Jack and Poppy walked into the kitchen with puzzled looks on their faces and in their hands big, uneaten lollipops that were still wrapped in crinkly plastic wrappers.
Mum said, “Hello, you two. How was school?” Then she stopped and looked at them. “You’ve been with Mrs Threadbare!” she said.
Poppy said, yes that was right. And Jack asked how mum knew. Mum just pointed at the lollipops and smiled. She said, “The only place you kids get really big delicious lollipops is from our kind old neighbour, Mrs Threadbare!” Jack grinned and said she was right. Poppy said, “Mum, you’re a detective.”
Mum said she was only a beginner-detective because there was something she hadn’t been able to figure out; why were the lollipops still wrapped up in their crackling plastic. She said, “I thought you’d have ripped them open and been sucking those lollipops by the time you were walking through our garden gate!”
Jack said that was right. Mrs Threadbare’s lollipops were so delicious that usually he and Poppy would be eating them even before they got to her letter box. But today was different. Poppy said, “When she gave us the lollipops Mrs Threadbare told us something strange. Something weird. So we’re thinking about that and not the lollipop.” Jack added that they would think about the lollipops; later, just not now.
Mum nodded and reached for her muffin tin. She asked, “Would it help if you started with one of these?” And Jack and Poppy grinned and put their school bags on the floor by the table and sat down with mum and the muffin tin. The full muffin tin. The tin that was full to bursting with chunky, plump, fresh, smelling-good muffins!
As they began munching and smunshing mum said Mrs Threadbare didn’t usually say weird things. “She’s such a kind, lovely old neighbour. Not weird or anything.”
Poppy said, “Well we didn’t really mean weird. Strange, yes. Perplexing, actually.” Jack looked across at his sister and said he didn’t know about that, but it was actually puzzling. And mum said, “What exactly was perplexing?”
Jack and Poppy explained that when they’d said ‘Hello’ to Mrs Threadbare at her gate just now, she’d reached into her enormous floppy bag and found the delicious lollipops and as she pulled them out she mentioned where the lollipop sticks came from. Jack went, “She said they grew on a special bush up on the hill and she collected them from there.”
Poppy quickly swallowed the last mouthfull of her big mum-muffin and said, “That seemed strange to us, mum. Because Mrs Threadbare’s got that big machine in her house that makes the lollipops.” Jack’s mouth was still full but he waved his hands and blurted out, “In the front room. She showed us one day. It’s amazing.” And Poppy said she’d thought the machine made the sticks. “It’s very strange and perplexing,” she said.
Mum said there was one way to find out where the sticks were from. And Jack and Poppy looked at her, then at each other, grinned and said, “Yes!” And before Jack had finished the last mouthful of mum’s muffin he and Poppy were tumbling out the kitchen door, racing through the garden gate, scooting along the footpath and panting and puffing up the hill.
“Where’d she say the bush is?” Jack asked. Poppy said, “Higher up. Something about a secret path. First we find the little secret path. That’ll lead us to the bush.”
So on they went, looking and peering and searching for the secret path. It wasn’t behind the big flat boulder nestled in long grass, smiling and warm in the sun. Jack thought it might be in the long scratchy grass over to one side. So they rushed over there. But it wasn’t. Poppy said, what about in that shady shade under the trees up ahead. And they scurried up. But when they got there … no secret path.
After a lot of looking and booking and rushing and panting Jack slowed down. “Poppy,” he said, “Stop for a moment. This is getting hopeless.” Poppy frowned and looked at him. She said, “You’re not giving up are you, Jack?” Jack shook his head but at the same time he nodded. “No and yes,” he said in a mumbling voice. “There’s no sign of any secret path.” He sat down on some long grass and wiped a little bit of sweat off his forehead. “And, Poppy, I’m puffed with all this walking and climbing and looking.”
Poppy plonked down next to him and said, “Jack, I’m puffed too but it’s got to be here somewhere.” Jack said, “Well not if Mrs Threadbare was just playing a weird joke on us.” He looked carefully at Poppy and quietly said, “I mean, perhaps there’s no bush that grows lollipop sticks. Maybe we can’t believe Mrs Threadbare on this one.”
Poppy sat back in surprise. “No, Jack!” she said. “Mrs Threadbare isn’t like that. She’s our kind, lovely, old neighbour. She never says things that are wrong or bad or makes us unhappy. Does she?” Jack looked at his hands and twisted his fingers together. He mumbled, “Well, that’s right. But maybe this time she did.”
Poppy paused. She screwed up her face and said, “Well, I suppose it’s possible. But I don’t want to think that.” She paused a bit more and thought and then she said, “Jack, now you’ve got me wondering too. This is horrible!”
The two of them sat together in the long grass. Their shoulders were drooping down and Jack was still twisting his fingers around and around. Poppy let out a big, slow sigh and sat back. “Well, Jack,” she said, “let’s try one more time.” Jack said, “OK. We’ll look again and if the next place we look doesn’t have the secret path then that’ll be that.” Poppy said, “That’ll be no bush with lollipop sticks.” They looked at each other. Jack said, “And that’ll be Mrs Threadbare is playing some sort of strange jjoke that we don’t like.” Poppy nodded.
They got to their feet and looked around. Carefully. Now that they’d had time to stop they discovered they were a long way up the hill. They’d got themselves in a place they hadn’t been before. They peered up and across. There was nothing particularly special about this part of the hill. Jack began to feel there was no hope. Poppy too. But then she saw something. She said, “Jack, what about that clump of ferns?” They were tall and dark green and in the gentle breeze they looked like they were waving at Jack and Poppy. Poppy said, “Could the path be hiding in there?” Jack said there was only one way to find out, so they slowly moved across to the ferns. Poppy pushed the big waving fronds back. And then they both shouted at the same time, “Look!” And there it was. A narrow little smooth path threading and wiggling through the ferns. Poppy clapped her hands. “Jack,” she yelled, “This is it!” Jack beamed and laughed and did a little we’ve-found-it-dance. It definitely looked like a secret path. Mrs threadbare had been right all along!
Jack and Poppy pushed forward and followed the path. It went right through the clump of ferns and up to a twisted old tree with strange lumpy leaves. Poppy said she’d never anything like it. “Very perplexing,” she muttered, Jack just thought it was puzzling. On they went, past more warm boulders, through scratchy grass, past more old trees and the young shoots of little tree seedlings, across circles of mushrooms and wild purple flowers; following and following the little hidden pathway. Then, after they’d been going for quite a while Poppy stopped. She grabbed Jack’s shoulder and pointed. “Jack, is that it?”
Well, maybe. It was a bush. A little green bush with floppy leaves and spiky things. And the secret path led straight to it. So Jack said, “Poppy, I think you might be on to something.” They went closer. Jack said there weren’t any lollipop sticks on it. But he reached up and gently shook some leaves. They fell off! Poppy said, “Jack! What have you done!” But then she stopped because right where the leaves had been there was a little stick. A smooth, white lollipop stick. They both gasped in surprise. Jack shook some more leaves. They fell off and there were more lollipop sticks. Poppy said, “Jack, this is amazing.” Jack was laughing now and said, “It’s true! Mrs Threadbare really does get them from this bush!” And he swished both hands over the bush and more leaves fell off and more sticks were showing. Now Poppy swam both her hands across the bush, in big circles, and leaves fell tumbling and sticks appeared small and gleaming white. “It’s really true!” she said.
Jack said they should gather up some sticks and take them down to Mrs Threadbare. “Yes,” Poppy agreed. “We can save her the walk up here.” So they plucked sticks off the bush and stuffed them in all their pockets until there was no more room to fit even one more stick in and turned to go. Down and down they went. Faster and faster. Through long grass, under big trees, around large warm rocks, through little open patches of sunlight, with the wind fresh and cool in their faces, and bouncing and bounding down and down and down. Onto the footpath and through their gate and into the kitchen.
“Mum! Dad!” Jack called. Dad was standing at the bench with mum peeling green apples for a new batch of delicious fruit muffins. He said, “Hello, explorers. Seems like you’ve found something.”
Well they certainly had and Jack and Poppy told him and mum about Mrs Threadbare’s secret path and the amazing bush with the floppy leaves that grew lollipop sticks. Really! And how the idea was so perplexing … (Although Jack shook his head when Poppy said that and muttered ‘You mean puzzling.’) … so perplexing that they hadn’t been sure if what Mrs Threadbare had said really was right. “Well, it was!” Jack said.
Mum picked up another big green apple and said, “That reminds me of Jesus’ cousin.” Poppy said, “How, mum?”
Mum said, “His cousin was John Baptizer. Do you remember reading about him in some of your bedtime Bible stories?” Jack nodded. “Well when John was growing up he thought Jesus was special. But something happened and John suddenly wondered if Jesus really was special. He had a little doubt. So he did some research and of course that showed Jesus was special.”
Jack said, “Jesus was very special!” Dad nodded and said, “That’s right. And now, would you two kids do something special for me?” Jack smiled and said, “Something special with apples? Sure!” And soon the four of them were busy peeling the big green apples. And thinking about freshly baked fruit muffins.