11 Push and Pull

CHAPTER ELEVEN PUSH AND PULL ROSIE SNAPPED HER head toward Simon. She asked, "What did you just say?" "I pushed it deeper." "That's what we're doing wrong," Rosie said, looking at me and Simon. "We've been trying to push the ball—with the long pipe, the Frisbees, and the football." We didn't know what she was talking about, but she explained it.

"We don't need to push the ball," Rosie said and smiled. "We need to pull the branch." It made sense to me then, but I wanted to make sure. I asked, "We pull the lower branch out of the way?" Simon added, "And the ball falls out?" "And the ball falls out!" Rosie answered proudly. "But, Rosie," Simon asked, "how do we do that?" "We need three things," Rosie said. I could tell that she was super confident in her idea. "And all three of them are right here at the park!" Rosie explained her idea. Then the three of us all ran in different directions.

Simon ran toward Mr. Garcia at the fishing pond. Rosie ran to the tennis courts. And I ran toward Mom.