“I’m so bored, I feel like I’m melting into this chair,” said Tommy as he sat in Pippi and Annika’s room one Saturday morning. Tommy had taken the bus over to visit the girls, and to enjoy a quiet, suburban weekend.
Annika replied, “Tommy, I don’t understand why you come out here. There’s nothing to do.”
“Tommy and Annika, let’s have some fun!,” exclaimed Pippi. Her shout awoke Mr. Nilsson, who was falling asleep even before lunchtime. “Even the monkey is bored.”
Old Man let out a shudder.
“Don’t worry Old Man, I get it. Everyone’s bored.”
“Do you want to watch a movie?,” asked Pippi. “Nooooooooo,” replied everyone. It seems that even the radiator and the clanking pipes had an input.
We’ve all been there. Movies sound boring. Homework is out of the question. Board games are no fun. Pippi always made up rules half way through the game to make sure she would win.
“Oh, Pippi! We could go play BINGO in the Campus Center!,” said Annika.
“That poor dog. I’m sure he didn’t want his name attached to such an awful game. The person either reads too fast or too slow. You remember last time when I shoved the board away and threw a tantrum because they let the same girl win twice.”
“Sounds like a sore loser to me,” joked Tommy.
“We could play ‘tequocro’,” suggested Pippi.
“What’s that?,” asked Tommy and Annika at the same time.
“Backwards croquet, of course. Everyone in Madagascar plays it.”
“We could go down to the lake and practice fish-walking!,” said Pippi.
“That sounds hard!,” said Annika.
“You can’t walk on fish,” replied Tommy skeptically.
“If you’re fast enough, you can!,” said Pippi and she joined in as Tommy and Annika both laughed, and Mr. Nilsson was jumping up and down in excitement.
The three friends packed a towel to dry themselves off in case they fell into the lake while fish walking, and brought Mr. Nilsson a sunhat to protect his face.
As they approached the lake, they heard a girl shouting, “H-E-L-P!!!”
Pippi, Tommy and Annika ran to the opening where the lake was visible and saw a girl being chased by a small pack of geese. The geese at the college were known for being feisty, but the girls had never heard of anyone being pestered by the feathery fiends.
“Pippi, you have to help her!,” pleaded Annika, as she grabbed a hold of Tommy’s arm in fear.
“Not to worry, Annika. When I was in Iceland, I saved an entire family who was being – “
“Pippi, GO!,” shouted Tommy as he pushed her towards the lake, and the poor girl being chased.
“They probably don’t realize they’re being terribly mean,” thought Pippi in her head. “Maybe they’ll stop if I start chasing them.”
Pippi ran straight towards the first geese. Her arms were spread, her knees were bent, and her red pigtails bounced up and down as she ran.
The geese was so petrified that a beast-like creature that was four times its size was running straight at it, that it turned around, ran towards the edge of the lake, and took off quickly in flight squacking for its friends to join it.
“Hooray, Pippi! Hooray, Pippi!,” cheered Tommy and Annika and Mr. Nilsson.
“Thank you so much, Pippi! You’re so brave. I couldn’t have run straight at it like you did.”
“No problem. I learned the technique from a man in Iceland on one of my adventures. I don’t think he intended it to be used on geese, but I’m glad it worked out. Would you like to go fish walking with us?”
Tommy, Annika, Pippi and their new friend all spent the day by the lake, enjoying the sunshine, and the spring air that made you forget all about the harsh winter, and dark times.