Chris sighed and breathed in the late evening air. What a great evening for a walk. He decided to head down to the side of the river to think.
When he got there, he noticed he wasn’t alone. Jo was kneeling by the riverbank.
"What are you up to?"
The petite brunette whirled around to see Chris glaring at her. She kept her hands behind her back and smiled. "Just enjoying the local flora and fauna," she said, her eyes twinkling merrily.
Chris was suspicious. "You aren’t planning on playing another trick on me, are you?" he asked, trying to see what she was holding behind her back.
Jo widened her eyes innocently. "Who me?!" she exclaimed. "No way! I wouldn’t play a prank on you!" Tonight, she mentally added.
Chris wasn’t conVINced. "What’s that you’ve got behind your back?"
"Oh nothing. Just...girl stuff."
Chris raised his eyebrows, but didn’t press any further.
"Well, I’m heading back to camp. Talk to you later!" Jo called as she headed back toward the wagons.
"I’d love to know what you’re planning," Nutmeg urged as Jo reached the place the Pranksters had dubbed their "Prank Base".
"Yeah, c’mon. Let us in on the secret," Marianne added.
Jo shook her head firmly. "This is my first real big prank, and I want it to be a surprise."
The other two exchanged glances, but nodded. They could understand that.
"I may need just one teensy tiny favor though," Jo said reluctantly.
"Sure," Nutmeg said eagerly.
"I need someone to create a big distraction so I can pull this off."
Marianne grinned. "Leave it to me."
Two hours later, all hell broke loose. Jo grinned. She wasn’t sure what Marianne had done, but she had sure pulled off the "distraction".
Everyone’s attention was on Marianne. Which gave Jo plenty of time to sneak into one particular wagon to perform the necessary procedures to carry out the prank.
After Jo had rejoined the group, everything started to calm down, and people began drifting to their wagons to go to sleep.
Mary Travis climbed into the wagon and yawned. It had been a long day and she was just longing to climb into bed and go to sleep. She changed into her nightgown and pulled back her blankets.
There, blinking at her in confusion, was a small green frog.
An ear-shattering scream resounded through the camp. The Pranksters covered their ears and Marianne and Nutmeg grinned at Jo in approval.
"What did you do?" they chorused.
Jo smiled mischievously. "I left Mary a little gift."
Chris stormed up to the Pranksters, Mary close behind him. "What is the matter with you?!" he yelled. "What did you do?!"
Jo’s grin faded and her lower lip started to tremble, sticking out in the pout that Marianne helped her perfect. "I only left Mary a present."
"A frog?!" Mary shrieked. "You call a frog a present?!"
Jo started to wail. "I was only tryin’ to be nice! How was I s’pose to know you don’t like frogs? I love frogs. So do Marianne and Nut!"
Mary frowned. "But in my BED?!"
"Well I didn’t want him to hop away," Jo threw herself into Chris’ arms (Ohhhh boy) and sobbed.
Chris hugged Jo and looked at Mary sternly. "You hurt her feelings," he said.
"I...I’m sorry," Mary said feebly. "I didn’t mean to hurt you. Thank you for the...present. It was the cutest...frog...I’ve ever seen."
"Oh, she’s GOOD," Nutmeg muttered to Marianne. "She pulls a prank on Mary and gets Mary to apologize to HER!"
Marianne nodded in agreement. "We worked on that particular skill for five years."
Mary reached over and awkwardly patted Jo’s shoulder, then walked back to her wagon, still wondering what in the world had just happened here. Had she apologized to Jo?!
Chris waited until Jo stopped "crying" then headed back to his own bed.
"Good work pard," Nutmeg said. "Getting Mary to apologize was almost as good as the prank itself!"
"Thanks," Jo grinned.
"Bringing out the pout was a nice touch," Marianne commented.
Jo sketched a half-bow. "Thank you fellow Pranksters. Now I have a question."
Nutmeg raised her eyebrows. "What’s that?"
"Who do we strike next?"
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