Fall Plays A Trick On Winter (part 3)

"Shhh," Fall said. "Don't give us away. The Windman might hear."

"No way," said the White Squirrel. "He's up in the sky very far away. I'm keeping an eye on him."

"I made something else to look just like you so you can stay here with us too," Megan said and she showed the White Squirrel a white sock she had sown so it had two ears and a tail. It was a very good likeness, and when she put it in the pumpkin man's lap the White Squirrel was beside himself.

"It's me! It's me!" the White Squirrel said. "No it isn't. I'm me, at least I used to be. I am me, aren't I?"

"You certainly are," Megan laughed. "But if this white sock I made can fool you, it can probably fool the Windman too."

"It definitely will," Fall assured them. "This trick is going to work for sure. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone was, so Fall hid himself behind the tree. Megan and Michael went over to stand by the pumpkin man and after a while they began to cry. They cried and they cried and they sounded so sad that the White Squirrel knew it was time to begin. So he called for the Windman and Whoooosh! The Windman came.

"Here he is, Windman!" the White Squirrel said and he scampered on over to the pumpkin man's head and hid himself under the leaves.

And whoooosh! The Windman blew over there too, but it didn't look like a pumpkin man to him. He saw it had a twisty stick and it had lots of leaves stuck all over it. And Michael and Megan were crying so much and waving goodbye that the pumpkin man looked just exactly like Fall, especially so because the song they sang was all about Fall going home:

Michael and Megan sang their song over and over and cried and cried, and when they were through they walked sadly away and left the pumpkin man there in the woods. And later that night when they were asleep, Whoooosh! The Windman came flying down from the sky and Whoooosh! He picked the pumpkin man up in the air and then, Whoooosh! He blew it away.

And the very next morning when Winter went out to see if the Windman had blown Fall back, she found the pumpkin man there instead. She just had to laugh for she knew right away that the trick that was played was on her that day. So Winter decided to go back inside and wait a bit more before coming to town, and Fall was able to stay a bit longer. The days were bright and the nights were crisp, and most people felt very happy about it. And Michael and Megan were especially pleased because of the trick they had helped Fall play on Winter.

This story is the seventh in a collection of seven stories and nine songs with numerous black and white pen and ink illustrations throughout. After Michael and Megan meet the Seasons, they have many adventures with Fall in particular as he steals Summer's socks, makes a chestnut pie for his friend the White Squirrel, and coaxes the last reluctant leaves to fall. Many of the stories can be acted out and continued by the reader in their everyday life. Although this book is set in Toronto, it can be adapted to fit any North American urban centre.