"Guys, I think I found of the list items," said Olympia, as she ran up to the others.

"Where were you?" asked Charlie Brown, "The game's about to start, and we still don't have a shortstop."

"Sorry," said Olympia. She then turned 90 degrees to the right, grabbed Oona, turned her 90 degrees to the left, handed her the paper she got at the end of the last chapter, and said, "Look at this."

"Why?" asked Oona.

"Just look at it," said Olympua.

Oona looked at it, and said, "Wait just a minute. This is one of the items on the list!"

"Yep!" said Olympia, "The 'start of a story', to be precise. This just leaves the 'tumbly weed', a four-dimensional birdhouse, the sports coat, and, of course, the baseball trophy."

"Of course," said Oona, "That's why we're here, right?"

"Oona," said Charlie Brown, interrupting, "We're going to need you to play shortstop. You think you can do that?"

"Of course," said Oona, repeating herself.

"Are you sure you can do that?" asked Olympia.

"Well, it's about to start!" said Oona, gesturing, "Come on, let's go. We'll find out when the time comes."

"Here's the World Famous Drum Major, leading the marching band on field before the big game," thought Snoopy, conducting a marching band consisting of little yellow birds. "To the left, to the right… high knees everyone, high knees!" He thought, as they continued to march. Suddenly, another bird fluttered up and whispered something in his ear. "What do you mean baseball games don't have marching bands?" He thought. "All right, wrap it up everybody." The birds went off field, dejected.

"Here's the world famous baseball announcer, announcing the big game," thought Snoopy, announcing the game, "It appears that they have not arrived yet. It's getting quite late. It's been like… an hour." A bird flew up to his ear. "What's next," he nearly shouted, "Does baseball not have an announcer now, either?"

The bird whispered to him. "I'm facing the wrong way?!" He said. The bird nodded, and Snoopy turned. "Ah, I see now. It's… the top of the 5th, 0 to 43 on the scoreboard, visitors leading. Bases are loaded, but I don't really see how they could come back from this. Especially not with a new, untested player up to bat against the furious pitching of Peppermint Patty. I'm checking my notes, and this seems to be… 'Oh-nah'. What a strange name.

"Anyways, she's walking up to the plate, Patty throws and… She doesn't swing. It's a ball! I bet "Oh-nah" is happy about that. Anyways, another pitch, she swings, and… foul ball! That's one strike, one ball. Another pitch and… Out of the park! Grand Slam! This is impressive, but I still don't fully see how they can come back. Score is now 4 to 43.

"Another new player up to the plate, this one named… 'Ole-pee-ah', I think it says. Here's the windup, and the pitch… ANOTHER HOME RUN! Wow! 5-43, visitors ahead.

"And, now it's Schroeder up to bat. He swings and… Fly ball to center. He's out, and that brings us to the end of this inning. The score is 5 to 43, visitors leading. I doubt the home team can come back from this, but we'll see. If they can in the next half."

Nearby, Oscar concurred. "I mean, Even if they keep up this pace of 5 an inning, and that's being generous, they'd still need…"

"Let me solve this one," said Otis, "They'd need over 7 innings to catch up, and that's assuming the other team didn't score during that time."

"Since there's only 4 left we should probably just call it here," said Oscar, "Let's steal that trophy."

TO BE CONTINUED.