Poppy's First Bell Parade — Along the riverside boardwalk, gulls cried keek-keek, and Poppy set her little challenge: pedal from the blue bench to the lemonade stand and ring her bell at every painted star on the planks. Read the full story →
Along the riverside boardwalk, gulls cried keek-keek, and Poppy set her little challenge: pedal from the blue bench to the lemonade stand and ring her bell at every painted star on the planks. Her knees buzzed like bees, but the basket smelled of damp leaves and orange blossoms, and the wheels went hum-hum over the warm boards. At the first star she rang, “Ting!” and whispered, “I can do one more.”
Star by star, the breeze lifted the flower heads. Then, at the last star, a tiny voice answered from the basket: “Ting-tong!” It was not the bell at all. A round-faced sunflower bobbed, wearing a dew drop like a glass helmet. Poppy laughed so hard her handlebars wiggled, and the sunflower rang the dew drop again. Together they reached the lemonade stand with two brave sounds, ting and ting-tong; if you spot the basket, can you guess which flower spoke first?
