Chapter Eight A Better Bait

The girls followed the trail of clothes back through the woods. They followed it as it looped -Veered off - Looped again - Veered off again toward the shore. They abandoned their boat and quickly splashed across the creek which sent water in every direction and a rather surprised fish flying through the air. They dashed in the direction of the plantation house at a rapid pace and finally came to a standstill at the base of the ancient oak tree. Out of breath, they tumbled to the ground exhausted.

“W…we… we… did a good… job… battling… that… dragon,” Olivia said as she strained for air.

“Well… if you… ninnies… hadn’t run away,” said Mary.

“You… were… in the lead,” protested Kay.

“Only… to make sure… you wouldn’t get lost,” Mary retorted.

“Oh…right,” said Kay sarcastically.

“We have to… regroup… and try again,” Mary said calmly.

“Again,” the rest screamed.

“Yes, again. We’ve established where the dragon lives. We’ve established that dragons don’t like M&Ms,” she continued.

“Nu-uh,” said Olivia.

“We just have to come up with a better bait. Something it can’t resist. Something delicious to lure it with,” she said. As she looked around, she spotted a large white duck sitting nearby. She stared at the duck. The duck stared back. She winked at the duck. The duck winked back. She licked her lips. The duck jumped up and ran in the opposite direction.

Mary jumped up and gave chase. Each of the girls jumped up and joined Mary in the chase. Sara and Sadie jumped by with their jump ropes.

The girls, bent over with their arms outstretched, attempted to surround the duck. It was extremely reluctant to surrender.

It ran in one direction. They ran in one direction. It headed off in the other direction. They headed off in the other direction. It squawked. They squawked.

Olivia finally managed to get her hands around the ducks neck and halfway sat on it’s back. This embarrassing situation was too much for the duck. It squawked even louder and wiggled it’s way free. It left Olivia sitting there with a disappointed look on her face.

“I had it by this much,“ as she held up two fingers with a half inch space between them.

The chase was not going very well.

Peter walked through the group of girls as they dashed around, with his head still in his book. He picked up the panicky duck and deposited it into Mary’s outstretched hands and walked on without lifting his head.

“Thanks Peter,” she said happily.

Peter waved and walked off in the direction of the house.

The girls turned to each other, turned back towards Peter as he retreated up the stairs and through the back door, turned back to each other and shook their heads. Peter had to have reached the dragon’s large intestines by now.

Mary grabbed an extra length of yarn from her pocket. The rest of which spilled onto the ground. Olivia quickly grabbed the stray pile of string and stuffed it into her pocket. Mary handed the yarn she held to Kay and instructed her to tie the string around it’s neck. The duck looked terrified. Here was a girl moving toward him with what looked like a noose. She had a cooking pot on her head. It knew what a noose was for. It knew what a cooking pot was for. It suddenly wondered what it felt like to be plucked.

They plopped the duck down on the ground. Carol had to pull the panicked creature back to the dragons den. It wasn’t an easy as it looked.

Missy Hyde, who folded clothes in an upstairs bedroom, looked out of the window to see four chubby young girls as they marched in a row. They sang an odd little tune and pulled a very unhappy duck.

“This can’t be good,” she whispered under her breath as she continued to fold the clothes.

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