Some of the stuff in her big backyardgreenhouse was kind of cool, if you liked that kind ofthing, but these things were distinctly boring. Theysmelled...nice enough, but they didn’t even have flowers. Auntie Anne must have read my mind, because she added,“I encountered a tribe of Indians who claimed theseplants have the most magnificent blossoms in the wholerain forest. They begged me to show them where I’dfound them.”I caught my cousin hiding a smile. Megan, who is alsomy. " He was insistent, and I didn't want to be impolite, so I agreed to give it a try.Rob took the male pony, and gave me the mare. "She's the gentler of the two, you'll get along fine," he told me. "Her name is Summer. Mine is Winter. Corny, huh?"The pony was definitely easier to get mounted on, being much shorter than a horse. (Besides, I was a little taller than the last time, too!) She was quite calm as I settled onto her back, and after a few moments of nervousness on both our parts, I was. The two men arrayed against them cut through their swords as if they were wooden sticks, and the two women, well, one broke their swords like twigs, or twisted them from their grips, meanwhile slitting their throats with her other hand, and the other one kept sticking them with her sharp pointy sword after somehow causing their own blows to fall wide of their marks.After the bloodbath was over, Tuk was slightly ashamed, but the Imperial Guards, who were supposed to be protecting him, had. “I’m ready.”“Press that,” he pointed to a button, “to start the race.”He won the first race and the second. The third race, though, Stephanie won by a slim margin. “You’re getting better,” he said.“This is so much fun!”“You don’t have a Nintendo?”“No, but when I go home tonight, I’ll ask Mom to buy one.”“Want to make a bet on the next race?”“Like what?”Jason felt his face burning, but he had to try. “A kiss, the winner gets a kiss.” There, he said it. Would she get mad and leave? Would she.