ingredients we can gather here," Marcy suggested "Things we can find…without too much trouble."
"Also, to avoid unnecessary risks due to difficult cooking procedures" James intervened "It must be something easy to cook: just put in, time it, and take it out."
"Since many meats we know from our world are not available, I suggest it must be something made with vegetables or not-meat products" Amelia raised her hand.
"It has to have a good taste, to amaze the jury at the very first bite."
"Savory and delicious."
"Crunchy and charming."
The humans stopped, and grinned at the same time. They all had the same idea, at the same time.
"We have it!" Anne announced, taking her phone and putting out a photo "Here it is…the pizza."
"Whoa" Sprig said, looking at the image with appetite.
"I don't know what it is, but I love it." Polly gleamed all over it.
"Pizza is the ultimate dish. You haven't lived until you've shared one with your friends at the mall." Anne said looking at Sasha and Marcy, who nodded in approval.
"Or tasted one after a long day at school" Jacob gleamed "I can eat pizza in every place, any time, any day, with every tipping all over it."
"One, if not the most popular dish in the world: good, classic, tasty, fast to cook and cheap to make. The perfect combination" James nodded "Thank you, Italy."
"Now, now, hold on." Hop Pop protested, holding on his family's recipe book "Before we get carried away, what about this tried-and-true recipe? Swamp mold pot pie!"
The recipe had an image with it, and it was so hideous, that Sasha and Anne grimaced (again).
"Pizza! Pizza!" Polly and Sprig started to chat in unison.
"Okay, okay" Hop Pop conceded "Sheesh."
"We'll win for sure with this, Hop Pop."
"We'll see. How many ingredients does this "pizza" has, by the way?" he asked.
"Well, this is the thing" Anne explained "Pizza is also a heavily customizable dish, so the main basic ingredients are just four: dough, cheese, basil…and tomatoes."
"Wait a second" Hop Pop's eyes rang in alarm "Did you say tomatoes?"
"Huh, yeah" Anne asked "Why, is there something wrong?"
"Sure there is!" Hop Pop said, opening the book again "They're in the "dangerous vegetables" section. Look here."
Marcy moved forward, and indeed saw that, under the image of the tomato, there was a large "DANGER!" warning.
"Tomatoes…" Anne started.
"…dangerous?" Sasha asked "For real?"
"Yes" Hop Pop replied calmly "I do not know how tomatoes are in your world, but here they are large carnivorous plants, known to eat passerby bugs…and even frogs, if they're unlucky enough to get too close. The books suggests we go for prunes instead: can't go wrong with prunes!"
The humans looked at each other, as they tried, unsuccessfully, to imagine a carnivore tomato plant. Sasha, meanwhile, grimaced mentally at the idea of using prunes on a pizza.
"Well," James suggested "We can just cut off the tomatoes: we can still make a delicious pizza with just cheese and basil."
"But then it wouldn't be a real pizza!" Sasha replied.
"I have an idea;" Marcy said "So far, three of the ingredients are safe to get: I suggest we gather them first. Then, we go and check the tomatoes: if we cannot get them safely, we can try a tomato-less pizza recipe."
"How about we simply replace them with prunes?" Hop Pop suggested.
"Thank you, but no" Sasha inferred.
"Oh, oh!" Sprig raised his hand "Maybe we should put pineapple on it. Seems like a natural-"
However, he could not finish his sentence, as Anne quickly grabbed him and pinned him against the wall.
"Don't you dare talk about pineapple on pizza. Ever! Ok?"
"O-ok?" he simply said, for the first time genuinely scared of her.
"Okay. Let's go get those ingredients. Pizza dreams!" Anne went back to smiling, walking out.
"W-what was that?" Sprig asked
"Just a word of warning, Sprig, but putting pineapple on a pizza" Sasha said, before grabbing Sprig too and holding against the wall, just like Anne a few seconds before "is a heresy that transcends into abomination. Don't you dare ever again suggest such a thing in front of Boonchuy...or me."
"Ok ok, I understand!" Sprig replied, his voice full of fear.
"Good." Sasha murmured, dropping him and following Anne outside.
"Huh, for a second I was really scared." Sprig commented, sweeping his forefront.
"Sasha has always been a really assertive person. Anyway, you should call yourself lucky, because if Sash or Anne-banana do not kill you" she grabbed Sprig for the third time in the last 5 minutes "I will, the next time you dare to nominate pineapple on a pizza!"
"You made yourself crystal clear."
She moved her fingers, giving him a "I'm watching you" signal. Then, Sprig looked at the remaining humans.
"You want to tell me something too?"
"You already know" Amelia, Jacob and James all said, in ominous voice.
The first ingredient on the list was the dough, so the small group quickly headed for the local bakery, a place Marcy knew well, since her magic teacher lived in there.
"Knock Knock," Marcy made, sticking her head inside.
"Marcy!" said Maddie turning around "I wasn't expecting you here today."
"It's a...surprise visit..." replied the human scratching the back of her head as Sasha, Anne and the Plantars entered the store.
"Wow!" came a voice that none of the girls recognized.
"They really are monsters!"
"And very ugly ones, too!"
Sasha again assumed an annoyed expression, looking around to see who had spoken. It was then that three pollywogs of light blue, dark blue and pale purple skins appeared into her view.
"Hello Polly," the three said, greeting her.
"Ugh, hello girls," she replied with a bored air.
"Rosemary, Lavender, Ginger," Maddie said with an annoyed expression, "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be upstairs."
"We wanted to see the monster you tamed. Is it true you hypnotized him with a spell?"
"Okay, point one, we are not monsters!" retorted Sasha "And point two, Marcy is not hypnotized."
"She is my master," said the Taiwanese-American girl in a solemn voice, "It is because of her that I was able to enter the world of magic."
"Whoa!" all three of them wondered, "You're teaching her magic?"
"Yes, and she's quite a good student. By the way, Marcy" Maddie added, with a mischievous smirk "I should …thank you for the book you borrowed me. These little three rascals have something to say about it…"
"Wait, wait" the one of the three that was called Rosemary said, "You're…that book…"
"You talking about Cynthia Coven? Did you read it?" Marcy gasped.
Maddie smirked again, "These little three are quite interested into…"
"Hopediah Plantar" said a gruff, adult voice and a large, blue frog who was Maddie's father (as well as Wartwood's resident baker) "This is quite a surprise: what brings you in my shop?"
"Happy to see you too, Farine" Hop Pop replied "It's for the annual pot luck: the girls" she glanced at Anne, Sasha and Marcy "proposed we try a different recipe this time, and we might need an ingredient."
"A different recipe? I guess it is time, after all" the baker frog chuckled "I lost the count of the time you and your family ended up in that cage, since you took over the family's cooking. It has been just after…" he trailed off.
"No need to talk about the past," Hop Pop replied, sadness in his voice "Can you provide us with some fresh dough?"
"Sure thing, Hopediah" he smiled, starting to get at work "However, I must remind you: just because we are friends, that does not mean I can give this to you for free."
"We are aware" Sasha sniped "So, what is your price?"
"If you want the dough," he said, looking at sprig "the boy has to marry my daughter."
"What?" Sprig asked.
"What?" Maddie echoed him.
"What?" Anne, Marcy and Amelia said, in the same tone.
"Wha- for real?" James and Jacob looked at each other.
"What." Sasha yelled.
"Huh, excuse me, mister Flour" Marcy intervened "but isn't this a very … peculiar request?"
"What do you mean?" the baker frog grumbled.
"It means that usually, in our world, when you buy dough or bread" Sasha intervened "they ask you for money, not to marry off their daughters."
"Wait, about the issue with money…" Hop Pop started
"So, I guess there are two cases" Sasha brushed him off "Either Sprig is the best love-match in the whole valley and didn't know it…"
"I am?" Sprig looked at Polly, incredulous.
"Nah" she replied.
"…or you're somehow desperate to marry her. But why you would need to do something like that: she is cute!"
"I am?" Maddie asked.
"Well, yes: maybe it does not show yet, but give yourself a couple of years and your beauty will surely bloom. Also…are arranged marriages still a thing in here?"
"What do you mean? It's one of the most common ways to get married of the whole Amphibia" Hop Pop protested, "I got married that way too!"
"You don't have them in…whatever you came from?" Mr. Flour looked all over the humans.
"Sorry Mr. Flour" Marcy intervened "But arranged marriages are no more a thing in our world."
"Not in this century" Sasha grimaced.
"Uh, dad?" Maddie looked at him "Not that I'm against it, but why all of sudden?"
"It's not like that. It's just that…since your mother…" he looked down, and Marcy could see tears running down on his cheeks "…I've been wondering about you and…"
"Let me guess" Anne smiled "You want grandchildren."
"How do you know?" he looked at her with amazement.
"Believe me; this is something every parent feels. Our families too had…some issues in the past about that."
"Still, Mr. baker" Sasha spoke back again "While we can understand why you want to be sure your daughter has an happy life, why don't you simply give her more time before starting to talk about romance? Usually, getting a career comes before making a family…"
"Plus, if you agree" Marcy nodded "We can offer you an even better deal?"
"And what that would b-"
"Me" Marcy smiled "I am already your daughter's disciple, but if you give us what we need, I will agree to come and help in any way I can. We already help Hopediah with various household and farm works, so I also have some experience. Furthermore, not that I overestimate myself, I should be able to give yours daughters the beginning of a scholar education."
"Dad, she is the one of the book!" Lavender said, "The one Maddie was reading us last night."
"I have so many questions for you: how will Cinthia learn to use the peck?"
"Why is the magic hat so grouchy?"
"What is a hippogriff?"
"Girls, calm down!" said Maddie interposing herself between them and Marcy "As you can see...they are very fond of the book you lent me. I guess I have you to thank after all-I never thought my sisters would have any interest in magic."
"It's not a problem: I'll be glad to answer all their questions...next time I visit."
Farine looked at Marcy, Maddie, and her sisters: they looked so... happy together. Could it be that this monster, or whatever it was, could have such a positive effect? Part of him was still doubtful, and feared for his daughters' safety, and yet...just seeing such a scene, he felt his heart warming.
My wife would be so happy to see such a scene...
"All right," he said, trying to hide his emotions, "I'll get you the dough, and Sprig won't have to marry my daughter, but you," he said, looking at Marcy, "will have to come here and help us with the housework, at least two days a week, and help Maddie take care of her sisters."
"I would be honored," Marcy said, nodding.
Once the dough was safely acquired, the gang moved on the next ingredients: to save time, since there were nine of them, they divided into three small groups: two would get cheese and basil, while the third would meanwhile gather information about tomatoes, and where they could find some nearby.
Sasha, Amelia and Polly would take care of the cheese. Luckily for them, Hop Pop had been able to recommend a good place for them to get it: the store of Miss Croaker, an old friend and acquaintance of his, who could supply them with cheese in exchange for some small jobs.
Although, in hindsight, Sasha should have inquired more about what little job she would ask of them.
"Ahhh!" the girls ran screaming, as a giant, fierce cow-pillar chased them furiously.
"Thanks again for helping me out!" Miss Croaker said as they passed nearby to her "I know Brutus can be a handful."
"Remind me" Sasha yelled, "Why are we here for again?"
"Cheese!" Amelia yelled back at her.
"Move your legs!" Polly said from on top of Sasha's head "It's getting closer."
"Sasha, look!" Amelia pointed at some kind of plant that had large, bright red leaves "Corrida?"
"Corrida!"
"What is a corrida?" Polly asked them.
The girls did not reply, instead running to the plant and ripping a large red leaf each, shaking and waving them like matadors' capotes.
"Hey, Brutus! Over here, buddy!"
"¡Toro! ¡Toro!"
The huge cow-pillar snorted, seeing the red leaves, and charged bull-style: the girls jumped on the side as the large insect charged back straight on his pen, and Sasha looked it from behind.
"Done…" Sasha finally said, taking the opportunity to catch her breath.
"I can cross out "fight a large bull-like creature in a corrida" off my to-do list." Amelia smiled in turn.
"Here you go, dearies" Miss Croaker approached them, a large chunk of cheese in her hands "A hunk of cheese made fresh from the milk of those ca-"
"Ugh, no please!" Sasha said, "Please don't tell us where that comes from."
"Sorry Miss Croaker, but we like to stay … blissfully ignorant on it"
She chuckled "I can understand your thinking. Anyway, thank for the help, girls."
Sasha and Amelia grabbed the cheese "Now, our part is done: let's go back with the others."
"Uh, girls" Polly asked, "Can you tell me what that corrida you talked about is?"
"Huh…"
"Hey, you ugly fat aphids!" Jacob called out, gaining the attention of the large bugs "You are ugly you know? You are the ugliest creatures of the whole Wartwood!"
The aphids could not understand English speaking, but seeing that unknown creature calling out on them and bothering them, they roared and rushed toward him, as Jacob dashed away, the large bugs running behind him.
"Now!" Anne said, and both her and Sprig darted out of their hiding place, running the basil that the aphids were guarding until a few seconds before "Grab as much as you can: we do not know much time Jacob can distract them!"
"Come on, Swindtog" Hop Pop said, looking at the green frog in front of him "You know I don't have much money these days..."
"If that's the case, you don't have much money at any time of the year, Hopediah Plantar," replied the other "Pass that you bring these...creatures all the way into my store," he said, looking at Marcy (browsing the titles of the books on the shelves) and James (leaning against the wall) "and pass that you, for some unknown and senseless reason, need a map to know where to find tomatoes, which as you know are a dangerous and useless plant...but I can't give you credit. Look at the sign."
So he said, and pointed to a sign hanging to his right, which read "WE GIVE CREDIT: TOMORROW." Hop Pop had seen it before, and he knew it was just a sarcastic, almost ironic way that no credit was ever given in the store ("tomorrow, not today," Swindtog liked to repeat to anyone who fell for it).
"But what do you expect me to do? Trade my favorite dentures for the map?"
"Well, if it's a serious offer…"
"Hey, James, look at this," said Marcy pointing to a volume on the shelves. James stepped forward and saw that the volume was titled…
"A Midspring Toady Night's Dream?" he read out aloud.
"You interested?" Swindtog looked at him, smelling a sale.
"Actually, I already know the original, you know it? A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare?"
Swindtog opened his eyes wide, "That's not true! I wrote all of those books myself! With my own hand, blood and tears! Who is that copycat?"
"Uh, one of the greatest writers and playwrights from where I come from?" James replied, "And he has been writing such a work for almost five hundred years."
"F-five hundred years? B-but no! That absolutely fal-"
"Eh, look, these titles resemble many novels and books we know," Marcy did, pointing to others "Mody Snail, the Great White Snail; Ottoad; The Little Newt..."
"All right, all right!" said Swindtog, raising his hands, as if to signal the two humans to stop "I'll give you the map, and I won't ask for anything in return; but you promise not to say anything!"
"What?" snapped Marcy.
"What?" echoed Hop Pop.
"Take away one curiosity though: how did you knew out that all the books I sell, are just unauthorized, illegal copies of other books? How do you beasts even know of Snakespear's work anyway?"
"Huh, it was quite plain?" James said, trying to hide his surprise as well.
Later, the three small groups gathered just outside Wartwood, to show off the result of their missions and discuss what to do.
"Here is the cheese," said Sasha with a note of pride, "It cost us effort and danger, but we did it!"
"And here we have basil" Anne put on a display of green leaves "to get it, we only had to face a horde of giant aphids to get it."
"Correction: I had to a horde of giant aphids" Jacob said still feeling numb, frowning "You and Sprig just had to pick the leaves while I gave you the opportunity."
"You know, the recipes of the book do not includes ingredients so dangerous to gather…"
"This is the price of progress, Hop Pop" Sprig emphasized "Plus, we did manage to gather all of them without too much trouble."
"Yep." Amelia nodded "And Polly might have found…a new idea for a job, for when she grows up."
"Hey, being paid to fight large bullworms and slaughter them? This surely looks like a dream…" she gleamed.
"Anyway, we just need only more ingredient: the tomatoes" Marcy nodded "And thanks to this map, we know there is a place nearby where tomatoes naturally grows!"
"Wait a moment" Hop Pop called out "Before we moves, are you sure we absolutely needs them? There are still many other options that…"
"Oh, come on old guy" Sasha called him out "We already faced many dangers today."
"Thought, the fact that they say here tomatoes are a carnivorous plant is worth some safety" Jacob recoiled "Hey, Amelia?"
"What is it?"
"I never thought I would be in need to say these words, but…we might require your skill as samurai."
Amelia lightened up: before coming here, Jacob has always scoffed at her passions and dreams, and now, he actually respected them enough for require her skills?
"What do I need to do?"
"Take the bag with everything we have gathered so far. Bring them at the farm and watch over them" Jacob said, "Even if we are unable to bring tomatoes back, there are still quite some pizza recipes we can actually use; but if we lose all the ingredients, then everything is lost. So, please, keep them under your guard, and do not stray your sight until we return: our honor…is in your hands…"
Amelia jerked up, and quickly, made a Japanese kneel "I'll defend them with every strength of my body, and even with my own life if needed!" she vowed, grabbing the backpack with all the three ingredients they had gathered and rushing away the farm.
It took a few seconds before someone spoke up again.
"So…you basically successfully conned your own cousin in return back home and miss the adventure?" Sasha looked at him.
"Yup! Always work like a charm! Mom even uses it sometimes, to convince her to keep her room clean."
"You weren't wrong though." Marcy pointed "Securing the ingredient instead of taking the risk of losing them all is a good idea."
"Oh, stop being such crybaby guys" Sasha waved her hand "These are just tomatoes: even if in this world they eat bugs, how dangerous they could be in fact? Come on!"
Sasha, Anne, Marcy, Jacob, James, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly looked with horror at the huge, monstrous tomato plants in front of them, roaring like a dinosaur: the fact that the tomatoes in this world were carnivorous plants was troubling in itself, but Hop Pop's book had not specified how large these tomatoes could be, nor their evident ferocity.
The tomato plant in front of them, in this case, was at least five or six meters tall, and many of the tomatoes that were visible were as tall as humans, if not taller. Nevertheless, that was not the scariest part: three of the largest tomatoes were equipped with mouths, teeth and tongues, and they moved with ferocity, emitting roars worthy of a Tyrannosaur. It was a clear signal to move away and not return, accentuated by a giant dragonfly, which came too close to one of the tomatoes and was devoured in one single bite, some fragments of it falling in front of the boys.
"Ho-"
"-Ly-"
"-Tomato."
"It's much bigger and aggressive than expected," Jacob said, wiping his forehead.
"This one definitely deserves more than a warning in my note book," Marcy said in a voice full of fear, while quickly sketching the monstrous plant and entering a written description.
One of the big tomato "heads" ducked, and growled at the small group, making their blood run cold in their veins.
"Uh, I don't know about you," James made, "but suddenly, I'm leaning more toward a white pizza. You know, the kind you don't need tomato for?"
"Yes! In fact, Mom often tells me not to overdo with tomatoes," Jacob added, "They're bad for your health."
"You know" Hop Pop spoke "this baby's got some great substitutes for tomatoes, all of which are delightfully harmless and easy to find."
"Couldn't hurt to hear a few options…" Sprig nodded
"Stop were you are!" Sasha moved to block their retreat "Don't tell me you want to give up, just a few meters from the finish line?"
"And you call these" Jacob pointed at the monster tomato "a few meters?"
"Guys, Sasha is right" Anne replied "The shame cage isn't just in the town square: it's up here." she pointed at her brain "you are not going to change the world without taking a few risks. We need to be bold, groundbreaking, and brave!"
"Anne, there's a big difference between courage and stupidity!"
"Plus" Jacob pointed out "how about we think of a plan before…"
But the discussion proved treacherous as the tomato, taking advantage of the fact that no one was keeping an eye on him, stretched a tentacle up to them, grabbed Jacob by the pelvis and brought him up to himself.
"Help!" cried the boy, but before anyone could react, the monstrous tomato swallowed him in one mouthful.
"Jacob!" screamed the others seeing the scene.
"Let him go!" Sasha shouted launching herself on the attack: bad move, as another tentacle of the plant grabbed her and made her end up the same way.
"Sasha!" shouted Anne, before a tentacle grabbed her as well.
"Run!" Hop Pop yelled, but it was too late. One by one everyone was grabbed by the tentacles and dropped into the monstrous mouth: first Hop Pop, then Polly, then James, then Sprig. Some struggled to free themselves from the tentacles, trying to grab the ground in desperation, but to no avail.
Marcy was the last. The shock and horror of seeing her friends being devoured alive prevented her from noticing that a tentacle was approaching her as well, until she felt a grip freeze her and lift her off the ground, lifting her up to above the giant mouth.
Is this the end of us? Eaten alive by a monstrous tomato?
Then the tentacle let go, and the girl fell last in its jaws.
Sasha, Anne, Jacob, forgive me for bringing you here...
Luckily, the tomatoes did not chew, so they all fell down its throat, unharmed and alive. Seeing that the throat passage was quite narrow, Jacob pushed his feet, trying to slow down his descent. He was successful for a few seconds…before Sasha and the others landed on him, making him lose the grip and fall even deeper on the throat of the beast. By instincts, they pushed on their own stopping the fall just a couple of seconds before the throat ended in the stomach.
Since Sasha and Jacob were eaten first, they were on the bottom, pushing against each other at full strength to avoid fall down in the stomach; Anne just above them, with Hop Pop grabbing on her; then Polly, blocked by Anne's legs, and then James and Sprig. Marcy, the last one, was above everyone else, but the situation was quite dire already.
"Holy smokes!" yelled Hop Pop looking down on some yellow, boiling liquid where bones of previous meals laid, dissolving "Acid!"
"That must be the plant's digestive fluids" Anne said, "Something I absolutely DID NOT wished to see with my own eyes."
"Jacob, Sasha, Anne!" Marcy cried out "Are you alive?"
"For now" Sasha replied "But I guess we will not be for much longer…"
"Marcy, do you wrote something on that notebook of yours that can help us?!"
"Huh, let me check…" she took it, but as the giant tomato's throat shacked, she lost the grip on the book.
"MY NOTEBOOK!" she cried.
"I got it!" Jacob grabbed the book before it could fall into the acid "But I can't read it without falling down!"
"Can you pass it back?"
"Negative, I can't move!"
"Wait, Amelia is waiting for us, right?" Marcy suggested, "If she notices we are not returning…"
"It'll be at least an hour before she starts having doubts, and before she can do anything we'll be as good as digested!"
"At least it'll be a quick, painless death…" Sprig suggested
"Why would this be painless?"
"Just let me have this lie!"
"I've already died three times in the stomach of a giant beast in fantasy role-plays" Marcy cried "I didn't think I would die like that for real, too."
"Boonchuy" Sasha said, "Before we die, I want to tell you, I'm sorry for emotionally blackmailing you into skipping school on your birthday!"
"No, Sasha, I'm the one who should apologize," Anne replied, looking at the Plantars, "My revolutionary ideas were supposed to make you win, not get you killed. I should not have so stubborn: I just… really wanted to share a pizza with you all."
"Anne, I would be gladly hug you for these words" Jacob nodded "if not for the fact that we'll fall to our death the moment I lose my grappling."
"Ah, I didn't care about that pizza stuff anyway." Hop Pop confessed
"What?" Anne, Marcy, Sasha and Jacob said at the same time.
"Yes, actually I had been resigned to last place like usual since years. However, you all were really trying to help this family out, like real Plantars."
"You-you are saying this for real?" Anne said, tears of emotion rolling all over her cheeks.
"Yes" he replied, "This is surely worth something in my book."
"Book? The book!" James lightened up "Hop Pop, that's it! Is there anything in your old book that could help us right now? Maybe something this tomato is allergic to or how to make it vomit us?"
"Well, I don't know. I should check, but I can't move my arms."
"Pass here!" Marcy said, grabbing the large book and starting to check it "Sorry guys, there is nothing like that in here. Just some more warnings and a small note that says that the throat of this giant tomato plant is absolutely delicious if eaten raw."
The eyes of everyone widened, and they looked at each other with large grins. All of them realized the same idea, at the same time.
On the outside, the tomato burped, before looking down, feeling uneasiness in his stomach: a second later, the uneasiness grow, and it started to feel like it got stomachache. Then, a gurgling sound came, and a human hand ripped part of his throat, before Anne, Sasha, Marcy and Jacob poked out, eating an opening in the tomato, quickly imitated by the others, creating hole large enough to spill out.
"Now!" Marcy said, and all of them rushed outside, as the digestive liquid from the tomato's stomach spilled on the ground, burning it. The tomato, his throat and stomach ripped, left one last desperate roar before dropping down, dying.
"Know your place, plant!" Polly spat on it.
"We are alive…we are alive…" Anne said slowly, like mantra "Now…"
However, before she could say anything more, she felt humans' arms grabbing her as Sasha took both her and Marcy in a powerful, emotional hug.
"Sash?"
"You ok, girlfriend?" Marcy wondered.
"Yes, yes" she said, without opening her own eyes, "I'm just making sure this is real and not a dying dream as we are being digested slowly."
"Sash?" Marcy looked at her.
"I…I couldn't bear of it. Me being eaten by that thing, I could accept it; but you two? I do not know what I would have felt, if you two ended dying up today."
Marcy felt her own heart warming, and new tears forming on her eyes: it was worth everything…for this moment.
"Wow, Sash" Anne smiled at her "I did not knew you had such a soft side."
"Only for you, my friends. Of course, I hope no one will reveal it at school. Thus-"
Nevertheless, her words stopped as they all heard the sound of a bell tolling in the distance.
"Oh no!" Sasha stopped her hugging and looked afar, gasping; "There is no more time to lose!"
"Amelia has the other ingredients back home" Jacob nodded "Let's grab what we need and get back!"
Then, the group looked at the tomato in front of them, ready to be roped and brought at the farm…
"Amelia!" Jacob shouted, slamming the door of the farm "You ok?"
"Sure thing, cousin" the girl replied. She was sitting on a chair, the rest of the ingredients laying on the table in front of her, her wooded katana in the middle "Everything is safe and sound! Did you managed to get those tomatoes? Were they like they told you?"
"Like they told us?" James sputtered, "They were huge carnivorous monster who actually attempted to eat us! We had to open ourselves a path by eating their throat!"
"Yuck, sounds gross!" Amelia grimaced "But…you got them in the end?"
"Yes, we got them" Sasha replied with tired look, laying down her tomato-filled backpack on the table,Anne and Marcy imitating her "Since we went through too much trouble getting them in the first place, we wanted to be sure we had more than enough."
"We took as many tomatoes as we could grab and carry" Jacob explained, "So, even if we make a mistake in the recipe, we have more than enough!"
"Then…these are no more necessary?"
Anne then saw that, besides the ingredients, there were some two other bags on the table "Amelia, what's in that?"
"Well, I suppose they are useless by now, but…Jacob, Marcy, do you remember those strange fruits we found back in the wood? Those who looked like an in-between of apples and tomatoes?"
Jacob blinked, and so did Marcy "Yeah?"
"Well, I had already put the ingredients to safety when I remembered those: their taste was somehow similar, and we discussed about the chance to make a sauce out of them, no? What we had at home was destroyed during that flood, but I already knew where I could find more, so…"
"You went and fetch them?" Anne raised her eyebrow.
"I had no way to know if you would have brought tomatoes at all" she started to defend her own actions "We needed a viable option, in any case: and so…"
"Wait a minute" Sprig said, "You mean we had an alternate solution to tomatoes who was closer to home, and that we could get without any danger involved?"
"Huh, not without danger" Amelia summed "I had to bypass some large bugs and took a longer route to gather them."
"Wow, to think we were almost digested by a large monstrous tomato." Anne murmured.
"Now I feel stupid." Sasha protested.
"Also, since I was already there, I took something else too." she opened the other bag, revealing it was filled with…
"Mushrooms?" Jacob asked, glancing at the interior of it.
"I guessed that, if we could make the pizza in the end, a pizza with mushrooms could be a nice option; or alternatively, we could eat them for…"
"Let's keep that for later," Sasha intervened "Right now, we have more urgent business in our hands."
Anne nodded "Ok, Marcy, you and Sash better help me fix that dough; Jacob, you and James take the cheese and crumble it in small pieces, Amelia, help Sprig and Polly make the sauce. Hop Pop, can you chop the basil?"
All the humans and the Plantars worked together, making the sauce, spreading it on the dough, covering it with the cheese and adding the basil; then, they watched the fruit of their hard work as it cooked, and a delicious smell wafted through the house.
"Wow..." sniffed Sprig avidly, "It must be the best smell in the world."
"It's the smell of a pizza when it's baked," smiled Anne sniffing in turn, "I'd say it's almost ready."
"I got hungry just by smelling it..." Polly added, saliva forming in her mouth.
"I have to admit it smells pretty good," Hop Pop added, "I hope the taste will convince the jury."
"Believe me Hop Pop" Sasha smiled, anticipating their victory "The taste is much better than the smell: you will be the overall winner with this one!"
"Uh, I'll believe it when I see it."
At that moment, Jacob's phone began to ring. It was a signal that the pizza had cooked enough.
"It's ready!" the cry erupted simultaneously from Sasha, Anne and Jacob, while Amelia, Hop Pop and James rushed to get the pizza.
The result was a joy just to see.
"Ladies and gentlemen," James said with a note of pride, "We have just produced Amphibia's first pizza, made with original ingredients native to Wartwood!"
Anne smiled in turn: of the pizza, one-half was plain (a Margherita, in fact); one quarter was covered with mushrooms that Amelia had picked (mushroom pizza); and the last quarter was garnished with extra cheese. It had been Marcy's idea, which Anne had approved: that way, one could taste three versions of the same pizza at once.
"Wow, it looks exactly like the one in the picture," Sprig said with an excited smile.
"I know, isn't it wonderful?" nodded Marcy "This calls for a photo!"
"I'm on it," said James, taking his own phone and activating the self-timer mode while the others posed. Hop Pop was behind the pizza in the center, Anne to his right and Sasha to his left; Marcy next to Anne and holding Polly; Jacob and Amelia stood in front of the table, on one knee so as not to cover the table and the pizza, making smiling but somewhat cocky expressions, Sprig in between them and nodding his own thumbs in approval. James, who had set the self-timer after a few seconds, slid in beside Sasha, leaning out of the photo and smiling in turn, before the machine took his picture.
"There you go," the boy said, showing the photo, "An eternal reminder of this moment."
"I always marvel seeing these things in operation," Hop Pop admitted, chuckling.
"Now, we just have to take the pizza to the competition...and win!" said Sasha clenching his fist savoring the victory
"Yes!"
In the largest square of Wartwood, the annual potluck's dish contest was by now about to start: every frog family from all over Wartwood was participating, each one with their dishes and recipes. Everyone brought their best recipes, in the hope of winning the chopper and the praises from all their fellows, and avoid the shame cage. Trough, the latter was quite un-feared by now, as everyone knew that Hop Pop and the Plantars would get on it, and thus, the worst place someone could get was next-to-last.
The fact that this year, the Plantars' contest dish looked as something they had never seen before puzzled some of the contestants.
"Sure there are a lot of people at the potluck" Marcy commented, looking around.
"Believe me" Hop Pop commented, "Even families who lives very far from the town and mostly stay by themselves comes for the annual potluck. It's one of the things that connect us with each other."
"And today, is the Plantar's comeback!" Sasha grinned.
"You noticed?" James said, patting Jacob and looking at the other contestant dishes "They are all bringing bugs!"
"I guess that's logical: bugs are like 90% of their diets, maybe 99%."
"My point is: our dish is absolutely bug-free. What if they use it as an excuse to disqualify us?"
"I do not know: maybe its smell and taste will be good enough to make them give us first prize right as the contest start."
"Or they could be too obtuse to even dare come near. Remember that these frogs tried to run us out of town, the first time they saw us?"
"That was because they thought we were monsters; but since then, they've come to accept us."
"All right! Let the annual potluck begin!" Toadstool announced, coming forward.
"Most of them, anyway" Jacob corrected himself.
"Wait, he is the judge?" Amelia gloomed.
"I guess our chance to win have just gone down the drain…" James worried.
"Let's get to tastin' those dishes." Toadstoll said, moving along the table and taking samples of every dish presented "Mmm! That is "scrumptious." Oh! Ooh! What have we here?" he chomped and chomped "Oh, that is delicious! Yeah! Excellent effort! And last, but not least-"
He stopped, right in front of the Plantars, and sighed. Noticing this, Hop Pop looked down for a second, while the humans focused on the large toad.
"The Plantars, and their added monsters in-tow. What filth have you cooked up this ti- Heh?" he said, looking down on the Pizza, and smelling it.
"This is a dish we humans call…pizza" Anne said in her best "customer care" smile, full of hidden hostility "Let me cut it for you: would you prefer a regular, mushroom or extra cheese?"
"Huh, let me check what this "regular pizza" taste like. Knowing you, Hopediah, it will still be terrible!"
Anne doubled on her smile, and cut out a slice for Toadstool, who sniffled for a couple more of seconds, before eating it. The look on his eyes as the taste spread made all their effort worth it.
"My frog, this pizza dish was … delicious! It's even the best dish you ever made, Hopediah Plantar!"
"Huh, technically…they helped" the old frog pointed at the humans
Sasha grinned, and shook fists with Anne: they did it. They won.
"Just to know, what ingredients did you use for his?"
"Just some things: dough, basil, cheese…and tomatoes."
"Tomatoes? That is awfully dangerous…and delicious… Why, I do declare! This is the best dish the Plantar family has ever brought to a potluck!"
Everyone who could hear that sentence gasped, and looked at the Plantars like they had all grown a second head on their back and wings on the stomach.
"So, did we win?" Marcy gleamed up.
"Win? No! No, no, no, no, no, no." Toadstool hurried to say, "True, the dish smell and taste is very good, BUT the presence of those beasts isn't the best presentation to truly appreciate it, therefore…average!"
"AVERAGE?" Sasha yelled with fury. After everything they went through, gathering so many ingredients and escaping being eaten alive by a huge tomato monster, all their effort was worth "average"?
"Sasha, Sasha!" Amelia grabbed her, with the help of Marcy, James and Jacob, while Sprig and Polly grabbed her legs "Calm down!"
Anne looked aside, and glanced at Hop Pop, both knees down, kneeling on the ground, tears running down his face. Suddenly, he felt empathy for the old frog: all their effort, everything they did, and they only got average?
That hurt.
"Hop Pop" Anne walked to him "I know that's hard to swallow, but…"
However, Anne stopped to talk as she realized something odd: Hop Pop…was smiling.
"This…this is the most beautiful and happy moment of my entire life" Hop Pop said, tears of joy, and not sadness, running down his face.
"Hop Pop, we didn't win."
"But we didn't lost!" he jerked up "We are not last place! This is way even more that I could even dare to dream of!"
"Hop Pop" said a voice, as Amelia saw some frogs coming toward them "You…you managed to get not last place this year. That's…impressive, I would say."
"Yeah! You dish for this year…does not look bad. At all!"
"And you managed to avoid the Shame Cage!"
"No, how could this happen?!" another frog said as he was dragged away "My family's traditional Caterpillar Pie always ended up next to last! How can I be the last one this year? This cannot happen, NOOO!"
"Poor guy" Hop Pop nodded "The first time in the cage, is always the hardest…"
Later that evening, as the potluck was concluding, a familiar human face peeked in the Flour's baker shop.
"Hello…master" Marcy said, walking inside.
"Marcy" Maddie looked up, her face brightening up "Soo…the pizza ended up not going bad, after all."
"You were there?" Marcy gleamed.
"We were all there" Maddie's father said, appearing right then, alongside Maddie's younger sisters "I was just wondering…what that dough was for. Sure, the pizza looked quite good."
"It smelled amazing!" Ginger said "I wish we could get the chance to taste it too, but…"
"Huh, about that…" Marcy said nervously "Since three quarter of it were unfinished, I got the chance to bring some of it. It is still some hot, want to taste it?"
Ginger, Rosemary and Lavender look at Marcy with amazement as the human girl brought the leftover pizza in sight: its smell, while not as powerful as before, was still very tempting.
"You…brought it?" Maddie wondered
"We all took our slice already, and I did not liked the idea of let it going to waste; plus, you helped us make it and not being last place this year so…I guess this is a way to say thank you?"
Mister Flour did not knew much about this pizza: he knew they used his dough to make it, but so far, the only thing he knew about was that they used tomatoes, a plant he has never seen before; still, if Toadstool himself had decided it was "not bad", he could not taste that bad, could it?
Moreover, he was curious himself.
He sniffled it a little bit, before taking a bite…and feeling a warm, delicious flavor he had never tasted before.
"It…it is amazing!" he finally said, unmoving due to the surprise.
"It tastes good!"
"I want another!
"Hands off!"
"Marcy!" Maddie said, looking at her "Is this…?"
"Just an everyday recipe we brought from our world. You like it?"
"Like it? I love it!" Mr. Flour said, "If I could sell something like this on my shop, business-" he stopped, and his eyes focused on Marcy "Can you give me the recipe?"
"Huh, about that…"
"Looks like you noticed an opportunity, Mister Flour," another voice said. Marcy turned, and saw Jacob waving at her.
"Jacob, what are you doing in here?"
"After the potluck ended, Anne saw you go on your own with the leftover pizza, and I followed to make sure everything is ok. Good evening, Mister Flour, my name is Jacob and as you can guess, I'm one of Marcy's friends."
"You're…the one with horns…"
"Oh no!" Jacob smiled, removing his hat "This is just a hat I got long time ago: a memorabilia, of an old event I liked."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Marcy's pollywogs sisters said looking at his hat.
"Thanks" he looked at them "Also, from what I was able to hear, mister Flour, you are quite interested in the pizza recipe…"
"Well…"
"Then, how about we make a deal?"
Marcy gasped, and looked at him.
"What?" Marcy looked at him with puzzled look.
"It is simple," Jacob continued, without leaving space to doubt "To make a pizza, you need dough, cheese, basil and tomatoes: you can add anything else, but that's a plus. These are the only basic ingredients."
"Tomatoes?" Farine asked "But where I am supposed…"
"That's something I believe you should know" he grinned, putting out a small bag "When I, Marcy and the others went to look for the tomatoes, early on, I … took the liberty to take some of those seeds. While I never grew tomatoes on my own, I do think Hop Pop might have some experience on it. Plus, with all the tomatoes we gathered, we have…more than enough to supply you while we grew new ones…"
Farine nodded, understanding his offer "What do you propose?"
"For now? Nothing, as I believe this is something we should do with everyone else present. It is not a good idea to keep this a secret from the others, right Marcy?"
"Huh, yeah? We shouldn't hide things from Anne and Sasha…" she looked back nervously.
"Anyway, the agreement would work this way" Jacob nodded "we give you the recipe, and we agree to supply you with the tomato sauce you'll need; in exchange, you'll pay for the sauce and a small token for every pizza sold, as well as promise to buy the tomatoes only from Hopediah."
"You-you would this…for Hop Pop?" Farine asked.
"Hey, our money is useless in this place, and Hop Pop has six of us to take care of. Plus, Maddie and Sprig know each other so…what do you think of prosper together?"
"So…Hop Pop" Anne said "How does it feels to not end up in the cage for once?"
"I would say it is quite a pleasant experience, Anne" he murmured, looking outside at Amelia and James celebrating their victory with Sprig and Polly "Thought, I'm still a little sad that now I'll have to leave my book behind: it had a great value for me…"
Anne nodded, and then she had an idea: from what she was able to see, Hop Pop's recipes where that bad mostly because they used hideous ingredients or had unhealthy cooking instructions. Nevertheless, what if she could rework them, just a tiny bit?
"Then, what if I suggest a way to save it?"
Hop Pop jerked up, looking at her "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, maybe I'm not a cooking expert like my parents are, but most of the recipes of that book have a good basis. The reason why most people do not like them is the ingredients, or maybe their cooking part are a little unhealthy by now, at least from an outsider point of view. Thus, if we simply chance the ingredients a little bit, replace them with more interesting alternatives and update the cooking and preparations parts…"
Hop Pop looked at her and smiled "Would you like to help me?"
Anne smiled in turn, feeling accepted "Sure thing… Pop."