APRIL 23, 1860

"Miss Winslow, thank you for planning this," Kathleen showed her into her house.

"It's my pleasure," Blythe smiled. "But please, call me Blythe."

"Only if you call me Kathleen. Can I take your shawl?"

"Thank you Kathleen," Blythe handed her shawl over.

"The kitchen is right through there, and the children should be waiting for you."

Blythe went to the kitchen to get the kids started. She was going to show them how to decorate Easter eggs, and then they were going to have an Easter egg hunt in the schoolyard.

The eggs had already been boiled and cooled, and Blythe showed the kids how to use wax to make designs on them and then dip them in the dye. Once she had showed them the basics, she stepped back and let them just have fun.

"Just be careful not to spill any of the dye on your clothes," Blythe cautioned them. "It won't wash out."

The kids decorated lots of eggs, and when they were finished and the eggs were dry, Blythe let each of them choose one. The rest her and Kathleen would hide around the schoolyard.

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Walter made the rounds greeting everybody. It was good for public relations to keep a good repertoire with the citizens of Dreamville. He chatted and made pleasant remarks about the participants of the games. He noticed most everybody had a partner or a group of people to eat with, but Desiree seemed to be eating alone. "Good afternoon, Desiree. Would you like some company?"

"I would like that." Desiree smiled up at Mr. Simmons. The ate and talked, and Walter learned that Desiree was apprehensive because Kathleen had asked her to start the kids with whatever game she wanted to after lunch while her and Blythe hid the Easter eggs. But Desiree was having trouble thinking of a game. Walter recollected playing some games when he was a kid, so he told Desiree about them.

After telling Desiree about his childhood, Desiree felt better. Now she had a game in mind for the children. She thanked Mr. Simmons for telling her his stories and ideas. After lunch Desiree called the kids together. She described the game to the children which she had retitled Easter. She took the ball and stood a few feet in front of the children. The children stood in a line, and Melissa went to each of her friends and whispered a number in their ear. When she was done she took her position in line again.

Desiree called out, "Seven!" She saw Michael start forward toward her, so she threw the ball high into the air and ran past Michael.

When Michael got the ball he turned around and hollered, "STOP!"

Desiree and all the children stopped and turned around, and after Michael ran up so far, Desiree told him to stop. He threw the ball at Melissa and hit her. Melissa groaned, now she had the letter, ‘E.’

It was Melissa’s turn to call a number and throw the ball in the air. She did so and since she knew everybody’s number she called, "Two!" Into the air the ball was thrown, and Jesse ran up to get it.

Desiree and the other kids ran in the opposite direction, and they stopped when Jesse told them to. Jesse ran up as fast as he could before Desiree told him to stop. He threw the ball at Rose but missed. Rose laughed and Jesse just smiled. They both knew that he had missed on purpose.

Now it was Jesse’s turn to call a number and he had the letter, ‘E,’ too. The game continued in this fashion, and Michael ended up loosing. So until they started a new game, Michael had to hop around like an Rabbit. He thought it was corny, but he wasn’t a poor sport and did it. Melissa laughed at him, but then not to make him feel bad, she hopped with him, so that he could laugh at her, too.

Kathleen and Blythe had finished hiding the Easter eggs, so they told the children that they could begin the hunt.

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After she finished helping with the Easter Egg hunt, Blythe went to find Kid. He was with some of the other express riders, but walked over to her when he saw her coming.

"Hi Blythe. How'd the hunt go?"

Blythe smiled. "The kids all had fun, and we managed not to ruin any clothes with the dye, so I would have to say it went very well."

"Well," Kid grinned at her. "You did get a tiny spot of dye on your nose," he tapped his finger on the spot.

Blythe's eyes grew wide in mock horror. "What color?"

"Green," Kid replied with great delight.

"Oh no! Now I'm gonna have to walk around like this all day!"

"Well, I like it," Kid teased her. "It matches your eyes."

They laughed together as they walked around with some of the other townspeople.

"Hey Kid," Buck said as he came up to them. "Are you two gonna enter any of the events?"

"That depends on whether Blythe wants to or not," Kid looked at her. "What do you say?"

"I say the three-legged race is ours," Blythe laughed.

Buck nodded and said, "Good. Means Corey and I will have some good competition."

Kid smiled and said, "Sounds like a challenge. What do you think, Blythe?"

Blythe smiled and said, "I think so, too."

Buck smiled and headed over to find his partner.

Kid and Blythe kept it a close race, but at the last minute Buck and Corey pulled into the lead and won the race.

Kid and Blythe congratulated them. Then they spent the rest of the day having a great time.

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