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Three neighbours had gathered at one of the little houses that lined the main street in PnF town. The friends had known each other for years and always did everything together. Pepper, the youngest, was already dressed up in her unicorn costume and refused to take it off. Stephen, the jolly brown bear, had decided to be a scarecrow for Halloween—an easy costume that only required sticking some straw in his tan fur and slapping a straw hat on his head. The hat he would wear all day until it was time for trick-or-treating.

The big Halloween party would start later that night, and the whole town looked forward to this treat hosted by the PnF Entertainment Society.



“Wow! It is Halloween morning. What if we all go and look at the decorated houses and plan the best route for tonight to go trick-or-treating?” Stephen was practically bouncing with excitement and Dan Marino was pretending to be a plane and ran around with his arms out.

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“You don’t need your trick-or-treat bag right now,” Stephen told little Pepper as all three trooped out the door.

“I want to take it; it completes my costume, and someone might want to give me some candy.” Pepper held tightly to her bag.

Shephen shrugged as the three walked down the street to admire the Halloween decorations.

The first decorated house the trio came to was Mrs. Wolf’s house; she was outside with a plate of Halloween cookies in her hands. Pepper raced to the porch and thanked Mrs. Wolf, shoving one cookie in her mouth and the other in her bag. Pepper turned and gave a big grin of I-told-you-so to Stephen.

Mrs. Wolf had done a great job of decorating the outside of her house.

Thanking Mrs. Wolf and munching on their treats, the three continued down the street.

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The next house belonged to Mrs. and Mr. Bear. They were famous in the area for their apple trees and the pies they made. The air was sweet with a slightly spicy scent as the three drew close to a house all decorated for Halloween, and an apple dunking barrel was already outside waiting for the evening.

Mrs. Bear was outside and offered the three some slices of apple pie.

“This is delicious!” The trio chimed.

While the three enjoyed the warm apple pie, they admired the decorations, talking about who would be the first to get an apple out of the dunking barrel when they returned later that evening.

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Somehow, in all the excitement of munching pie and looking at Halloween-decorated houses, Pepper wandered off on her own down a lane. She gazed with joy at the houses and carved pumpkins. Pepper jumped into a pile of leaves, and a cookie flew out. Laughing gaily, she picked up the cookie and placed it in her bag.

Pepper spied a large garbage bin between two houses. A piece of paper with slightly curled edges caught her attention. There was a strange glow coming from behind the paper. Pepper tugged on one of the edges, and whoosh! The air around Pepper crackled, and she felt as if she was being rotated in the air. Everything went misty and blurry.

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Pepper went whirling

swirling

tumbling

all while clutching her treat bag close to her chest and crying out in a tiny voice, “Help me, please help me!”

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“Where is Pepper?”

Stephen grabbed Dan Marino.

“She was just here, I am sure.”

Looking around, neither saw any sign of Pepper. They asked the gnome who was standing in front of his door. He had not seen their friend.

Frantically, Stephen and Dan Marino searched the area, backtracking and then moving onward to houses they had not seen yet. No sign of Pepper.

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“Look,” Dan Marino pointed down a lane. “Pepper may have gone down here, those houses look nicely decorated.”

Stephen and Dan Marino raced down the lane. They saw no sign of Pepper, but they did spy something suspicious in front of a garbage bin. A cookie had fallen on the brick road.

“What would Pepper have been doing in front of this garbage bin, I am sure this is one of the cookies she collected.”

The two friends looked around but could see nothing to help them.

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When the world stopped spinning, Pepper opened her eyes and tried to look around. Still a bit dizzy, I better sit down.

Pepper could hear whispering all around her.

“Where did it come from?

“What is it?”

“Why is it here?”

“I can hear you, you know,” grumped Pepper.

“It speaks!”

Pepper opened her eyes again, now that she felt steadier. She looked around and found three curious creatures surrounding her and staring at her most rudely.

Pepper stood up to give herself some height—she had read that if confronted by a strange creature, appearing larger may scare the creature off. It seemed to have no effect on these beings.

“I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know how I got here; there was a light and then a whoosh, and here I am wherever here is, and I have to get back to my friends.”

The creatures giggled and pointed along a path that Pepper could now see through a dark forest.

“Go that way, all the voices said in unison, “Go that way, and you may find what you seek.”

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Dan Marino and Stephen were confused. It was not like Pepper to take off.

“Let’s head back to the main street and ask around.”

Stephen and Dan Marino asked Mr. Gnome and Spot, the Dalmatian if they had seen Pepper. Mr. Gnome offered cookies to the pair while explaining that, yes, indeed, he had seen Pepper when he was out walking earlier. Pepper had gone down the lane; the funny thing was, the end of the lane was as far as Mr. Gnome had walked, and then when he turned around, Pepper was gone.

“I thought I heard a small voice saying, help me, but there was no one around.”

Stephen and Dan Marino thanked Mr. Gnome and walked further down the street.

“This is strange, so what I gather is that Pepper was in that lane, was near that garbage bin and disappeared from there.”

“What is around a garbage bin that would be interesting to Pepper?”

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Pepper had followed the path through the dark woods. She did not feel frightened, which surprised her. This was a most unusual situation, and the surroundings were spooky, to say the least. Pepper had no idea she could be brave, but that is what she was feeling, or maybe the word was determined; she was determined to sort this out and get back to her friends.

Pepper came to the end of the path, and now she found she was in a graveyard. There were old headstones scattered between the trees. Suddenly, she was surrounded by ghosts.

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“Whoa!” said Pepper, “Please stop crowding me. All you folk who live here like to get really close, don’t you?”

The ghosts only got closer to Pepper.

“Do you know how to get back to PnF Land? I tore down a paper with a light behind it—then I found myself in this world. I have never seen anything like that before, but I know that if there is a way into a place, there has to be a way out of a place.”

The ghosts talked amongst themselves.

“You need to go to the old mansion; if you follow along out of this graveyard and continue through the pumpkin field, you will see a hill with an old house on it; maybe that place holds the answer.”

Pepper thanked the ghosts and dropped a cookie from her bag. She found this place; if Stephen and Dan Marino were looking for her and if they found their way here, then maybe leaving a trail of clues would help them find her.

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Stephen and Dan Marino had walked the whole main street and were no closer to finding Pepper.

“I suggest we continue to the field; there is a cabin there; maybe we will find something,” said Stephen.

The two friends were anxious; the afternoon had arrived, and they were worried that Pepper was in danger or trapped somewhere.

They reached the cabin, and Dan Marino yelled out, “I see something on the side of that cabin.”

Stephen and Dan Marino raced to the cabin. Sure enough, a piece of paper had been plastered on the side of the cabin wall; its edges were curled, and a strange light was coming from behind the paper.

“Hang onto me,” said Stephen, “I am going to pull this paper off and see where that light is coming from.”

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Whoosh! Stephen and Dan Marino were swept off their feet and sent tumbling around and around in the air. Everything turned topsy-turvey and misty and dark.

Stephen yelled out, “Dan Marino, are you with me?”

“I am, but I don’t like it,” a strained voice called back.

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Stephen and Dan Marino landed with a soft thud.

“Where are we?” Dan Marino asked.

Stephen looked around. Woods, mist, and what were those creatures, now coming toward them from behind the trees

“More strangers.”

“They look different from the other one.”

“Are they going to stay?”

“What do they eat?”

Stephen stood up and addressed the floating sprites. “You have seen another stranger. What did they look like?”

“Small with a horn on the front of their head and holding a bag filled with these.” One of the sprites handed Stephen a cookie.

“Yes, this belongs to Pepper. We have been looking for her; where is she?”

“The sprites drew closer, and they all pointed along the path. “We told her to go that way.”

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Pepper emerged from the graveyard and into a large field with all sorts of pumpkins growing in it. Some pumpkins looked as if they had been carved already, but she was unsure what they would still be doing in the field if that were the case. Looking around, Pepper spied some tall mountains in the background behind a row of trees and out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a wolf.

An old house or mansion on a hill, I must be getting closer. Pepper placed a cookie on the grass to leave another clue for her friends.

This world was interesting, but it was so dark, that it was making her sleepy. Pepper decided to sit down with her back against a large pumpkin; she ate a cookie and closed her eyes. Just for a small break.

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Stephen and Dan Marino raced along the path the sprites had pointed out. Stephen tripped over some roots and had to be helped up by Dan Marino.

“It won’t do any good if one of us becomes incapacitated.” Dan Marino said.

Huffing and puffing, the two stopped short when they saw the graveyard.

“Look, here is a cookie,” yelled Stephen.

Dan Marino had gone on ahead and was now surrounded by ghosts. Dan Marino was starting to look a little pale.

“It tickles,”giggled Dan Marino, “Stop it.”

Stephen caught up to Dan Marino and found the ghosts circling Dan Marino and whispering.

“Did you see a unicorn? Well a dog dressed as a unicorn holding a bag with cookies in it.” Stephen asked the ghosts.

“Yes,” the ghosts said, “It went that way; there is a pumpkin patch on the path to the old house. Why are so many of you here in our world?”

Stephen tried to explain, but it did not make sense, even to his ears. Maybe Halloween day had some magic to it that very few people knew about, or maybe it was Pepper herself that was magical, or maybe something in this world or place wanted them to visit for some reason. Stephen did not have time to think more about it. Waving goodbye to the ghosts, Stephen and Dan Marino headed for the pumpkin patch.

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Dan Marino and Stephen walked briskly out of the graveyard and along the narrow path and out into a large field, filled with pumpkins. There on the ground, Stephen found another cookie. “Pepper, Pepper,” Stephen yelled.

Dan Marino had gone on ahead and yelled back to Stephen, “Here, Pepper is here.”

Pepper sprang up, “Stephen, Dan Marino you found me. Did you find the cookies I left?”

Stephen hugged Pepper, “Thank goodness we found you. Are you alright? Were you scared? How did you get here?”

“Too many questions,” laughed Pepper. “I am not scared, and I don’t know how I got here only that there was this light and then a whoosh, you must have come here the same way. We have to go to a big mansion, that is what the ghosts said. Do you think it is a trick?”

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The three friends, finally together again, walked out of the pumpkin patch and headed for the mountains.

“The ghosts said the house was on a hill,” said Pepper.

“Why is it so dark and gloomy here,” said Dan Marino. “I am getting tired of this place and want to return to PnF land, and we don’t want to miss the Halloween party.

Stephen nodded. “I just want to put my paws up and eat something warm and delicious.”

“Look,” yelled Pepper.

The three stopped walking. There in front of them was a wolf blocking the path.

Stephen said, “Stick close to me.” "Hey, Mr. Wolf, is this the way to the mansion?”

“It is indeed, said the wolf in a low voice. “You are expected please go on ahead up this path behind me.”

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“Expected,” Stephen whispered. “What does that mean?”

The three continued walking up a narrow path; the sky was dark and forbidding, and there were strange sounds around them.

“Maybe this is home to a wizard who can help us get home,” mused Stephen.

“Maybe there is a witch who lives there that can cast a spell and send us home. I hope we don’t have to drink a disgusting potion,” said Dan Marino.

“I don’t want to think about what we will find, but it won’t be long now, said Pepper, Look, there is the castle.”

The trio stopped and looked up and up and up. In front of them was the largest and creepiest house they had ever seen. The castle had so many towers, roofs, turrets and windows it looked like a small city.

Stephen groaned.

Dan Marino shivered.

Pepper said, “Let’s go!”

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Stephen pushed open the large front door; it creaked and complained but gave eventually. The three stood in awe, looking around the room.

Stephen said, “I guess we should look for another piece of paper. If that is how we got here, maybe that is how we get home.”

They searched the room but found nothing except a cat on a chair who did not even acknowledge they were there.

“Let’s go up these stairs,” said Pepper.

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“It’s a kitchen.” Pepper looked around, “I don’t see any paper, nothing but a huge mess on that table there. I wonder what they were trying to make?”

“Don’t touch any of it," said Stephen, “It smells awful and looks even worse.”

Dan Marino groaned, “I hope that is not a potion we have to drink to get back home.”

Pepper was jumping up and down outside the back doors of the kitchen, “I think I see another door back there.”

The three left the kitchen and walked through the back doors.

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The room they found themselves in was huge and filled with all sorts of beings, most of which the trio had never seen before. Sitting in a chair in the middle of the room was a scary creature with long, sharp teeth and big ears.

“Cookies,” snarled the creature.

“Cookies.”

Cookies.”

“Cookies.” Echoed around the room.

“You brought the cookies. Put them on the table in front of me.”

“What?” said Stephen.

“What?” said Dan Marino.

“What?” said Pepper.

“No one here knows how to make cookies. I heard that Halloween cookies are particularly tasty, and I wanted to try some, and maybe my chef can figure out how to make some for us.”

“You brought us here, wait, that paper; did you have someone stick tricky, sticky, magical paper up around our town? How would you know someone would actually touch the paper? This has all been about cookies?” Stephen sat down on the floor; such was the shock.

“Cookies, yes, it is all about the cookies. Thanks for bringing them. You can find the paper to get home behind my chair.”

Pepper looked at Dan Marino who looked at Stephen who looked at Pepper. “We need to go; we have a party to get to. Don’t call us; we will…probably never call you.”

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“Everybody, hold hands,” said Stephen, “Here we go, home.”

A whoosh, a few seconds of tumbling around in a mist and…thud.

The three were back in PnF land.

“Look at the time, yelled Pepper, “We have to get ready for the Halloween party."

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“Whew! We made it to the party. The house looks great,” said Dan Marino.

“Here have some cookies,” said Pepper.

“I thought you gave all the cookies to that toothy creature in the big mansion.”

“Nope, said Pepper, “I just gave them a few. I still have plenty.”

The three friends helped themselves to some Halloween punch and played some Halloween games. Pepper won the apple dunking contest, while Dan Marino won the pie-eating contest. Stephen did not win any game, though he did not mind; he was so happy that Pepper was safe and they were home again. It had been quite a thrilling Halloween adventure.

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It was well past midnight, and after their great spooky adventure, the three friends were tired. Yawning, they said goodnight to the hosts of the Halloween party, and the three prepared to head home.

Turning to Dan Marino, Stephen said, “Thanks for coming along with me to look for Pepper; this is a special purple egg for you. I hope you join us next year at Halloween again; maybe it won’t be as exciting, but then again, you never know, living here in PnF land, anything can happen.”

Tucked up in bed, each friend finally had some time to relax and think about what had happened to them that day. It had been unusual, but it had been fun as well. Except when Pepper had gone missing, that was not fun. But, once they were all together again, it had been fine. There was nothing they could not face if they were together.
Dan Marino has eaten his fill of treats! Please select another pet as visitor, so it can scrounge lots of kookies!