Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 TUG-OF-MOUSE Fergus and Zeke found an open space near the woods. They gathered some sticks, set them up to make a bar, and made a pillow of leaves on one side. "Hooray!" said Fergus. "Now we have a mouse-size high jump!"

"I wish we had mouse-size water balloons to toss," said Zeke. "We have acorns," said Fergus. "That works," said Zeke. They took turns throwing them to each other and then tried to see who could throw them the farthest. Zeke was very good at that. "Look how strong I am!" he said. He threw the acorn so far that it flew right over Fergus's head and into the high-jump area. Fergus made a Hula-Hoop out of a bendy bracelet someone left behind on the playground And Zeke found a sturdy vine to use for tug-of-war.

They tugged back and forth, back and forth, until Fergus saw something that caught his attention. SPLASH! "I won!" said Zeke. "Yes, you did," said Fergus. "But look!"

He pointed to the playground. The children had made a circle around Ms. Khan's big rainbow parachute. When they held the edges and raised their arms over their heads, the parachute puffed up into a big, billowing balloon. "Now sneak inside and tuck in the edges behind you!" Ms. Khan said. The children scrambled to hide underneath. "That looks like so much fun." Zeke sighed. "I wish we could play, too." Just then, an old shopping bag blew past in the wind. Fergus grabbed it and smiled. "We can play!" he said. "I just found a parachute."