by
Grace Alice Moore

Aunt Tootsie's Stories are stories to read to your kids. A mixture of fantasy, folklore, and imagination - fairy tales with a slightly modern twist.

Aunt Tootsie was a real person - born in 1900. Though she never wrote her stories down many were told in substance to her daughter (and numerous other small persons).

The stories are not currently illustrated - but perhaps that will come. All stories are copyrighted, so please don't distribute. Happy reading!

Bid and Bod are two small green bugs - known by some irate gardeners as aphids - who once lived on Aunt Jannie's rose bush on an island in the middle of the gold-fish pond. Aunt Jannie was Aunt Tootsie's sister. But to several generations of wide-eyed children they peopled Aunt Tootsie's fantastic stories, weaving imagination with space and time, surreal landscapes, and sparkling adventures.

Bid (the girl) and Bod (the boy) would seem to be about the equivalent of ten year olds - brother and sister - who explore worlds of wild imagination with the wonder and ready belief of childhood, and the spunk and daring and courage only a child can embrace.

They lived on a pink rose bush on a little island in the middle of Aunt Jannie's fish pond. They didn't know where they came from - they had always just been - brother and sister. Their whole world was the fishpond and the island and the rosebush. There was plenty to eat and fresh water to drink and the roses smelled good and they could watch the goldfish in the pond, or Randolph the dog when he came to drink. Once in a while Aunt Jannie would don rubber boots and wade out and prune their rose bush and Mary Jean, her little blond-headed girl, would watch. When this happened they both hid under a thorn. They weren't exactly afraid of Aunt Jannie, but she did cut big pieces off their rose bush so they were very wary.

The adventures need be read in no particular order.

Just of interest - Aunt Tootsie and Aunt Jannie and Mary Jean were real people and the rosebush and the fishpond once really existed. Back around 1920 in a suburb of present Los Angeles, but when you could still walk across bean fields to the sea.

BID AND BOD AND THE

STINKY ROSE

It was a hot afternoon and Bid was bored. Bod was off exploring somewhere at the base of their rose bush. Usually she went with him but today she was tired. And hot. She wished it would rain. But it never rained in California in July. The sky was pure blue, intense and painted hot with sunshine. There weren't even any clouds.

There were lots of blooms and lots of buds on their rose bush. Their rose bush liked this hot weather, especially since it could cool off its roots in the fish pond. Then Bid thought - maybe she should go down and find Bod and they could both cool their own feet in the fishpond too.

She got up off the leaf she had been lolling on, and walked up a branch to the main trunk of the rose bush. There the thorns began, and she could climb down them easily like a ladder. Before long she saw Bod, stretched out flat on the thin grass in the shade. She pulled off a piece of stem and tried to hit him with it but she missed and he ignored her. Finally she flopped down beside him.

"Want to go stick our feet in the pond?" she asked.

But at that moment Randolph the dog appeared at the edge of the pond and began lapping up water and making waves.

"Not now!" said Bod. The waves Randolph made were very big for aphid bugs and they would surely get washed into the pond and maybe drown!

"It's pretty cool down here anyway," said Bid. "Under the shade."

"You'll have to see what I found," said Bod. "Over on that very lowest branch that is almost touching the ground there is a very strange rose."

"What kind of a rose," said Bid.

"I don't know," replied Bod. "But all the other roses are pink, or sometimes there is an almost white one, but this one is bright orange with purple stripes and green spots! It is just starting to open I think. And it seems to be making a noise. A growling noise."

 Bid scrambled up, she was always curious about anything new. She did not like to be bored. The rose seemed to her to be only a bud, but it was a little open at the end. And it was emitting a BIG STINK!

"Ohyuck," said Bid.

"OOOHYUCK," said Bod, who had come up behind her. "Let's get out of here before I throw up.

Together they quickly climbed up their rose bush to the very top, trying to get away from the stink and into the freshest air they could find. They did not usually sit on the very top leaves, in case an unfriendly bird came by that might want to eat them, but today they got as far away from the stinky rose as they could.

"Look," said Bid, "Even Randolph the dog smells it. He is leaving without even barking."

"Why didn't he smell it before," asked Bod. "Dogs can smell everything."

"Maybe it only stinks when it opens?" asked Bid.

"There is Charlie," said Bod. Charlie was a red and green hummingbird that visited the rose bush often and was their friend. He would not eat them, he ate the nectar from roses. But today neither he nor any of his friends came around, even though there were lots of appetizing roses in bloom.

"Hi Charlie," called Bid. "Come and talk to us. It's hot and we're bored anyway."

Charlie did not come, or at least he did not come very close. He hung in the air at least five feet away.

"Your rosebush stinks bad," said Charlie. "Do you have a bad rose?"

"I don't know if it's a bad rose, but it's a stinky rose," Bid answered. And it is bright orange with purple stripes and green spots!"

"Oh no! Oh my!" cried Charlie. "You must run. That rose can kill you!"

"We can't run," cried Bid, alarmed. "The pond is too wide for us to swim and anyway where would we go?"

"How could a rose kill us?" asked Bod. "Even if it does stink?"

"I don't know," answered Charlie. "But I know that my two brothers and a sister rested on a rose bush with a rose like that and I never saw them again. I think it killed them!"

Bid looked at Bod. Bod looked at Bid.

"If you can't run you better get rid of that rose before it opens all the way up!", screamed Charlie. And with that he flew away.

Bid looked at Bod. Bod looked at Bid. Together they both jumped up and scrambled down the thorns. They would pick the rose bud and throw it in the pond before it opened.

"Hold you nose," commanded Bid. Bod tried, but how was he supposed to jerk the rosebud free from the rose stem while he was holding his nose with one hand!

They both held their nose with one hand, and rushed the stinking orange rosebud with purple stripes and green spots. Bid grabbed one side, Bod grabbed the other side. They heaved. They pulled. They tugged.

But the rose bud did not move. Instead it began to growl, and open wider, and stink heavier!

Bid and Bod had to take their hands off their noses to gulp a breath.

And that's when they both passed out from the BIG STINK!

It was several years later, or at least it SEEMED like several years later. Bid woke up slowly. Her head hurt. She was lying on her back in a grass field of some sort, looking straight up at the clouds. The clouds were revolving slowly, circling around and around. She shook her head. There was a faint stink in her nose.

Finally she thought she should try to sit up. She got up on her elbows, then had to lay back down again because the clouds kept spinning around. Where was Bod? Where was she? She couldn't quite remember what had happened.

 There was a strangled cough. Bid looked toward it but the grass was too high to see. And the clouds were still spinning around.

"Bod, is that you?" asked Bid.

"Y-yess, answered a hoarse voice from somewhere beyond the grass. "I don't feel so well."

Bid reached out her hand through the grass and felt around. Finally she got hold of something, a foot, and pulled and scooted herself toward it. Bod was laying face down in the grass with a mouth full of dirt. "Ugh," he said.

"Where are we?" asked Bid.

"How should I know!" replied Bod.

"Well, we better try to stand up so we can see," said Bid. "But the sky is spinning."

Bod turned over to look at the spinning sky. "It's going slower," he said.

"Maybe we're just dizzy," said Bid. "Maybe somebody hit us on the head?"

"It was that stinking orange rose with the purple stripes and the green spots. Don't you remember? Charlie was right!"

"You think the rosebud hit us?" asked Bid. "Roses can't do that. They're soft."

"That was an evil rosebud," said Bod. "We should have known to leave it alone!"

"Well, we better get up and see where we are," said Bid. "I think the clouds have stopped going around in circles."

So they both stood up and held on to each other. They were both still a little dizzy but at least they didn't fall down. They looked all around. They looked in front of them. They looked behind them. They looked right. They looked left.

Everywhere was nothing but long grass. Grass that came up almost to their waists. There was something funny though. The grass was orange. Kind of orange with red tips which turned out to be little seeds. And the sky was purple. And the clouds were green.

"What do we do now", said Bod.

"I don't know", said Bid.

"You always know", said Bod, with petulance. "You always think you know everything!"

Bid ignored him. He always acted like that when he was scared. But she didn't know what to do.

Everywhere was this long orange grass with little red seeds. It seemed to go on forever. Bid wasn't hungry, but she wondered if they could eat the seeds if they got hungry. They sure couldn't eat the grass. But maybe they were poison. Well, they would just have to get VERY hungry before they tried eating strange little red seeds that grew on the tips of orange grass.

"What should we do", asked Bod again.

"You already asked that", answered Bid, annoyed.

"Well, I thought perhaps you had thought of something smart", said Bod. "Perhaps we should start walking"

"Okay", said Bid. She thought that if they walked they would just be in the same sea of grass no matter how far they went, but at least it was better than just standing there.

They walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. It was hard to walk through the long grass that came up to their waists. The little red seeds fell off as they brushed against the grass, and stuck to their shoes. Every so often they had to stop and scrape them off on the grass. When they did, the seeds made a squealing sound, like they were complaining or mad.

"Have you ever heard a seed make a noise like that", asked Bid.

"No, but then I never saw a rose that stunk either", said Bod. "Maybe these are evil rose seeds."

"They are rose seeds", said a voice from not far away.

Bid looked around. Bod looked around. They could not see anyone anywhere.

"Who is talking!" cried Bid.

There was a swishing in the grass not three feet away, and a long white neck snaked up out of the grass. It was the neck of a large white Bird, with a white plume of feathers on top of its head, and a golden beak. It had been eating the little red seeds and a few stuck to its beak.

"What does this rose look like?" asked Bid.

"I have no idea", said The Bird. "I only eat the seeds. It doesn't grow here."

"How can there be seeds here and it doesn't grow here?" asked Bod.

"I don't know that either", said The Bird. "I think it has to go somewhere else to grow. Don't you know?"

"How should we know?" said Bid.

"Well, you came from somewhere. So if the rose goes somewhere to grow it must be the somewhere you know! Ha, I have made a poem!"

"A poet, just what we need!", said Bid.

"Oh, don't be cranky!" said The Bird. "What are you looking for anyway?"

"We want to go home. An evil rose sent us here", answered Bod.

"Roses are never evil!" said The Bird. "If you think so, at least around here, no one will help you!" The Bird sniffed, if birds can sniff, and snaked his long neck back down into the waist-high grass so they could no longer see him.

"Listen", said Bid. "We did not mean to offend you, but a very STINKY orange rose with green spots and purple stripes nearly asphyxiated us and when we woke up we were here - that can only be an evil rose!"

The Bird grumbled but did not answer. The grass waved a little where he or she was hidden.

Bid parted the grass and pushed her way through. The Bird, all white, hunched down angrily. He, or she, looked up with one suspicious yellow eye.

"Please Mr. Bird, or Miss Bird, or whatever you are, can you help us? At least tell us which way to go to get out of this grass?" asked Bid.

"Hmmph", said The Bird.

"We love roses!" said Bid. "It's just that we love the pink ones and the red ones and the white ones and the yellow ones and even the orange ones as long as they don't have purple stripes and do us harm! And we prefer they smell sweet!"

"I've never seen a rose, so I don't know about pink ones and red ones and white ones and yellow ones and especially orange ones with purple stripes", said The Bird. "But I know they are wonderful things that provide all these seeds that all of us must eat to live."

"Don't you eat anything else?" asked Bod.

"Eat something else?" said The Bird. "Who would do that! Are you absurd!"

"I'm hungry" said Bod.

"Don't eat those seeds!" said Bid. "Maybe birds can eat them but maybe they would be poison to us!"

"I'm going to starve!" said Bod.

"Fat chance", said Bid "You are getting fat around the middle anyway."

"Am not", said Bod. Bid ignored this. He really wasn't getting fat, but she didn't think they should eat those strange red seeds unless they really were starving.

"Let's keep walking", suggested Bid.

"You are silly", said The Bird. "You can't walk out of this grass. It goes on forever.

"Nothing goes on forever", said Bod. "You are just trying to scare us!"

"Well, maybe not forever", replied The Bird. "But further than two scrawny bugs like you can walk."

"Well, we will try!" said Bid. "And we will succeed!" echoed Bod.

"Oh, stop being foolish", said The Bird. "Climb on my back and hold onto my long neck and I will fly you out."

Bid looked at Bod. Bod looked at Bid.

"Do you trust him?", whispered Bid.

"Do YOU trust him?", whispered Bod.

"I have very good hearing", stated The Bird. "Whether you trust me or not, you don't have very much choice, unless you want to wander in the grass forever living on red seeds. And besides, you would die of thirst because I doubt you know how to get water."

"He has a point", said Bid. "Okay", said Bod. "You first!"

So Bid climbed onto The Bird's broad back and held onto his skinny neck, and Bod climbed on behind Bid and held onto her waist.

The Bird slowly stood up and stretched. She (it turned out to be a she) spread very long wings and flapped them a few times to get the kinks out. She let out a long sigh.

"Why me?" she grumbled.

Then very deliberately she began to high step through the grass, then to run in a sort of jerky way, then to make short leaps into the air. Finally she lifted off and began to beat her wings in a slow steady rhythm. Bid could feel The Bird's heart beat in time to her wings beating.

"Where are we going?" asked Bid.

"Don't talk to me while I'm working" replied The Bird. "Don't you have any manners?"

So they flew on for two days over fields of grass and more grass. They held on very tight. They got very hungry. They got very thirsty. Finally they got very sleepy. Bid locked her fingers into the white feathers and had to let herself sleep. Bod tried to stay awake but he could not. But he did not let go!

The Bird coughed just at dawn. Bid woke up. Her fingers were cramped from holding on so long.

"Sorry kids", said The Bird. "This is the end of the line."

She made a slow circling descent. In the dim light they could see more of the same fields of grass with the red seeds. The Bird shivered her shoulders and shook them off into the grass. They didn't fall far, and the grass was pretty soft.

"You'll have to get across the river on your own", called The Bird. "Good luck!" And she flew off the way they had come.

They did seem to be on the edge of a wide river. Only the water looked funny, it was sort of creamy and frothy and had an acid smell. They were thirsty but not so thirsty as to drink that! On their side was the thick green grass with the red seeds, only some of the red seeds looked kind of dried up and sickly. There was a steep bank down to the water, or whatever it was, that looked kind of muddy. They could see an opposite shore, but it was still too dark to make out what it was. There was a light though, perhaps in a cabin of some sort.

 "So how do we get across the river?"

They looked at each other.

"Do you think we could swim? In that?" asked Bod.

"We don't know how to swim," Bid replied rather disgustedly. "Think of something else."

Bod went down the bank to get closer to the water. It was muddy and steep and he slipped. His foot went in.

"Ouch!" screamed Bod. He jerked his foot back and climbed back up the bank. There was a neat hole burned in his green shoe.

They sat down among the grass with the dried up red seeds. Bid thought. Bod thought.

"I think that river is acid", said Bid.

"No kidding", said Bod. Sometimes Bid said things that were just so obvious.

"Someone must live in that house", said Bid. "There is a light on."

"No kidding", said Bod.

Just then the door opened and a shaft of light fell out of the door. Then a little boy appeared carrying a big white pail.

"What's that?", asked Bod.

"A slop jar", answered Bid.

"What's a slop jar?" asked Bod.

"Don't ask", said Bid.

"Maybe he will see us", said Bod.

The boy came down to the river and emptied the big white pail into the water. The water hissed and splattered, and the boy was careful to stay away from the splatters. He did not see them.

"Maybe we should yell", said Bod.

So they screamed as loud as they could.

"Help! Help! Over here!"

The boy looked startled and dropped the pail. It floated away and sank into the river, sizzling all the way.

"What are you doing over there?" yelled the boy. "Who are you?"

"We came from Aunt Jannie's rose bush" yelled Bid.

"And we are lost" yelled Bod.

The boy looked worried. He went back into his house.

Finally he came out again and stood on the shore. He stood there for a long time.

Finally he yelled at them. "Did you pick a stinky rose somewhere?"

Bid yelled back. "Well, we tried to pick one, but the smell made us pass out and we woke up here. Then a sort of friendly big white bird brought us this far, to the edge of the river".

"That would be Harry", muttered the boy. But they couldn't hear him over the sound of the river.

"Wait there", yelled the boy. "Don't eat any of those red seeds!"

With that he turned and disappeared up a path. The path went into more tall grass, but the grass was green and normal looking, and they couldn't see any red seeds. The sky on that side of the river seemed to be blue and the clouds white. It looked almost normal, except for the sizzling acid river.

The day got long, and the boy did not return. They were getting very tired, and very hot, and very hungry, and very thirsty.

"Do you suppose he's coming back?" asked Bid.

"No", said Bod.

Just then the boy reappeared, followed by an old, old man with a long white beard, carrying a white package and a fishing pole. The boy also had a package, a big heavy one it seemed.

They didn't say anything. The old man looked at them with annoyance, and unfolded his white package. It was a big sheet kind of thing and he spread it out on the ground.

The boy sat down beside it and unwrapped his package. He sat it on the sheet and began to blow on a pipe attached to it. Finally it began to expand. It looked like a very big balloon.

He blew and blew. And it was a balloon, or sort of a balloon. Finally it got bigger and bigger and began to rise off the sheet. The old man then took the four corners of the sheet and attached them to the bottom of the balloon. Then he attached the whole shebang to the a line on the fishing pole.

And he walked away up the river, with the fishing pole over his shoulder and the balloon bobbing along behind him. Finally he stopped, turned toward the river, and began to reel out the line on the fishing pole so the balloon could float away. There was just enough breeze that it floated out over the river. He must have done this before, as the balloon came to hover right over where Bid and Bod sat on the shore.

Then Bid noticed that there was a long string hanging from the sheet that hung under the balloon.

"Pull down on the string!" shouted the boy.

 So they did - both together.

"Climb into the sheet!" shouted the boy.

Bid looked at Bod. Bod looked at Bid.

The sheet was very thin and not very big. It did make a sort of basket, with its four corners tied up to the balloon, but it did not look very strong.

"Are we supposed to go across the river in that?" asked Bod.

"I think so", answered Bid.

"I'm scared."

"So am I!"

"Don't worry", yelled the boy. He's done this before. He won't let you land in the river. "Although he would probably like to", he added under his breath.

So Bid climbed in and Bod climbed in.

"Throw out the rock", yelled the boy.

They hadn't noticed that there was a rock in the sheet, but they threw it out, and the balloon began to rise, but only a little.

Then the old man began to slowly jerk the fishing pole. The balloon would rise up a little and sink a little. Soon it was out over the river and the fumes were awful.

It rose. It sank. They thought for sure they were going to land in the acid river. They closed their eyes. Once the edge of the sheet touched the acid and it hissed, but the old man jerked the pole again and they shot up and then - with a rough bump - landed on the far bank of the river by the boy. The old man was now nearby. He looked disgusted.

"Don't move!" commanded the old man. He put down the fishing pole. Then he took out a long pin and punctured the big white balloon. It hissed and hissed and collapsed on the ground. The boy carefully undid the sheet from around them and spread it out on the ground.

"Don't move!" said the boy. "We have to get ALL the red seeds off of you."

"Why?", asked Bod.

"Shut up", said Bid. "They are stinky rose seeds, you fool. They don't want any of them on their side of the river!"

"That's right", said the boy. "We have to be very careful."

The old man, still looking at them fiercely, came over and began to pick seeds out of their hair.

"You can at least help!" he said. "Pick those awful things off your shoes!"

"Keep them on the sheet", said the boy.

So they picked and picked for at least an hour. Finally the old man seemed satisfied that they were seed-free, and he had them carefully step off the sheet. Then he inspected them again. The boy carefully rolled up the sheet with the seeds inside. Then he took the sheet and the balloon down to the acid river and threw them in. They made a satisfying hiss and disappeared.

"Hmmph", said the old man. And he picked up his fishing pole and went away.

"You must be hungry," said the boy. "Come into my cabin and we'll get something to eat."

"I'm dying of thirst", said Bod.

"Be polite", said Bid.

"You're dying of thirst too", said Bod.

"We'll have something to drink first", said the Boy. He seemed kind but also looked worried.

Inside the cabin was pretty dark, but there was a soft pink glow in one corner from a kind of lamp. It wasn't exactly a lamp, there was no bulb, there was no shade, there was nothing holding it up off the floor or attaching it to the wall. It just sat there and glowed in the corner.

"What is that?" asked Bid.

The boy didn't answer, he just looked at them strangely and filled two glass cups with some clear pink liquid.

"Is this some kind of soda?" whispered Bod.

He didn't think the boy could hear him. He had whispered very close to Bid's ear and the river outside made a lot of noise, but the boy did.

"It is good", said the boy. "Don't be afraid. Here, see, I'll drink some too. After you drink this you won't be thirsty for 3 days."

"And it will take you three days to get home", he added.

"How to you know it will take three days?" asked Bid. "You haven't even asked where we live!"

"It will take three days no matter where you live", said the Boy. "It always takes three days."

Bid drank very cautiously from her glass cup. It was good. She was surprised. So Bod drank from his glass cup too. He really was very thirsty.

The Boy didn't say anything else. He went to a cupboard and took out what looked like a very long loaf of bread. Using his hands, which had unusually long fingers, he tore off a piece and handed it to Bod. Then he tore off another piece and handed it to Bid. It was creamy white on the inside and brown on the outside and it LOOKED like bread. But it tasted sort of like roasted chicken.

The boy took a piece for himself and sat cross-legged on the floor. So they also sat cross-legged on the floor. They all ate all their piece of bread and drank all their glass cup of pink stuff, but he didn't offer them any more.

"You won't be hungry for three days either", the Boy said. But he didn't say anything else.

Finally Bid asked, "Can you tell us how to get to our home?"

"First you have to build your boat", said the Boy. "Then you have to sail away on the river. I don't know what happens after that."

"You mean on that river full of acid!" spluttered Bid.

The Boy didn't say anything. He just looked worried and went out the door.

After a moment, Bid and Bod got up and went out the door too. The Boy was nowhere in sight. The river still hissed and steamed. Finally they sat down and hugged their knees up to their chins. It was chilly so they moved close together. They watched the river. They wished someone would come back. They wished the Bird would come back. The Boy had called the bird Harry so he must come here sometimes? But mostly they wished the Boy would come back. They didn't wish the old man would come back. They didn't think he liked them very much.

Finally it started to get dark.

"Do you think we should go into the cabin?" said Bid.

"I guess so", said Bod.

So they went into the cabin. The pink glow was still in the corner. There didn't seem to be any bed, so they lay down on the floor, as far away from the pink glow-light as they could get. They were sort of afraid of it. It looked alive.

They went to sleep. They didn't plan to go to sleep, but they were very tired.

Several hours later, around midnight probably, the pink glow-light moved slowly over them. It was warm. It felt good to them and they didn't wake up. The glow-light moved closer. It bounced up and down. Finally it lowered itself and touched Bid on the shoulder.

"Ouch!" Bid yelled.

"What!" Bod yelled, and jumped up.

Bid rubbed her shoulder.

"Something burned me I think!" said Bid.

The pink glow-light, embarrassed, had moved away. But now it sighed and swirled around, trying to tell them to go out the door. They were now wary of it, and it was good, and it finally pushed them out the door.

There on the grass was a pile of fresh leaves. Big leaves. Very big leaves. They were long and very tough. They were dark green with yellow stripes down their centers. The pink glow-light rose up over the pile of leaves and just sat there, casting a warm pink light.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" asked Bod.

"You're asking me?" said Bid.

"There's no one else here is there", answered Bod.

Just then the Boy reappeared. He was bent over under another huge pile of the green leaves. He threw them down next to the others. He looked very tired.

He sat down on the grass and rested for awhile. Nobody said anything. Finally he took a silver flute out of his pocket and began to play a tune. Sort of a sad tune.

After a long while he stopped playing, sighed, and said "You have to build your boat."

"How?" asked Bid.

"How?" asked Bod.

"I can't tell you how", answered the Boy. "And I can't help you. You have to do it yourself".

"Just start", said the Boy. "The rule is, if I help you, the boat will sink and you will both drown."

"I'm sorry", he added, after a while. And he did look very sorry. And very tired. He had, after all, picked all those leaves and carried them here from somewhere probably very far away.

"What are we going to do?", Bod asked Bid.

"I don't know", she answered.

Finally they went over and picked up a leaf. It was not as heavy as they expected but it was so long they each had to hold an end to lift it off the ground.

And then something strange happened. The leaf just seemed to move gently in their hands. It twisted and turned. It pulled them over to another leaf. Gradually they built the boat. They built it with their hands, but it seemed as if the leaves guided them. They wove the leaves in and out, in and out, over and under, over and under and around. It took a long time, but when they were finished the boat seemed very tight. All the time the pink glow stayed up above them so they could see what they were doing and how the boat was growing.

Finally they were finished.

"Let's get in and try it out", said Bid.

Bod agreed and they climbed over the side. It was actually pretty comfortable and smooth inside.

"Do you think it will float", asked Bod.

"I don't know", answered Bid.

"It will float", said the Boy. They had thought that he had gone to sleep. "Stay in the boat and I will push it into the river."

"I will miss you", said the Boy. I don't get many visitors here.

"Wait!", called Bid. "We are not ready to go! What if this boat sinks!"

"It won't sink", said the Boy. "And you have to go. That is the rule."

"Whose rule?" asked Bid.

"Just the rule. Don't ask questions. That could lead to trouble. ", said the Boy. And with that he pushed the boat into the river.

"One more rule", shouted the Boy. "Don't stop on the other side. Don't get any of those red seeds. Those are the seeds of the stinky rose and they are trying to get out into your world. We have to fight them all the time in our world."

"Good luck", he shouted. He was waving with both arms from the bank and they were rapidly moving away on the river.

"Good-by! And thank you", shouted Bid and Bod.

They waved back at the boy until it was too dark to see him. But they could still see the pink glow-light. They thought it was waving too. Then it was gone.

Now it was really dark, and the river was hissing all around them, and they were scared. They huddled together in the bottom of the boat, right in the center. They were afraid it would tip over. A long time went by. But at least they were not hungry or thirsty. Maybe the Boy was right about the pink drink and the chicken tasting bread - maybe they would not be hungry for three days, or thirst either. After a while some stars came out. They looked up at the sky and tried to find the Big Dipper.

They became drowsy, finally. You can only be scared for so long. The sun came up but they were afraid to look over the side, they were afraid they would tip the boat over into the acid river. The sun went down. It came up and went down again. They went to sleep. It was almost three days and they were beginning to get hungry again. And thirsty. And they did not know what to do.

On the third morning Bid woke up and the boat was swirling round and round. The sky was blue. There was no more acid smell from the river

Bod woke up. There were white normal clouds in the sky.

Suddenly there was a rose bush in the sky! A pink rose-bush. Their rose-bush! They both jumped up, heedless of whether they would tip the boat over or not! They were in their pond, caught in an eddy right next to their island. Randolph the dog was lapping the water.

Bod grabbed an overhanging limb of the rose bush. Bid grabbed Bod's feet. They pulled themselves up with great joy. Randolph the dog barked and slurped up a drink from the pond. The leaf boat swirled around and sank.

Bod looked at Bid. Bid looked at Bod. "We're home! We're home!"

They scrambled onto the island.

Bid looked at Bod. Bod looked at Bid. "What about the stinky rose?" they both thought at the same time.

But they cautiously crawled around the rose bush, and the stinky rose was there. But it was shriveled up and dead. And it no longer stunk.

They threw it into the pond and it sank.

And they slept well that night!

THE END

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