Grumplets and Pests

by Asia Citro

  The grumplet rubbed its tummy and took a few more steps into the clearing and found another candy. And ate it. A nearby grumplet let go of a strand of Pip’s happiness and walked over to a candy and ate it. Another grumplet did the same.

  “YOU ARE NO FUN TO PLAY WITH, ZOEY!” Pip stomped once and then hopped off.

  Sassafras struggled to get free to go after Pip but I held him tight. I whispered in his ear, “They didn’t see the candy right away, but look!”

  All of the grumplets were now eating candy. It was working!

  CHAPTER 12

  CANDY

  Back at the house, I sat at the kitchen table and wrote in my science journal:

  Sassafras jumped up and snuggled into my lap.

  “OK, I think it could work! We just need to put candy in the forest. Or… give our friends candy to throw when they start feeling grumpy? Or…?” I looked down at Sassafras.

  He bumped my chin with his head. “Meow.”

  “Yeah, there’s no way we can actually use candy. It would get all gross in the forest. It works, but it’s still not actually a solution. Great.” I crossed my arms on the table and lay my head down.

  “Hey, kiddo!” I felt a hand on my head.

  “Hey, Dad,” I grumbled.

  “It sounds like you could use a snack, huh?”

  “Mrrowww!” Sassafras leapt down from my lap and wove between my dad’s legs.

  Dad laughed and went to the fridge. “OK, buddy, a snack for you too.”

  When I heard the sound of a plate being set in front of me, I finally lifted my head. “Thanks.”

  He frowned. “You OK?”

  “Yeah.” I leaned my head on my hand. “Just stuck on a problem.”

  “Want any help?”

  “I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually,” I said. And then I crossed my fingers under the table because I really hoped I was right about that.

  Dad grabbed a can of cat food from the pantry. I heard the grating sound of the electric can opener whirring.

  Sassafras also heard it, and began prancing with joy.

  At least someone was happy. “Ugh. Why can’t I just plant candy!?!” I exclaimed. I popped a strawberry in my mouth.

  Dad chuckled. “Good one, Zoey! Plant candy!”

  “Huh?” I said through a mouthful of berry.

  “Isn’t that what you said?” Dad set Sassafras’s snack down. “I couldn’t hear over the can opener. I thought you called your berries ‘plant candy,’ which is pretty clever! I mean, they are sort of exactly that, right?”

  Plant candy! That was it!!! I leapt up and gave him a big squeeze. “You’re a genius, Dad!”

  “Uh, thanks?” said Dad with one eyebrow raised as he headed back to his office.

  A head peeked in the kitchen. “What did I miss?” asked Mom.

  I gave her a quick summary of everything I’d figured out.

  “Interesting hypothesis!” she said. “What are you going to do next?”

  Hmmm. I looked at the notes in my science journal. “Well, I think I’ll try what I did last time with Pip, but maybe this time I’ll have him throw the food toward the grumplets from the start. That way maybe they’ll eat the berries right away and leave Pip’s happiness alone!”

  “That sounds like a great plan,” said Mom.

  “Meow!” added Sassafras.

  “Oh! And if that works, then we need to find berries in the forest. Or could we plant them in a part of the forest farther away? The monsters said the grumplets eventually move on to other places. Maybe if we get them to start heading somewhere else, we can have the rest of the summer to play without grumpiness!”

  Sassafras purred.

  “I’ll get Pip to run another test with me, but this time with berries,” I said. “While we do that, could you figure out if there’s a patch of forest berries somewhere at the edge of the forest away from my friends?”

  Mom smiled. “I’d be happy to.”

  “All right, Sass, let’s go find—” I was about to say “Pip” when the magic doorbell rang.

  Sassafras and I exchanged a look and ran off to the barn.

  CHAPTER 13

  PIP (AGAIN,

  AGAIN)

  I wondered if we would find a new magical creature in trouble. Or maybe someone else had noticed the grumplets were making everyone in the forest miserable and had come to us for help?

  I opened the door, and there was Pip.

  “Sorry about earlier when I threw the candy, Zoey,” he said, looking at the ground instead of at me. “I just had a—”

  “BAD CASE OF THE GRUMPLETS!” we said at the same time and laughed.

  “It’s OK, Pip. We understand,” I said as Sassafras, Pip, and I shared a three-way hug.

  “Have you come up with a solution yet?” Pip asked. “It’s getting really bad out there in the forest. EVERYONE is fighting. I’m having the worst summer ever.”

  “Don’t worry, Pip. I’ve got a plan.”

  Pip was excited to help, so after I grabbed my bowl of berries, his napkin picnic blanket, and my science journal, he hopped on my head and the three of us headed out to the clearing once again.

  We got Pip all set up, and Sassafras and I once again hid in the bushes.

  “OH, THESE BERRIES ARE SO DELICIOUS!” Pip proclaimed.

  “THEY TASTE LIKE HAPPINESS AND JOY AND JUST SO MUCH GOODNESS!”

  He waved his arms about.

  “I JUST DO NOT HAVE THE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THEIR YUMMINESS. EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THESE! HAPPY! JOY!”

  Sassafras’s ears pricked. The grumplets came faster this time! I quietly clapped my hands.

  I gasped. “Sass—look!” I whisper-shouted to my cat. “They are looking on the ground first!”

  Sure enough, instead of grabbing the joy in the air first, the grumplets were snorting and snuffling along the ground.

  Pip started flinging berries every which way. “OH, WHOOPS! I’M SUCH A SLOPPY EATER! BERRIES ARE GOING EVERYWHERE!”

  I held my hand over my mouth while I laughed. Oh, Pip!

  It worked, though. The grumplets made their way over to the berries Pip had tossed everywhere and ate them!

  “OH MY, I AM RUNNING OUT OF BERRIES! UHHH…?” Pip gave me a worried look.

  Oh no! Would those berries be enough for the grumplets to leave Pip’s joy alone?

  He tossed around the final few, and we all waited. I was sure that he’d storm off at any minute. But then a weird thing happened. The grumplets patted their tummies. And then walked away.

  After they were gone, Pip hopped over to us. “Zoey! It worked! I don’t feel the least bit grumpy!”

  “WE DID IT!” Pip and I cheered and hopped up and down while Sassafras bounded around us.

  It was time to try the last part of my plan.

  CHAPTER 14

  THE BIG PLAN

  “MOOOM!” I shouted as I came through the back door with a frog on my head and a cat at my feet.

  Mom grinned as soon as she saw our happy, excited faces. “It worked!”

  “It totally did,” I said. “Pip didn’t even get grumpy. The grumplets got full on berries just as we ran out of them. It was a close call.”

  Pip hopped over to my mom’s shoulder and gave her a snuggle. “So now we need to find a big patch of strawberries in the forest, right?”

  Mom had him hop onto her hand so she could talk to him better. “Well, not exactly. We don’t have any wild strawberries growing around here.”

  “Oh,” said Pip, thinking for a moment. “Then let’s plant some blackberries!”

  “Well,” said Mom, “blackberries are actually invasive plants around here.”

  “Invas-a-what?” asked Pip.

  “Invasive means that it grows too much in a place it’s not supposed to,” I chimed in. “Then there’s no room for the native plants—the plants that are supposed to be here.”

  Pip flopped down on my mom’s palm. “Well then, that’s it. We’re DOOMED.”

>   Mom and I laughed.

  “Don’t give up yet, Pip!” Mom lifted his chin with her finger. “I found a local reforestation group that’s doing some native plantings a few miles away in a nearby forest.”

  “YESSS!” I pumped my fist. “Berries too?”

  “They are planting a bunch of different things,” Mom said. “Some are trees, some are bushes, and some are definitely berries. They said they had several black-capped raspberries, huckleberries, and thimbleberries that need to be planted.”

  My tummy rumbled, and Mom and I laughed. “I love forest berries,” I told Pip. “A lot.”

  “I signed us up for the planting this Saturday,” Mom said. “It’s summer, so the berry plants we’re planting should be producing berries right now. But …”

  “We have to find a way to get the grumplets over to the new patch of berries after we plant them,” I finished.

  “Exactly,” said Mom.

  My shoulders dropped. “There’s no way Pip could yell about how tasty the berries are from miles away.”

  “That’s true.” Pip grinned. “But you know someone who is loud enough.” He held out his hand, waiting for me to figure it out.

  I knew someone who could yell from miles away? But to be that loud they’d have to be seriously HUGE. “OH!” I gasped.

  Mom raised her eyebrows at me. She still hadn’t guessed.

  “Tiny!” I cheered.

  CHAPTER 15

  TINY!

  On Saturday, Mom and I worked hard with the team of volunteers planting the native plants, including all the berries. But I didn’t mind the work. I love plants, and even better than that—the next day I was going to see TINY!!! I hadn’t seen him since I helped heal his hoof.

  “Do you think he’ll be even bigger?” I whispered to Mom as we patted down the soil around a thimbleberry we’d just planted.

  “I suspect so.” Mom laughed. “Though that’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?”

  I grinned. I could hardly wait.

  After we got home and washed up, I did my best to keep busy. I read books, brushed Sassafras, checked on my garden, and finally went to sleep. I dreamed of unicorns, obviously.

  The next morning, Mom and Sass and I took the car to the new berry patch. As we turned the corner and it came into view, I pressed my whole face against the window.

  “WHOAAA!” I said.

  Six ginormous unicorns towered over everything. I squinted at their hooves. Oh! There was our tiny Pip!

  We parked, and Sassafras and I burst out of the car and ran over to Tiny, who was, in fact, taller.

  “ZOEY AND CAT!!!” Tiny boomed.

  “Tiny!” I hugged his enormous leg while Sassafras lovingly rubbed his face on another leg.

  Tiny tilted his head one way and said, “TINY’S MOM AND DAD!” and then tilted it the other way and said, “TINY’S SISTER AND BROTHERS.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you all!” I shouted up. Each member of Tiny’s family took turns lowering their heads so I could pet them gently on the nose.

  “UNICORNS HAPPY TO HELP,” Tiny said. “MUCH GRUMPY IN THE FOREST. ZOEY FIX IT?”

  “I sure hope so. Let’s get these grumplets out of our forest!”

  The unicorns nodded. The gust of wind knocked me down, and Pip and Sassafras went rolling.

  “OOPS. SORRY!” said the unicorns.

  Pip brushed himself off, and Sassafras gave a good shake. “Let’s stick to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ instead of nodding, yeah?” Pip said.

  “YES,” said the unicorns.

  “OK,” Pip continued, “Zoey and I are going to make a trail of berries from the edge of the forest over to this new patch of berries. Once we’ve set that down, we need you to shout about how good the berries are. Hopefully the grumplets will come running toward your voices, find the berry trail, and follow it to our new field of berries. Got it?”

  “YES,” said the unicorns.

  Mom handed me and Pip each a container of berries. We didn’t want to use up the wild ones growing on the bushes for this. Then we laid out a trail of berries leading from the edge of the forest over to the new patch of berries. I crossed my fingers, whispered, “please let this work,” and then nodded up to the unicorns as everyone on the ground covered their ears with their hands.

  “NEW GOOD BERRIES!” shouted one.

  “MANY KINDS OF YUMMY,” shouted a second.

  “WE HAVE MUCH HAPPY OVER HERE!” added Tiny.

  We waited and waited. The unicorns used their loudest voices to let the whole forest know about the new berries.

  But where were the grumplets?

  CHAPTER 16

  DISAPPOINTED

  I dragged my feet over to Mom. “I don’t understand. I thought this would work!” I felt like crying, but I took some breaths and tried to stay calm. We’d figure out something, I told myself.

  “I did too, sweetie.” Mom hugged me. “But it’s a long way to walk. First the grumplets have to hear the unicorns, then they have to walk a few miles through the forest toward the sound until they find the berry trail from the edge of the forest to here. That could take some time, I imagine.”

  “I guess,” I said. “It’s just that the grumplets were really fast when I saw them last. I figured they’d be here by now.” I flumped to the ground, crossed my legs, and set my head in my hands. Pip and Sassafras came over and snuggled me.

  Then Sassafras started chattering.

  I looked up. Sassafras was chattering? That meant…

  “Yesss!” I whispered. I could see the first of the grumplets eating a berry from our berry trail.

  The unicorns spotted it and stopped shouting. They effortlessly glided to either side of the berry trail to clear a path for the grumplets.

  First one, then another, then several more grumplets appeared. They followed the berry trail just like I’d planned.

  When the grumplets got to the plants, they looked a little confused. Then they started snuffling. One found a berry on the plant and stared for a minute, then plucked it off and ate it.

  The others watched and did the same!

  “I hope there are enough berries!” I whispered to Mom, and she nodded.

  They ate just a few of the wild berries before patting their stomachs. The smallest grumplet gave a little burp!

  “What are they going to do now, Zoey?” whispered Pip.

  “I have no idea,” I whispered back.

  The grumplets moved a bit farther into the new patch of plants, and one of the grumplets pointed at an old hollowed-out tree trunk. All the grumplets snortled and squeaked at each other, and then they looked along the ground.

  I stood and picked up Sassafras so we could get a better view. Pip hopped on Mom’s head and she stood too.

  “What are they doing?” I whispered.

  The grumplets were gathering up moss and lichen and putting it in the hollow part of the trunk.

  “Oh! I think they are making a bed!” I quietly told Sassafras.

  “Meow!” he replied.

  One by one the grumplets piled on top of each other inside the tree trunk. Before we knew it, they were SNORING! We held back our giggles so we wouldn’t wake them.

  CHAPTER 17

  TIME TO CHECK

  Mom said there was no telling what the grumplets would do next—we just had to wait and hope.

  Sassafras and I did our best to keep busy. We went on a lot of hikes, built forts, had playdates with friends, made kale chips, and crafted.

  It was getting hotter and hotter, so we went to the stream to cool off. I eagerly rolled up my pants and waded into the stream. The merhorses chased me and licked my ankles, which made me crack up. Sassafras was, of course, staying dry on the shore, watching us play.

  “Hey, Sassafras!” I said between fits of laughter. “It’s been a long time since any of our friends have been really grumpy.”

  “Meow!” he exclaimed. He turned to chase a cricket in the grass.

  “Do you think Mom will dr
ive us out to check on the grumplets yet?” I asked him as I smiled down at the merhorses in the water.

  “Mrrowww,” he said, distracted by the cricket chase, followed by a much louder “MEOW!”

  That couldn’t be good.

  I looked over to see Sassafras giving Pip an angry look.

  “Ah, crickets are delicious.” Pip rubbed his belly. “Sorry, old friend.”

  I shuddered, thinking of how crunchy crickets must be. Ew.

  “Hey, Zoey!” Pip called. “I thought I heard you laughing. I wanted to ask you—are the grumplets officially gone? No one’s seen them in the forest lately.”

  I wiggled my fingers underwater to wave goodbye to the merhorses and carefully waded over to the shore. “We were just talking about asking Mom if she’d drive us over to check. Want to come?”

  Pip hopped up on my head, and I took him and Sassafras across the stream and back to my house. We all pleaded with Mom until she agreed to take us.

  We were just getting in the car when I remembered my camera. “One sec!” I said and dashed off to get it.

  Once we got to the berry patch, we noticed there were a few ripe ones that were uneaten. “That’s a good sign, right?” I asked. “Maybe they’ve already moved on.”

  “Could be,” Mom said, fanning herself.

  We peeked in the hollow tree trunk. It looked like it had been slept in, but we couldn’t see or hear the grumplets anywhere.

  “Mrrowww!” called Sassafras from farther away.

  We followed the sound, and I squatted down next to him. “What did you find, buddy?”

  Sassafras put his nose to a patch of what had once been mud. I brushed aside some grass and branches and sure enough—we saw grumplet footprints that the heat had dried into the mud.

  “Mom!” I exclaimed. “These are leading away from the forest, right? Do you think the grumplets have moved on? Maybe they’re looking for more berries farther away?”