CHAPTER 6 — FOOD!

“I think I've had enough of feeding the animals,” Tommy said softly, and Tammy nodded in agreement. “But how do we get out of here? I don’t see any door.”
No sooner had he spoken those words than a bright red EXIT sign flashed on and a door slid open to reveal the bright sunshine and the laughing, jostling crowds outside. The twins each heaved a sigh of relief and stepped out the door, Tommy limping slightly on his stiff legs, Tammy rubbing her sore arm.
Shading their eyes against the sudden glare, the twins could see they were on a tree-lined avenue full of gaily-painted food stands. Hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and French fries all blended their delicious smells and the twins suddenly realized they were starving.
“Gosh, that sure smells good,” Tammy sniffed, rubbing her growling stomach. “I sure do wish we had some money.”
“Maybe we don’t need any,” said Tommy, clutching her arm excitedly. “Look!” he pointed to a sign hanging from a blue and yellow striped stand piled high with hamburgers and cheeseburgers. It said, ALL YOU CAN EAT - FREE!
The twins rushed up to the fat, bearded man behind the counter. He was wearing a red and white checked coat and a straw hat, and he was swinging an orange cane from side to side.
“Hey, Mister,” Tammy asked breathlessly, “does that sign mean what it says?”
“Absolutely!” The man gave the counter an enthusiastic whack with his cane and flung out his arms dramatically. “Step right up,” he sang in a booming voice. “Get your burgers and fries. Absolutely free — I’m telling no lies.”
“Oh, boy!” Tommy said, as he reached toward the juicy-looking cheeseburgers, but Tammy grabbed his arm and pulled it back.
“Wait a minute,” she said urgently, “there’s a sign half-hidden by that pile of buns. We’d better read it first.” She slid the tray of buns aside.
“YOU MUST FINISH ALL YOU TAKE,” she read aloud.
The twins looked at each other and sighed in relief. “Whew! That was close,” said Tommy.
“Attention! Attention!” crackled a shrill voice over the loudspeaker. “All food stands will close in one minute!”
“Uh-oh,” said Tammy. “We’d better hurry.”
The twins each grabbed a plate and began rushing frantically from stand to stand, piling their plates high with all sorts of goodies. Several times they noticed the same sign, YOU MUST FINISH ALL YOU TAKE, and put things back.
Exactly sixty seconds later, the stands snapped shut. Except for the two children and Choosy Chicken, the wide avenue was now totally deserted.
The twins sat down at a rustic picnic table. Tammy looked around uneasily. “Where did everybody go?”
“Who cares?” Tommy said, rubbing his hands in anticipation. “Let’s eat! I’m starved!”
He picked up a cheeseburger, dripping mustard and catsup all over his fingers, and took a huge bite. “Mmmm! Delicious!” he mumbled around the mouthful of food.
Seeing his obvious enjoyment, Tammy started eating, too. “He’s right,” she decided, “it is delicious.”
They ate until they thought they would burst. Then Tommy looked down at his plate and drew a deep breath. He still had half an order of French fries, a bag of popcorn and two jelly doughnuts left. Tammy stared at her bag of peanuts, a candy apple, and a chocolate brownie.
“Gosh,” Tommy exclaimed. “I’m stuffed. I don’t think I can eat another bite.”
“Me, neither," said Tammy, “but we’d better finish what we have. Remember the signs?”
“Oh, who cares about some stupid old signs?” Tommy asked crossly, “So we don’t finish all the food. Big deal! What could they possibly do to us? Send us home?”
Startled by a high cackling sound, the twins turned to look at Choosy Chicken. The huge bird was rigid with anger, her head jerking from side to side, her eyes flashing angry sparks.
“Uh-oh.” The twins turned back to one another. Forcing herself to pick up her brownie, Tammy took a tiny bite. “I don’t know what they could do to us,” she said in a low voice, “but I don’t think I want to find out.”
The next hour or so was a terrible ordeal for the twins. Bite after bite, they forced themselves to swallow the remaining food on their plates. What torture! Things that they would ordinarily have thought of as delicious tasted like sawdust, and every bite seemed to lodge in a huge, painful lump right in the middle of their throats.
“Ooohhh!” Tommy moaned, finished at last. “I feel sick.”
“Me, too,” Tammy agreed miserably, leaning forward to rest her head on the table. “But it could have been a lot worse. I put back a lot of food.”
“I did, too. Can you imagine what it would have been like if we hadn’t paid attention to those signs?”
“Gosh, yeah! Terrible!”
Choosy Chicken clucked softly to herself, but the twins heard her comment. She said, “People shouldn’t have to have signs to stop them from eating like. . . people,” she said to no one in particular.

Chapter 6 — THE BIG IDEA

For Chapter 6 the Big Idea is: We make choices with words and actions.

The TAKE HOME PAGE for Chapter 6 has a partnership activity called WORD CHOICES, ACTION CHOICES that you can try with a friend or family member or on your own whenever you wish. Make two columns on a piece of paper, title one column WORD CHOICES and the other ACTION CHOICES, and number the two columns 1 through 5 or 1 through 10. For a busy section of a favorite book or TV program, list choices you see or hear in the WORD or ACTION column. Suggestion: look especially for positive choices.

Think about the word and action choices you (and your partner) noticed and whether the choices were mostly positive or negative. Think about how you can use the idea of word and action choices to make your life better.

To order the print form of In the Land of Choice, and the second novel in the series, The Magic of Choice, use the ORDER LINK below.

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