Hello, I’m Augie the Otter from the Land of the Flowered Bed.

And as you’ve probably read, I have a terrible case of the Doldrums.

It’s really quite unfortunate, for all of us at the Land of the Flowered Bed.

But that’s why we’re going to go see King Baylor, who can direct us to the Doldrums.  You can read all about it on Saturday.

Until then, you can read the newest Miss Pickles.  To read previous editions, go here.

You can also check out the original book Miss Pickles, the first adventure!

After all, it’s not like you can catch the Doldrums.

Or can you?

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Mason and Don both stepped back nervously, eyeing the Seabreeze.

“Just how exactly do you propose we get rid of the Giggler?” Mason asked, sliding behind Miss Pickles.

“It better not include anything weird,” Don added, narrowing his eyes.

“Hopefully, it includes dinner,” Ralph mummured, his stomach grumbling behind them.

“You must be Ralph,” the Seabreeze replied with a grin.  Turning her attention back to the boys, she shook her golden head.  “There’s two ways we can do this.  I’m going to start with the easy way.”

“What’s the hard way?” Mason asked.

“You don’t want to know.” The Seabreeze shook her head, her laughing eyes quickly growing solemn.

Shivering at the chill in her voice, Mason looked at Don and shrugged.  “It’s not like we have a choice.”

“There are so many terrible things that could happen,” Don muttered, crossing his arms and scowling.  “We could go deaf, we could go insane, she could kidnap us and eat us (which is illegal, by the way)”–

“How would a bird eat a boy?” Ralph asked, rubbing his head in confusion.

“How indeed?” Miss Pickles interrupted.  “Let’s get back to your cottage, Seabreeze, dear.  I don’t want the Giggler to get any of the other children.”

The group quickly rushed back to the tiny cottage carved inside the base of the tree.  Mason held the door open for his classmates, glancing at the dark space inside.  “Are you sure they’ll all fit?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Trust me, duckie,” Miss Pickles replied, gesturing for the Ladybug to cut in front of her.  “Things are not what they seem.”

Ducking inside and pulling the door shut behind him, Mason turned.  Miss Pickles was right.  The cottage looked as large as his own house, with several rooms carved into large roots and branches.  Stairwells snaked up, the banisters peppered with tiny branches budding with leaves and flowers.  In the center of the room gurgled a large fountain, the water spilling over golden stones.  Large white and orange goldfish swam in the center, ducking under Lily pads blooming with large purple flowers.  The walls had large notches carved, with books and jars and thousands of odds and ends shoved inside.  On a side table, a basket overflowing with apples and lush bananas had Ralph drooling.  The Seabreeze nodded.

“Help yourself,” she said, hiding a smile as dozens of tiny hands reached eagerly for the bowl.  “It refills when it’s empty.  That’s the advantage in living in a fruit tree.”

Don pursed his lips.  “The Giggler?” he reminded the Seabreeze.

“You are a foul, foul child,” she muttered, flying to the back of her cottage before returning with a book clutched in her beak.  Flopping it open on a large mushroom that served as her work table, she flapped her wings to turn the pages.

“If you had hysterical laughter bubbling in your ears non-stop, you’d be cranky too,” Don snarled.  “Don’t judge me.”

“I hear the singing of the flowers, the pops of the bubbles in the ocean and the call of the whales hundreds of miles away,” the Seabreeze murmured, one blue eye fixed on Don.  “I’m pretty sure I can hear the Giggler too.”

Scowling, Don crossed his arms and tapped his foot.  “So what’s the easy way?”

Miss Pickles and the Ladybug exchanged looks.  “Are you sure this will work, Seabreeze?”  Miss Pickles asked.  “We only have a few hours.”

“It hasn’t failed yet,” the Seabreeze assured them.  “I’ve never had to try the second way.”

Mason gulped.  “What do we do?” he asked.

The Seabreeze peered at her book, and nodded.  Flying over to one of her nooks, she selected several small jars and gathered them into her talons.  Flying over to the mushroom, she leaned over and pulled out a small jar with her beak.  Using a twig growing from the ceiling, she stirred various powders and liquids together in the jar.   Glancing at her book, she nodded again.

“I need you to stand on your head,” she informed the boys.  “And drink this through your nose.”

Mason’s eyes bugged out as Don exclaimed, “Are you serious?”

“Completely,” the Seabreeze replied, her face without a trace of a smile.  “Do you want the Giggler gone or not?”

The boys looked at Miss Pickles, who shrugged.  “We might as well try it.”

“That’s kind of a weird method,” the Ladybug murmured.

“The Giggler is kind of a weird creature,” the Seabreeze replied.

“True,” the Ladybug contended.  She gave the boys a sympathetic smile.  “Ready?”

Mason and Don looked at each other.  “On the count of three,” Mason said. “One, two..”

“Three!”  Both boys flipped over on their hands.  Whisking over to them, the Seabreeze quickly poured half of the jar down each of their noses.

“Don’t cough it out, don’t cough it out!” she cried as they choked and sputtered, nearly flipping over.  “Stay on your hands, stay on your hands!”

After an agonizing minute, she beat her wings into the air.  “Ok, flip over, flip over!  Take a deep breath.”

Gasping, the boys flipped on their backs and stared at the wooden ceiling.  “That was the worst thing ever,” Mason panted.

“That was disgusting,” Don croaked, rubbing his face.  “It felt like putrid milk running into my sinuses.”

“Sour ice cream with chopped pickles and vinegar,” Mason agreed, gagging.

“But the question is,” the Seabreeze asked, eyeing them intently.  “Did it work?”

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Tomorrow we have a new whimsical post and Wednesday, a new pet shop story!  Then we have a delicious recipe and a new Dallas Jean and of course Saturday, a new Land of the Flowered Bed!  Stay tuned!