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"Thank you so much for
babysitting Molly for the weekend," her mother said, blowing her baby a
kiss and climbing down the tree.
"WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH! I
want my mummy!" Molly screamed.
"Now, now, Molly. You’re
here with Uncle Ian and I. We’re going to have a lot of fun. Your mum will
be back tomorrow to pick you up. She had to go and help your Aunt Fiona.
She just had a baby. It’s smaller than you are, Molly," Mac explained.
"Baby. Molly, baby."
"That’s right, you’re a
baby too; but today you’re going to be a big girl and we’re going to have
some fun. What would you like to do?" Mac asked.
"Let’s take her to the
fair. I saw a sign posted on a tree near the village. The fair is in town
for just the weekend. Can we go, Mac?" Ian begged.
"Fair. Go fair," Molly
added.
"It seems I’ve been
out-voted. The fair it is then. Off we go," Mac said. The raccoons climbed
down the tree and headed toward the village. "We must be careful. There
will be a lot of people there. I don’t think they like raccoons hanging
around, so be on your best behavior; both of you," Mac warned.
Ian smiled shyly.
The fairgrounds were
crowded. There were people everywhere and so much noise. They walked
about, hiding behind bushes and trees. "Oh look. There’s the bottle toss.
I think I can knock them all down. Do you?" Ian asked, playing with Molly.
"Of course she can’t. Those
bottles aren’t made of glass. They’re heavy and hard to knock down, but
we’ll give it a try," Mac said.
When nobody was looking,
Ian picked the ball up and threw it at the bottles. The top ones came
tumbling down. "I can do better than that. Here, hold Molly," Ian said. He
moved to the next stack of bottles. "Watch," he cried out and threw the
ball. The top two bottles fell over.
"Let me show you how it’s
done," Mac said, setting Molly down on the ground. He threw the balls as
hard as he could. They all toppled down.
"Very good, Mac. Uncle Mac
did good, didn’t he Molly?" Ian turned to ask Molly. "Molly? Molly? Mac,
where’s Molly?" Frantically, Mac ran around looking for her. Ian went the
other way to look.
Molly had climbed on the
counter and was hiding among the stuffed animals that were being given
away as prizes. A man walked up to the counter and threw a ball at a stack
of bottles. "A winner!" the game person said to the man. "Pick whatever
stuffed animal you want."
"I’ll take that one, the
stuffed raccoon," he answered.
The man reached up and
picked Molly up. "Yikes!" shouted Ian. He ran up and plucked Molly out of
the man’s hands and ran away.
"Hey. Come back with my
raccoon. I won it, not you!" the man shouted.
Mac was waiting behind a
tree. "Here she is. Whew, that was close. Molly, you’ve got to stay close
to Uncle Mac and Uncle Ian. It worries us when you get lost," Ian said,
sighing with relief.
They took her by the paws
and walked towards the ferris wheel. "Oh look, Molly. There’s a man with
balloons. I’ll wait until he puts one down and I’ll sneak one for you.
What color do you want?" Mac asked.
"I want blue," Molly
replied.
"Ian, go and get Molly a
balloon. There, now. He’s put them down for a minute. Hurry."
Ian ran up and grabbed a
blue balloon. "Here you go, Molly," he said, handing it to her. No sooner
had he done that when the balloon and Molly went floating up into the air.
"Yikes!" Ian screamed. "Molly, come back here."
Mac looked up. He tried to
jump and grab the string but missed. She floated higher and higher. The
balloon headed straight for a tall oak tree. "She’s stuck. Let’s grab
her," Mac said, running towards the tree. Ian followed. "You need to climb
the tree and get her."
"Why me? Why don’t you
climb and get her?" Ian complained.
"Because you’re the one who
gave her the balloon!" Mac argued.
Ian thought for a moment,
shrugged his shoulders and climbed the tree. He grabbed Molly and came
down. "Balloon. Balloon. WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH!"
"She wants the balloon,"
Mac said. "Go and get it."
Ian, seeing he had no
choice, climbed the tree and grabbed hold of the balloon by the string. He
climbed down and handed it to Mac. "Molly, you can have the balloon, but
you must hold hands with Uncle Ian, so you don’t fly into the air again.
All right?" She smiled as he tied the balloon around her wrist. She
started to float into the sky but Ian grabbed her. "Don’t let go!" Mac
ordered.
"I’m hungry," Molly said,
rubbing her tummy.
"All right, we’ll go and
find something for you. I’m a bit hungry myself," Ian said. They walked
towards the popcorn vendor.
POP! The balloon exploded.
"WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH!" Molly screamed at the top of her lungs. "My balloon
popped!"
"It was the branch of that
tree that did it, Molly. Stop crying. We’ll get you something to eat," Mac
said.
"Food! Food!" Molly
laughed.
"She sounds just like you,"
Mac said, looking at Ian.
They picked up a few pieces
of popcorn. "Stay here, Molly," Ian said. He put her down and started
picking up more popcorn. They gathered an armful each. "Here you go,
Molly," Ian said. "Molly? Molly? Where did she go this time?"
Mac frowned, "Not again.
Where is that little raccoon?" They searched all around the bushes, under
the popcorn vendor’s cart and behind the Tilt-A-Whirl. "Yikes!"
"What? Did you find her?"
Ian asked.
"She’s in the cotton candy
machine," Mac said. They ran over to it. There sat Molly, wrapped up in
pink cotton candy. Mac lifted the lid and pulled her out. They ran into
the bushes. "Och, Molly. Look at you. You’re covered with sticky, sugary
goo and now I am too."
Ian was picking bits off of
the two raccoons. "Yum," he said, licking his fingers.
"We’re going to have to
find a stream and wash off," Mac said. They walked down the hill. "Here we
go. Molly, wash yourself off." He put her down and she climbed into the
stream. Mac began to splash water on himself. Ian bent over and took a
drink of water. When Ian and Mac turned around, Molly was floating down
the stream, holding onto a log. "YIKES!"
Ian and Mac ran through the
water and chased the floating log. "Grab her," Ian said.
"I’m trying. She’s moving
too quickly," Mac answered. The log floated towards the side of the stream
and got wedged in the reeds. Mac grabbed Molly and held her tightly. "I’ve
had enough. This is too much of a worry. Let’s go home!"
"WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH!"
Molly screamed the whole way back to Ian and Mac’s tree.
As they climbed to the top
branch, Molly fell asleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"Thank goodness," Mac said.
He looked over at Ian. He was asleep too. "Might as well join them!" He
curled up in a ball and fell asleep, like the others.
Tomorrow was another day!
What new adventures would they find themselves having? |
