CHAPTER 3: THE LITTLE RED-HAIRED GIRL REVISITED

"Wow! So Snoopy helped thwart a hostile takeover of your uncle's resort?" That was what Heather said to Frieda as she and Charlie Brown recounted their recent trip to Hawaii to visit her uncle Ralph. They were at Ace's Ice Cream Shop enjoying some ice cream together.

"And it turned out Tiki Ted wasn't even in charge of the operation," said Frieda.

"It was the father of Schroeder's friend Winston," added Charlie Brown.

"The last I heard, he faced some serious prison time," Frieda said, remembering a recent phone call with her uncle.

"Sounds like you guys had quite an adventure," said Heather. "From this to the surfing contest, and the visit to Pearl Harbor, you made some memories, for sure."

"So how was your summer, Heather?" asked Charlie Brown.

"Quite the adventure in itself," Heather replied. "My family and I went to New York City."

"Charlie Brown, wasn't that where you had the National Spelling Bee?" asked Frieda.

"Yeah it was," said Charlie Brown quietly. He still harbored bad memories of messing up the spelling of "Beagle", which was the breed of his own dog.

"Anyway, we saw all the sights there, from the Empire State Building, Times Square, and even Coney Island, where I got to ride all kinds of rides. We also spent a lot of time in Central Park. That place is so huge, I think we barely scratched the surface there. We got to see that one Broadway musical. You know the one about that guy on the ten dollar bill?"

"I heard about that one," said Charlie Brown.

"Anyway, we had a lot of fun there," Heather continued. "But still, it was nothing compared to your summer."

"You think this past summer was crazy?" said Frieda. "The summer before half of Sparkyville was set ablaze!"

"No!" gasped Heather.

"A girl gang named the Lizards was running amuck around the town," Charlie Brown replied. "I, Frieda, Sally, Michael, Snoopy, and Woodstock were at Frieda's family's cottage when it all went down, but Linus filled me in on it. Joe's and the movie theater were partially damaged, so they had very little construction and clean-up to do. But here at Ace's, it took the worst damage. What you are looking at is the rebuilt Ace's Ice Cream Shop, which had reopened back in May."

"Wow!" said a shocked Heather. "That's crazy!"

"And it was all part of a revenge plot against the Serpent Sisters which Lucy was a member of, and another gang called the Spiders," said Frieda. "You see, a former Serpent who had become a Lizard under false pretenses had killed one of her former gang members, though she wasn't the intended target. Lucy was."

"My goodness!" said Heather, taking in all that she was hearing. "You guys have been through a lot!"

"This is just the tip of the iceberg, Heather," said Charlie Brown. "I haven't even gotten into Sally's accident after a Christmas show at Birchwood yet." And the teens continued to catch up with each other throughout the day.

NEXT CHAPTER: WHAT A COINKYDINK!