When the next day came, some kids appeared to be out and having a baseball game.
"They sure are having fun." Amber said.
"What do you think?" Opal asked Winn-Dixie as she took out the candy tin from her bicycle basket. "Should we give some to the boys?"
"I dunno~" Winn-Dixie whined, feeling unsure himself.
Patch seemed to have a different answer as he went over to the boys. The others soon looked over as the Dalmatian strode off on his own.
"Try this one, Dunlap!" Stevie smirked as he pitched to his twin brother.
Dunlap soon hit the ball with his bat and began to run after it was flying in the air. Patch soon felt his dog instincts kick in as he saw the ball flying.
"Patch!" Darla cried out at first.
The boys began to try and catch the ball on the field, but Patch soon jumped up and caught it in his mouth.
"Got it!" Patch muffled.
The boys soon came to Patch and started to chase him, but he ran with the ball in his mouth.
"I bet this is like those times with Air Bud." Darla commented.
"Should we help?" Annabelle asked.
"No, no, he's got this." Darla reassured.
However, a police car seemed to ride by, and the officer came out of it. "What in the name of corn on the cob is goin' on around here?!" he then demanded to know.
"Oh, great. Him." Patch muffled.
"Have we got a situation here, fellas?" The policeman glared.
"No, sir, they're just all playin'!" Opal replied.
The others soon laughed and Winn-Dixie ran towards the policeman, remembering him from the pet shop earlier.
'This should be interesting.' Patch thought to himself.
"Get away from me!" The policeman yelled out as he ran to his car, running into the door as Winn-Dixie chased him.
Opal winced a bit as that looked like it hurt.
"Get off of me! Off! Get off of me, you hairy, heavy-metal hound dog!" The policeman cried out as Winn-Dixie bit on his pants because he smelled food. "Ow! Give me my pants back! Oh! That's a wedgie! This whole town's gone mad!"
Opal soon got Winn-Dixie off who found a chicken leg, showing the policeman was now in his underwear.
"Well, that's embarrassing." Darla said.
Some of the other kids laughed to it.
"What? You think this is funny?!" The policeman glared, he then looked down with a yelp to see his pants were gone and he rushed back inside of his car. "Don't look at that!"
"He wasn't trying to hurt you," Opal told him. "He just wanted to give you a candy."
"You little sea-monkeys," The policeman glared before he drove away. "But I'm gonna see you in sea-monkey jail. I better put it in drive."
Patch growled as he didn't like the policeman at all. The policeman soon drove away while the kids laughed at him.
Later that night...
Cherry looked out the window, and Opal's mother had still not come to Florida, but when the woman would come would be a big and special surprise for everyone. She knew that this day would come soon.
"Any sign of her?" Atticus asked.
"No, not yet..." Cherry replied. "I really hope I didn't fail that Opal kid."
"I'm sure you didn't." Atticus said.
"I hope you're right, Fudo." Cherry sighed to her best friend.
"Have I ever been wrong?" Atticus asked.
"Hm..." Cherry paused a moment before taking out a notepad.
"Oh, come on, when have I ever been wrong?" Atticus asked.
Cherry showed him the times he was wrong.
"Uh... Still less than when you were." Atticus replied.
"Not the point." Cherry retorted to make herself sound better.
"Just trust me, she'll be here." Atticus said.
"If you say so." Cherry replied.
"I'm just so proud of a great friend Darla's being to Opal," Atticus smiled about his adoptive little sister. "I should give her something for being such a sweet little angel."
"Maybe you could see if those Sailor Earth girls wanna have an adventure with her?" Cherry suggested.
"Yeah, the Sailor Scouts might have one in mind." Atticus smiled.
"That's my suggestion." Cherry said.
"Thanks, Cherry, you really do care." Atticus smiled.
"I guess so." Cherry shrugged modestly.
Atticus smiled as he was happy to see a caring side to Cherry. The girls stayed over with Opal and Winn-Dixie for the night again.
"This is so much fun." Annabelle smiled.
It seemed like fun for the most part until Opal looked to her father. Daniel looked more miserable than usual and the girls could see a picture of him getting happily married to Opal's mother. Winn-Dixie whined as he lay his head against Opal's lap.
"There has to be something we can do to make him feel better." Amber said.
"I don't think he's sad... He looks... Sick..." Annabelle said to them.
"Sick?" Opal repeated before looking to the candy tin and picked it up to see some pieces missing with empty wrappers. "Winn-Dixie, how many did you eat of these?!"
"A lot..." Winn-Dixie whined before burping.
"Winn-Dixie..." Amber sighed.
"Opal, I hope you don't have that dog in your bed." Daniel's voice warned.
Opal didn't answer as she just tried to comfort the dog while her father wandered through the kitchen.
"How do you care for a sick dog?" Annabelle asked.
Amber soon came outside briefly and came back, giving Winn-Dixie some grass. Winn-Dixie sniffed the grass and began to eat some of it which helped make him feel a little bit better.
"That should help him feel a bit better." Amber said.
"How do you know?" Annabelle asked.
"I know a lot since I help Uncle Roger and Aunt Anita." Amber smiled.
"Hm, that's a good point." Annabelle smiled back.
"Way to go, Amber." Darla smiled to her best friend.
It was hard for Opal to sleep as she wanted to help her father somehow, and where the rest of the girls wanted to help.
"Daddy?" Opal called.
"Opal... It's 2:00 in the morning, what are you and your friends doing up?" Daniel mumbled.
"Daddy, are you hungry?" Opal asked as she looked to the candy in her hand. "You lookin' for somethin' to eat?"
"Yeah, that's it," Daniel replied. "I'm hungry."
"Then how about having a piece of candy?" Darla asked.
"Candy, huh?" Daniel asked as he was given the piece.
"It's a Littmus lozenge," Opal told her father as he soon began to eat the candy. "Do ya like it?"
"Candy tastes like melancholy." Daniel said once he tried it.
"What's melancholy?" Opal asked.
"Sad." Daniel replied.
"You still miss your wife, don't you?" Darla asked.
"...I do..." Daniel nodded softly. "I often dream 'bout her."
"Daddy... Did she drink...?" Opal asked as she had a hidden feeling from what she learned from Gloria recently.
"Opal, there's some things you're just too young to understand." Daniel sighed to his daughter.
Darla soon noticed her brooch glowing slightly. She put her hand over it as she looked at the father and daughter.
"I-I understand a lot of things," Opal told Daniel. "I know about people with drinkin' problems. Gloria Dump had a drinking problem. I want to understand."
"Yeah, I don't even understand what happened with your mama," Daniel sighed softly. "We were happy, I know that, for a long time. Well, it seemed like a long time, we were happy. But then she started drinkin'."
Darla, Amber, and Annabelle looked slightly confused as to why Opal's mother would start drinking.
"She started drinkin', and that's the tenth thing?" Opal asked her father.
Daniel nodded in silence at first. "But it's more complicated than that."
"Did she drink because I was bad?" Opal soon asked. "Was it my fault that she left?"
"No. No! No!" Daniel said to her. "It's not your fault. Don't... Don't ever say it's your fault. Don't ever say that. Do you hear me?"
"That's right, Opal." Darla said.
"Yes, sir..." Opal said to her father. "Thank you, Darla."
"But of course," Darla smiled as she held her brooch. "Excuse me, I need the bathroom."
The others looked to her as she walked off and Darla took out her brooch as it glowed, hoping this wasn't a dangerous emergency from Serena and the other Sailor Scouts. Darla soon opened it to find out.
The brooch glowed before a hologram of Serena appeared with Luna.
"Hey, guys." Darla smiled.
"Hello, Darla, how are you?" Luna asked. "I apologize for calling so late. It's early in the morning in America, right?"
"Yeah, it is." Darla said.
"Sorry about that, Darla." Luna replied.
"It's all right, I'm on vacation anyway, and I'll be back home soon," Darla replied. "What's up?"
"You must come with us to the Juban Shopping District!" Serena gushed.
"Seriously?! That's what is so important that couldn't wait until after my vacation?" Darla asked.
Serena smiled bashfully to the younger girl.
"I'm sorry, Serena, but I can't go." Darla said.
"What...?" Serena frowned. "Why not?"
"I told you, I'm on vacation, but I'm also helping a friend," Darla replied. "I promise that I'll call you guys when I come back home."
"Oh, fine." Serena pouted.
"Which one of us is the older one again?" Darla replied.
"That's a good question." Luna teased.
"Oh, ha, ha." Serena rolled her eyes.
"I'll visit you guys later, I promise," Darla replied. "And it better be a real emergency this time."
"Trust me, Darla, it will be." Luna promised.
The hologram soon turned off. Darla rolled her eyes slightly that Serena called her just to go shopping, and she soon came back to join Opal and the others.
"You feeling alright?" Opal asked.
"I'm all right," Darla replied. "I think we should go to sleep."
"Yes, I think Darla is right." Daniel agreed as it was the middle of the night.
Opal thought about how life was like a Littmus lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together, and how hard it was to separate them out.
The next day came and the girls came to visit Gloria so that they could read Gone With the Wind to her.
"Gloria's gonna love this book." Amber said.
Gloria sat on her porch with the girls. This was also one of the last days Darla, Amber, and Annabelle would have in Naomi before they would go back home, but it was really an eventful summer for them since they met Opal and Winn-Dixie.
"He was so angry." Opal sighed about her father's behavior last night.
"Well... He was hurtin', that's why." Gloria coaxed.
"Everybody's hurtin'. Makes me feel sad," Opal frowned. "I want to help 'em, but I just don't know what to do."
Darla began to think of what they could do.
"Well... Don't dwell on it, child," Gloria coaxed. "Why don't we see what Miss Scarlett's doin', hmm? I believe she's gettin' ready for that party."
"That's it..." Darla whispered at first before beaming. "That's it! We should have a party!"
"Yeah!" Opal beamed in agreement before looking to her dog. "Don't you think we should have a party, Winn-Dixie?"
"A party would be fun." Patch smiled at Winn-Dixie.
"Yeah..." Winn-Dixie gave a small smile back as he went inside of Gloria's home.
"We can invite Miss Franny Block, and the preacher and Otis," Opal smiled as she came after Winn-Dixie. "Come on, we need to start plannin'."
"And we'll help." Amber smiled.
Gloria was heard telling the girls to stay out of the room, but it was too late.
"Wow, it's dark in here." Opal commented.
"Hold on, now, hon... Opal?" Gloria called out as she came inside after them. "Girls, wh-where are you?"
"We're not sure ourselves because it's dark in here." Amber said.
Opal soon opened the curtains to make some sunlight come in.
"You cannot have any party here!" Gloria told them. "I haven't had folks in here for years."
"Just make sandwiches," Opal suggested. "And Otis can bring his guitar."
"I said no, and that's the end of it." Gloria replied.
"But Gloria... Why...?" Darla frowned.
"I'm sorry, but my mind is made up." Gloria replied firmly at first.
"Miss Franny said the problem with people here is that they forgot how to share their sadness, but what I think is that people forgot how to share their joy." Opal said to the woman.
"Let it out!" Winn-Dixie barked before licking the blind woman. "You need to have this party!"
Patch nodded in agreement as he knew Winn-Dixie was right.
"Gloria, we need this party. Please?" Opal pouted with Darla, Amber, and Annabelle.
"Oh, Lord. These children..." Gloria sighed before she soon smiled. "Well, if we're gonna have a party, this house needs a big pick up if we gonna have folks over."
"Yes, ma'am." Darla smiled back.
"Whee! We're having a party!" Opal cheered with Darla, Amber, and Annabelle.
"We're gonna have a party, and don't you forget to invite them Dewberry boys." Gloria replied.
"Hmm..." Darla, Amber, and Annabelle hummed in thought about Dunlap and Stevie.
And so, the girls decided to spread the word about the party, and of course, Cherry and Atticus were invited too. Of course, they would also attend the party.