Table of Contents

*The Cave

*The Ice Cream Shop

*The Lemon Tree

The Cave

The Stipps

Timothy and Marigold were cousins.  They were also friends.  And they loved to go on adventures together.  

One day Timothy went to Marigold’s house and said, “Marigold! Are you ready for an adventure?  I found a cave and I want to explore it with you.”

“Sure Timothy!  Let’s go!” she said.

They walked to the cave.  Through the meadow, over the bridge, along the path, beyond the clearing, past the tree with the twisted trunk, and to the cave.

“Here it is,” Timothy said when they got there.  “The caaaaaaave!”

“Ohhh.  Yes, it is a cave! What should we do now?”  asked Marigold.

“We should go in and explore it!”  exclaimed Timothy.

“Explore it?  I’m not so sure!  What if there are bears or bats or spiders inside?  I don’t want to see bears or bats or spiders!” said Marigold.

"Spiders wouldn’t be so bad," Timothy replied. "But not bears or bats,” he agreed.

Timothy stood on a log and put his hands in the air to think about how to explore the cave. Marigold thought too.  She looked down at the ground and brushed some debris with her feet.

“I know!” Marigold said triumphantly, picking up a stick.  “Let’s throw this stick in there and see what happens.”

“That’s a great idea Marigold!  And that is a beautiful stick.  Can I throw it in?”

“Sure!” Marigold gave Timothy the stick.  Timothy swung his arm back and threw the stick with all his might into the cave.  Thud, it sounded on the cave floor.

They stood there looking at the cave for a few seconds waiting for something to happen.  But nothing happened.  After a while Marigold turned to Timothy and said, “That was fun!  Let’s go back home.”

As they turned to leave, they heard something fall to the ground behind them.  They turned back around and saw their stick laying outside the cave.

The two cousins looked at one another amazed.   “That’s our stick!” they said at the exact same time. 

Timothy ran and grabbed the stick and threw it in again.  Thud, it went on the cave floor.

They stayed and watched the entrance of the cave for longer than they did the first time.  And sure enough, they saw with their very eyes the stick come flying back out of the cave and land on the ground outside.

“I think someone is in there,” said Marigold.  

“...or something,” added Timothy.

Hello?!

Hello! Hello!

“Hello?!”  Marigold cried into the cave.

“Hello!”  Replied a voice.

But it wasn’t an echo.  It was a voice.  It was a voice they knew.

Timothy gave a great big, “Hello! Hello!” into the cave and another voice responded, “Hello!”  But it wasn’t an echo.  It was another voice.  Another voice they knew.

“Betsy?” asked Marigold. “Rozalie?” asked Timothy.

At that, the two girls came bounding out of the cave reeling with laughter.  

“We heard Timothy ask Marigold if she wanted to come to the cave for an adventure,” explained Betsy between bits of laughter.

“Yeah, and we ran here as fast as we could before you got here, to give you a surprise,” added Rozlie.

“That was quite a surprise!”  said Timothy laughing.  Marigold laughed too.

“Now let’s go get some ice cream,” suggested Betsy.

“Yeah!”  agreed Marigold, Timothy and Rozalie at the exact same time.

And the four kids went past the tree with the twisted trunk, beyond the clearing, along the path, over the bridge, through the meadow to the house to pick up Joshua, who has been taking a nap during the cave adventure.  And the five cousins skipped to the ice cream shop together.

The

Ice Cream

Shop

Marigold, Betsy, Rozalie, and their cousins Timothy and Joshua went to the ice cream shop.  When they walked in, the smelled of delicious sweet creamy goodness filled their noses and made them jump up and down.   

Three teenagers were working behind the counter getting ice cream and smoothies and milk shakes for their customers.  They had ice cream cone name tags on their matching bright pink shirts.  One name tag said, “Isaac.”  Another said, “Suzy.” And the other said, “Eli.”  

They were all very busy but when they saw the five cousins walk in, they stopped what they were doing and greeted them with the friendliest,

“Hello!”

“Hi guys!”

“Come on in!"

Isaac

Suzy

Eli

“I love this place,” said Betsy.

“Me too!” said Rozalie.

“I love this place too” said Marigold.

 “This is my first time here and I love it too,” added Timothy.

 “Too!”  said Joshua.

 “I already know what I want,” said Betsy. “I get the same thing every time I come.  Bubble gum. You have to eat it carefully.  You take a bite and let the ice cream around the bubble gum melt in your mouth.  Then you hold the bubble gum in your cheek and swallow the ice cream.  When you are all done eating the ice cream then you can chew the gum.  It’s really good!  But you can’t talk while you eat it because you might swallow the bubble gum by accident.”

“That one is good, but I like Lemon Gelato.  The Gelato is so soft and creamy. Plus I love yellow, just like Grandma.  It makes me happy,” said Rozalie.

Joshua sat down on an ice cream cone chair while the kids continued talking about flavors. 

“They both sound delicious!  How about you, Marigold?” asked Timothy.

 “Chocolate with a cherry on top,” declared Marigold.

Timothy was undecided.  All his cousins were so confident and certain about their flavors.  But he wasn’t so sure.  

“They have more flavors,” said Betsy.

“Yeah, look in here, Timothy.  This is the freezer where we keep all the flavors,” said Suzy, who had been listening from behind the counter.

Timothy was amazed as he looked through the window of the freezer and saw tubs full of all sorts of colors and swirls and chunks.

“Try the blue one,” said Marigold pointing to a bright blue tub of ice cream.  “It says 'S,'“ she added pointing to the label.

“You’re right, Marigold!  That ice cream starts with an 'S.' It says 'Superman,'” explained Suzy.

Timothy raised his eyebrows high.  “Superman ice cream!  Do you think it will that make me fly?” he asked Marigold in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” she said.  “Try it!” 

So they all ordered their flavor in a cone. Bubblegum for Betsy, Lemon Gelato for Rozalie, Chocolate with a cherry on top for Marigold, and Superman for Timothy.  They gave their money to Isaac who was working the cash register and started to leave.

“Wait! What about Joshua?” asked Marigold. 

Joshua had been sitting on an ice cream cone chair taking napkins out of a napkin holder so quietly they

almost forgot about him!

Eli, who had just finished making a banana milk shake for a customer, walked out from behind the counter, and picked Joshua up from the ice cream cone chair.  “Joshua, how about we get you my favorite flavor? Would you like that?”

Joshua liked that idea and nodded his head and touched Eli’s nose.  “Like it!” he said.

“And a scoop of strawberry for Joshua!” Eli announced.