SEVENTEEN

The bus gamboled along with Pinky squashed at the bottom of Elodie’s backpack. Moving a black and white composition book from her lap she spotted the locket easily, its violet hue glowing in the darkness. Pinky stuffed it into her pouch alongside the pink ribbon and decided she should try and escape, but the odor from Elodie’s lunch was too tempting. “Maybe just a bite,” said Pinky, un-crinkling the paper bag that contained a sandwich wrapped in wax paper and a small pouch of chocolate candy. Pinky thought of Cocoa and decided she would bring him a few pieces, but the package was impossible to open. There was also a cardboard container of fruit juice that Pinky was anxious to try, but it, too, seemed impenetrable.

The bus made several more stops and each time Pinky was flung from the lunch bag and down to the bottom of the backpack again. She was beginning to get a headache from all the ricocheting about. The children on the bus were getting noisier as it began to fill. She could hear Elodie talking animatedly to another little girl whose feet absently kicked the backpack, increasing Pinky’s annoyance.

Without warning the pack filled with light as Elodie unzipped it and dug inside. Pinky barely missed being grabbed as Elodie snatched the plastic pencil case to show her companion. The girls were so engrossed in the assortment of colorful markers and pencils coated in sparkles that they never noticed Pinky making her escape, the lunch bag clutched tightly in her tail.