“Camping trip! Camping trip!” Penny marched as she pulled the wagon of supplies.
Coco was at the back of the wagon, able to push from behind if Penny needed extra help. Both friends were smiling and excited for their little trip. They had traveled far up Moonlit Mountain and were almost at the camping site. It was the end of summer, still warm, and so sunny. Down in Mochi Meadow, it still felt like the middle of summer, but up here in Moonlit Mountain the trees were starting to change color. The air was cooler up here too.
They arrived at an area past the evergreen trees and knew they made it to the camping site. It was a large clearing with a fire pit with bushes dotting the area. “Look over there, Coco, that spot is perfect for our tent!”
Coco looked over, it was the largest space of the camp site for sure. So they decided to set their wagon at the edge to make room for their tent.
They finished setting up the campsite in a flash, because Penny was so excited to go exploring. “Last one to the trees is a rotten egg!” cried Penny.
Coco ran with all her might, but Penny still ran faster. When they reached the tree, Penny started to climb up the branches. She reached for the lowest hanging branch, when they heard a mysterious giggle. “Penny,” shivered Coco. “It’s that giggle from the hike. I knew this would happen again!”
“Oh! I didn’t hear it,” Penny replied, walking over to her. “But if you want to, we can go back to the campsite.”
Coco nodded and they headed back. They decided to gather sticks for their campfire instead. Penny found an especially strong stick and started drawing pictures in the dirt. Coco laughed, “That one looks like a silly dog.”
Its long ears wiggled out sideways from its head. “It’s supposed to be my snuggle bunny,” laughed Penny. “But now that I look at it again, I think you are right!”
Coco turned around to head back to the tent and tripped over a large backpack. “Penny,” said Coco. “Why is your backpack way over here? It’s supposed to be in the tent.”
“I did put it in the tent,” Penny said. “At least I thought I did. I’ll take it back there now.”
“Maybe it was that spooky giggle playing tricks on us again,” said Coco nervously.
“But we’re in a completely different part of the mountain,” Penny replied, placing her backpack in the tent again. “It’d have to travel a long way to get here.”
After zipping up the tent, Penny said, “I’m hungry. Do you want to start making dinner?”
After a yummy dinner, the sun had finally started to set. The campfire was steadily burning and Coco went back to the tent to grab the marshmallows. Penny went back to grab her ukulele. The moon sat high in the sky, glowing ever so bright. There’s nothing quite like playing the ukulele at a campfire under the starry sky. Penny and Coco sang camp songs and ate s’mores. Well, Coco ate the s’mores. Penny didn’t want to get her hands sticky because then her ukulele would get sticky.
“And now for my final song!” announced Penny, then she stopped and gasped.
The bag of marshmallows started to float in the air, over the campfire and over to Penny. Penny fell off her chair to get away from the bag. Coco finally looked up and shrieked. The naughty giggle was louder than ever and the two friends made a run for the tent.
They stayed there for the rest of the night, too afraid to come back out. Sometime during the night, the giggling stopped and the fire went out. And finally, too tired to stay awake any longer, Penny and Coco fell asleep.
When they finally woke up, they packed up their things and walked home. They left earlier than they planned, but they knew they couldn’t stay here any longer. They also knew that it would be a long time before they came back to Moonlit Mountain. But the question still remained, who was it behind that mysterious giggle?
