Liz's Pie in the Sky, page 1
Chapter 1
Recipe for Fun
Liz Jenkins was the first to the lunch table. She sat down closest to the cafeteria windows. Outside, there was a large maple tree. Each day, more of its leaves were golden yellow. Liz smiled. Fall was her favorite time of year.
Liz’s friends Marion and Amy sat down next.
“That spelling test was hard,” said Amy. “Wasn’t it?”
It was Friday. Like every Friday, their teacher, Mrs. Sienna, had quizzed them on their spelling words right before lunch.
“Lots of those words had silent letters,” Marion replied as she unwrapped her bagel. “But I think I got them all.”
Liz nodded. That sounded about right. Marion almost always got 100 percent on spelling tests.
Ellie was last to the lunch table.
“Did anybody know the bonus word?” Ellie asked them with a frown. “Cornucopia?”
“I did!” Liz replied. “That’s a horn-shaped basket thing. We always put one on our Thanksgiving buffet.”
Liz was the artsy one in her house. So she was always in charge of decorating for Thanksgiving. She filled the cornucopia with small pumpkins and gourds in wacky shapes. Plus some red and green apples for color.
Liz sighed. She gazed out again at the golden maple tree. She loved everything about fall. The leaves. The weather.
And especially trips to Marigold Lake!
Liz’s family had a cabin there. And that very weekend, Liz’s friends were coming up to stay!
Before long, the spelling test was old news. The girls were excited about their autumn getaway.
“Remember the last time we were all there?” Liz asked her friends. “Roasting marshmallows over the campfire?”
Ellie giggled. “Remember that stick I thought was a snake?”
“And how I flipped the canoe?” Amy said, blushing a little bit.
“And the baby mice?” Marion added.
“Awwwww,” all the girls said together. They had found several teeny, tiny baby mice in the cabin. But there had been no mama mouse in sight.
Luckily for the mice, the girls had a safe place to take them. It was their very own animal rescue shelter, The Critter Club. The four of them ran the shelter with the help of Amy’s mom, a veterinarian. Dr. Purvis helped the girls care for the baby mice until they were big enough to be released into the wild.
“That was a good weekend,” Liz said. “And this one will be too!”
Liz grinned. She had something planned.
This Thanksgiving, Liz was in charge of making one of the Thanksgiving pies. She had already picked out the flavor: cranberry-blueberry pie with a hint of orange and cinnamon. Liz wanted it to be perfect. So she needed to practice. She was going to start this weekend at the cabin. And Amy, Marion, and Ellie could help.
Suddenly, Liz had a thought. Rather than having the girls help, they could each make a pie of their own. This was going to be the best surprise ever!
Chapter 2
Are We There Yet?
The Jenkins family van merged onto the highway.
“Who wants to play the alphabet game?” Liz asked her friends.
Marion, Amy, and Ellie were in the way back. Liz and her big brother, Stewart, sat in the two middle row seats. And Liz’s parents were up front.
They were on their way to Marigold Lake!
“It’s only about an hour drive,” Stewart said. “But playing car games makes it feel even shorter.”
Ellie sat up straight in her seat. “I’ll play!” she said.
“Me too,” said Amy.
Marion nodded. “What are the rules?” she asked.
Liz explained. Starting with the letter A, each of them had to find all the letters of the alphabet on objects they passed on the highway. The letters could be on traffic signs, license plates, or billboards.
“Liz and I usually play against each other,” Stewart said. “The first person to find all the letters is the winner.”
“But we could play as a team!” Liz suggested. “At least for the first game. Ready, set, go!”
Everyone looked out the window. They scanned signs for letters.
“A!” Amy called out. She pointed at a sign that said REST AREA AHEAD.
Marion found the next one on another car’s license plate. “B!” she cried, clapping excitedly.
“C!” said Ellie, pointing at a billboard ad for Canoe and Kayak Warehouse.
Mile by mile, they worked their way through the alphabet. The letter J was hard to find. Same with Q.
But X was surprisingly easy. It was on every exit sign.
“There!” Liz called out, pointing to the X on the exit sign for Marigold Lake. “We’re almost there!”
At the end of the exit ramp, Liz’s dad turned right onto a country road.
Then, just a mile down the road, Liz’s dad pulled off into a gravel parking lot. A rustic wooden sign read OTIS ORCHARDS.
Liz turned around in her seat. “We’re here!” she said, grinning at her friends.
Ellie looked confused. “What do you mean?” she said. “This isn’t the cabin.”
Liz opened the van door and unbuckled her seat belt. “You’re right,” she said. “We just have to make this one stop.”
They all got out of the van. Liz led the way over to a farm stand. Beyond it were rows and rows of fruit trees.
“We’re going to pick fruit,” Liz announced. “For pies!” Liz explained that she needed to practice baking her Thanksgiving pie. “I thought we could each bake one.”
Ellie, Marion, and Amy looked at one another. Huge smiles lit up their faces.
Liz’s dad came up next to them. “I made pie crusts ahead of time,” he told the girls.
“So what kind are we going to make?” Amy asked.
“You each get to choose,” Liz replied.
Ellie did a little happy dance. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Marion looked deep in thought already. “There are so many good pie flavors,” she said. “What will I pick?”
Liz pointed at a chalkboard sign. It had a list of pick-your-own fruits that were ripe that day. “Well, you could start by picking some of those!” Liz said.
Chapter 3
On the Farm
Liz told her friends about her Thanksgiving pie recipe.
“It’s a cranberry-blueberry pie,” she said. “But it’s a little late in the season to pick blueberries. And cranberries don’t grow around here. So I brought ingredients from home. I hope you don’t think it’s unfair that I had a bit of a head start.”
Ellie laughed. “Unfair? I’m just so excited to be at an orchard!”
“I can’t wait to bake,” Marion added. Amy smiled in agreement.
Ellie studied the pick-your-own list. “Hmm. I’m going to choose apple,” she said. “I just looooove apple pie.”
Amy pointed to the last item on the sign. “It might sound weird. But my mom makes this great sweet potato pie,” she said. “I’m going to call her and get the recipe.”
Marion was the last to decide. “Okay,” she said finally. “I’ve made a pumpkin pie before. I think I can remember how to do it.”
The girls got directions from the orchard staff about where to pick. Ellie and Amy grabbed baskets to put their apples and sweet potatoes in. Marion grabbed a wagon for her pumpkins.
Then they split up. Liz took Ellie toward the apple trees. Amy and Marion went together in the direction of the pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
In the middle of the apple grove, Ellie stopped at a signpost. “Wow,” said Ellie. “There are so many different kinds of apples! How do I choose?”
Liz stepped closer to the signpost. “Look!” she said. She pointed at smaller writing under each apple type. “This one says ‘good for baking.’ ”
“Golden Delicious!” Ellie said. “Great! I’ll get some of those.”
Liz and Ellie walked down the path between two rows of apple trees. They stopped near a tree that was loaded with ripe apples. Liz held the basket. Stretching, Ellie could just reach the apples on the lower branches. One by one, she plucked Golden Delicious apples and handed them down to Liz.
Soon they had about a dozen. Liz had to put the heavy basket down.
“That’s probably enough,” Liz said with a laugh.
Ellie grabbed one side of the handle. Liz took the other. Then they set off to find Marion and Amy.
They found them in the sweet potato section. Marion already had pumpkins in her wagon.
But Amy was looking confused.
“These are sweet potato plants,” she said, pointing to the plant label at the end of the row. “But all I see are leafy vines. Where are the sweet potatoes?”
Liz giggled. She knelt down and loosened the soil around one of the plants. Then she grabbed a stem and yanked upward. Out popped a bunch of dirt-covered sweet potatoes!
“Wow!” Amy cried out in surprise. “I did not know they grew that way!”
Ellie put an arm around Amy’s shoulder. “I didn’t know how many kinds of apples there are,” she said.
Marion pointed at her pumpkins. “Well, I do not know how many pumpkins I’ll need for pumpkin pie. I sure hope this will be enough.”
Marion heaved a large pumpkin up out of the wagon. It was even bigger than her head.
Liz, Amy, and Ellie laughed.
“That should do it,” Liz said.
Chapter 4
Pie Problems
“Squee-onk! Squee-onk!”
It was
Liz rolled over in her bed. She peeked over the side at her friends in sleeping bags on the floor of her room. Ellie was rubbing her eyes.
“I forgot that sound,” Ellie said sleepily.
Liz laughed. She heard giggles from inside Amy’s and Marion’s sleeping bags too. Everyone was awake now!
Liz looked out the window. In the morning sunshine, the trees around the lake were bright with color. Lots of yellow, but also rusty oranges and fiery reds. It was even more colorful here than back in Santa Vista.
“Let’s go on a walk after breakfast,” Liz said. “The fall colors are amazing here!”
Her friends agreed that was a great idea.
The girls got up and got dressed. They gathered around the table in the cabin’s kitchen. Liz’s dad put out oatmeal and toppings: nuts, cinnamon, granola, and frozen berries. Amy, Marion, and Ellie excitedly served themselves.
Meanwhile, Liz stared at the berries. They reminded her of her pie recipe. She was really eager to start practicing.
Oh, but… Liz had already suggested going for a walk. All through breakfast, she felt torn.
“You know what?” Liz said when they were done eating. “You three go on without me. I’m going to stay in and make a practice pie.”
Amy, Marion, and Ellie looked disappointed. “Are you sure?” Ellie asked.
“We can wait and go later,” Amy suggested.
Liz shook her head. “No, that’s okay,” she said. “You go. It’s beautiful outside.” Liz didn’t want to keep her friends from enjoying the lake. “I just can’t wait to see how this recipe turns out.”
Marion quickly switched into planning mode. “All right, how about this?” she began. “We’ll go for a walk. Then, when we get back, we’ll make a picnic for lunch. All four of us.”
The girls agreed that was a good plan.
So Marion, Ellie, and Amy headed out toward the path along the lake. And Liz got out her mixing bowl and ingredients.
She looked at the recipe for her cranberry-blueberry pie.
“Sounds easy enough,” Liz said to herself.
She put frozen cranberries and frozen blueberries into a saucepan. She added sugar, cinnamon, orange juice, and a bit of cornstarch.
Liz stirred it and turned up the heat. Now it just needed to boil.
“Dad?” Liz called. “Where are the pie crusts?”
Mr. Jenkins dug into a shopping bag they’d brought from home. “They’re in here somewhere,” he said.
He searched one bag. Then another. Then another. But no pie crusts.
Finally, Liz’s mom called out from the pantry. “Here they are! I unpacked them last night.”
Liz breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mom!” she said, taking one of the crusts.
Then Liz hurried back to the stove. She had to stir the berry mixture.
But before Liz saw it, she smelled it.
The scent of burning berries!
Chapter 5
Headed South
Liz’s pie mixture was so burnt it was stuck to the bottom of the saucepan.
Liz moaned. “I left it for too long without stirring!” she said.
Luckily, they had extra berries. So Liz let the mixture cool. She cleaned out the saucepan. And she started all over.
Her second try went better. She stirred the berry mixture as it came to a low boil. Then she poured the filling into the pie crust.
That’s when she spotted the measuring cup full of sugar on the table.
Wait. Had she forgotten to put the sugar in?
Liz took a taste. Bleh! The tartness of the cranberries was overpowering. She had definitely skipped the sugar!
Liz slumped into a chair. How had she messed up again?
“It’s okay,” her dad told her. “I made extra crusts. You can try again.”
But Liz was feeling too frustrated now. She needed a break. “I’ll try later,” she said glumly.
Just then, her friends breezed in through the screen door.
“You three are just in time,” Liz said.
“For pie?” Ellie asked hopefully.
Liz shook her head. “No,” she said. “To take my mind off pie.” Liz told them about her mess-ups. “Let’s pack our picnic!”
Liz’s mom helped them make sandwiches. Amy loaded the picnic basket. Ellie grabbed the picnic blanket.
Soon Liz was leading the way to her favorite picnic spot. It was halfway around the lake on a sandy area by the water.
From their blanket, they had a clear view of the whole lake. Sun glinted off the ripples on the water. Liz took a deep breath of the fresh pine-scented air. She was feeling better already.
Liz took a bite of her hummus and tomato sandwich.
“Squee-onk! Squee-onk!”
Far off down the lake, a huge flock of geese took off from the water, all at once!
“Hey!” said Ellie. “You think they’re the ones who woke us up this morning?”
Liz laughed. “Probably,” she said.
“There must be a hundred of them,” Marion noted.
They watched as the geese flew their way. Honking loudly, they whooshed overhead and kept on going.
“I think that way is south,” Amy said. “Maybe they’re leaving for the winter.”
Ellie waved after them. “Bye, geese! Have a nice flight!”
The girls finished eating. They lounged on their blanket. Then Liz showed them how to skip stones on the water.
Finally, they headed back to the cabin.
When they got to the Jenkins’ dock, Amy stopped in her tracks. “Look!” she cried. She pointed at a lone goose in the lake.
“He must be part of that flock we saw,” Ellie said.
The goose stretched out his wings as if to take flight. He flapped and honked. “Squee-onk!”
But he wasn’t lifting off. Instead, his wings were splashing water around.
The girls watched as the goose tried again. He flapped a little longer and honked a little louder. But he didn’t get any air.
Liz turned to look at her friends. “Is he okay?” she asked.
Chapter 6
Goose Food
“What if he got left behind?” Amy asked.
“That flock is far away by now,” Marion pointed out. “If he doesn’t catch up…” Her voice trailed off.
“He’ll miss flying south for the winter!” Ellie cried. “Oh no!”
Liz thought the goose looked a little weak. “Maybe he just needs some food,” she suggested. “Maybe we should try to feed him.”
But what did geese eat, anyway?
Liz and the girls hurried inside the cabin. Liz explained to her mom what they’d seen.
“Here,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “Use my laptop. You can do a search for geese and their favorite foods.”
The girls typed in their search. They got lots of results.
“How about bread crumbs?” Ellie asked. “Isn’t that what people feed to ducks?”
Amy pointed to some text on the screen. “Actually this says that bread isn’t good for ducks or geese,” she replied. “It’s too high in sugar. But here’s a list of good choices.”
While Amy, Marion, and Ellie read, Liz’s nose picked up the scent of her failed pies. There was still a slightly burnt smell in the cabin. And nearby on the table was Liz’s second failure, the sugarless pie.
