You know how much I appreciate you guys?!? 5k readers?!? Tysm!!! All these readers are making me determined, so enjoy this chapter, also my birthday passed recently so I'm 13 now :))
"Ah, the Wartwood farmers market!" Sprig exclaimed as the family rested at their stand. "Where salt of the earth frogs come to sell stuff and fill up on free samples." He poured a jar of jelly into his mouth,
"That wasn't a sample," a gruff voice said next to him. Sprig slowly spit the jam back into the jar.
"Now it's like nothing happened!" He said nervously.
The buff toad brought out a weapon and slammed it onto the counter.
"I-... I can pay for that."
Mrs. Croaker strolled by the stand.
"Good morning Mrs. Croaker!" Anne and yn said.
"Oh, I'll take this here gangly gourd, hopadiah." She said picking up a gourd.
"Oh, I sense a batch of Croaker stew coming on!" Hop pop said, then paused, "hmm, hang on there Sadie. You don't want that one."
The exited the stand to inspect the gourd.
"Aha! It's a gourd maggot!" He said breaking the gourd in half to reveal a slimy creature eating the insides of the gourd.
It hopped onto the ground and slithered up Anne's leg and into her hair.
"It's in my hair! It's in my hair!!" She shouted.
"Hold still!" Yn tried consoling her but as Anne was freaking out she tripped on yns leg and fell into the mud.
"Here, take this one instead. It's maggot free." Hop pop said completely ignoring the humans chaos.
"Classic planter honesty. I've been buying from this stand since your father was running it. And y'all have never steered me wrong."
"Very impressive hop pop- cmon anne stay still let me find it!!" Yn said as Anne was frantically searching through her hair.
"It's not there!! Where'd it go!!"
"Well you never brush your hair so- found it!" Yn pulled the gross maggot out of her fluffy, tangled hair.
"This'll make a good advancement to my journal.." yn said drawing a quick sketch and writing about how it likes Anne's hair.
"This stand is the heart and soul of our family. I dunno what id do if we ever lost it.." hop pop said, as soon as he was done talking a nearby frog started yelling,
"Bad news, everyone! Bad news!"
The frog gave hop pop a rolled up letter, "gotta run away before you read it!" Then he hopped away.
Hop pop sighed, "that toadie..." he carefully slid on his glasses and opened the letter.
"Say what? Mayor Toadstool is quadrupling the rent! And he wants it in three days!!" Hop pop and the other stand owners started freaking out.
"At this rate, we'll lose the stand. What are we gonna do?"
"Hmm.." Anne thought for a moment. "Got it! Snugaroos. Blankets you wear over your clothes!" She said like it was a good idea.
"Anne, we're a vegetable stand!" Hop pop exclaimed.
"No, I mean, we need our own Snugaroo. A flashy new product. Something like.. like... ah-ha!" She said picking up the broken gourd off the ground. She squeezed the juice into a jar and said, "A little bit of this, shake it up and... introducing Planters Potion! A hearty mix of vitamins and minerals that'll extend your life and keeps you regular."
"Wowza, all that in one jar?"
"Heck if I know, I just made all that up. But health drinks are all the rage back home. The best part? We can charge through the nose for them." She said handing the jar to hop pop.
Hop pop seemed to slightly smirk,
"Don't know what a nose is, but it's worth a shot." He stood up about to go into the crowd, but yn stopped him.
"Wait, hold up guys, don't you think this is one of those decisions we're gonna regret later and it'll end up costing us everything we work for?"
"Mm.. I don't think so."
"Nope."
"Nah"
"Okay then," yn moved out of the way for hop pop to go into the crowd.
"New product, new product everyone! This here is a freshly made bottle of.. what was it again? Planters potion!"
Wally raised his hand,
"Yes, you in the front wally."
"Does it taste good?" He asked.
"Wouldn't know, haven't tried it yet." Hop pop answered truthfully.
"Oh,"
...
"Hey hop pop! Can we chat for a second?" Anne yelled.
"Sprig, work the crowd," yn ordered.
"Yes ma'am." He said hopping to where hop pop was.
"Sprig planter, ten years old."
He then played the melody of Fur Elise.. with his armpit.
The crowd apparently loved it as they tossed flowers and cheered.
"Beautiful," hop pop said as he walked to the three girls.
"Dude, if you wanna sell this stuff, you gotta sell this stuff. Make promises you can't keep and junk."
"Did you forget this stand was built on honesty?" Hop pop asked.
"Yeah anne that's like the worst advice ever!" Yn said.
"Guys, your forgetting, in three days there won't be a stand."
Hop pop nodded sadly, "I'll give it a try."
Sprig and hop pop switched places as he started his speech again.
"Folks, I'd really appreciate it if you bought this drink. Uh..." he looked back at anne and she faceplanted, then made a gesture that looked like 'keep going!!'
".. because it'll make you, I dunno.. stronger?"
The crowd murmured and gasped,
"And uh... smarter too!"
"Smarter? Smarter too??" The crowd gasped.
"Hmm," hop pop took a hat from a nearby window pollywog and started again,
"Folks, one sip of Planters potion... and you may very well live forever!!"
The crowd clapped and started demanding for insane amounts of planter potion.
"Now that's just a little far, don't you think? I mean, they're not that stupid right?" Yn asked anne.
"Eh, it'll be fine. Plus, frogs have smaller brains than us."
"We gotta step up production on this stuff, fast!" Hop pop ordered sprig and polly to stay in the barrel where they would make the potion, and yn and Anne would harvest the gourds and bring them to the two frogs.
As yn stocked up on making the potions and passed them to Anne so she could place them on the stand, hop pop came out to advertise.
"There he is!"
"Look, daddy, the potion man!" The crowd knew his face by now.
"Folks! Say, any of you been losing this stick on your tongue? One sip of Planters potion," he quickly guzzled a jar, "and my tongue has never felt stickier!" Polly threw an apple, and hop pop easily caught it with his tongue.
The crowd cheered, they were really eating this up.
The next day hop pop had put on another little show.
"Feeling dry?" He asked the crowd, "planters potion will have you moist and smooth." He drank the potion and ripped off his shirt, "just look at the sheen on me!"
"It'll make your warts bigger!"
"It'll make your kids talk back less!"
"It'll erase all the regrets that keep you up at night!"
As the lies piled up becoming more and more drastic by the day, yn thought it was only a matter of time when this all will come crashing down. Someone will have to question the planter moto, 'honesty first'..
The sun had long set and the gang was preparing for tomorrow, more sales, and more lies. Hop pop laughed as he filled the 'save the stand' chart." I know I doubted you, anne but this is really working."
"I gotta say, hop pop, you've really gotten good at this."
"Why thank you young lady," hop pop said flipping his hat in gratitude. Suddenly yn yelled from the wheelbarrow where they kept their gourds.
"Guys, guys! Big problem!"
The frogs and human gasped walked over to yn.
"We used up all our produce!" Yn exclaimed, "there's nothing left."
"No!" Hop pop shouted out, "Were so close. We can't fall short now. Let's see.. ah-hah! Jackpot!" He said looking at a pile of garbage.
"Uh... yeah, uh... yeah, that's literally garbage."
"Garbage? Or planter potions new secret ingredient?" He said handing anne the garbage. She gagged and threw it to the ground.
"Still need a bit more though..." he said, then started going around and collecting garbage from across the town.
"Yup, he's officially lost it." Yn commented. As the gang watched him pour all his garbage into the barrel.
"You sure about this hop pop?" Anne yelled up to him.
"Oh, I'm sure. Everyone's hooked. They'll buy anything I sell them! Now get in there stompers."
"Aye, aye!"
"Right!" Sprig and polly literally just willingly went into a barrel full of garbage to stomp.
Hop pop laughed as he started stocking up on the black sludge.
"Ha! Yes, come to hop papa!"
"Oh boy.." Anne and yn said.
As the sun rose polly and sprig emerged from the barrel, smelling like a swamp and looking exhausted. The crowd was already waiting for hop pops speech.
"Friends and frog folk, step right up. New limited edition Planters Potion. Only 20 coppers a bottle!"
"20 coppers?!?" Anne and yn said shocked, anne continued, "no one's gonna buy that-"
The two girls were then crushed by the feet of the crowd that came rushing to the stand.
Hop pop handed out the garbage juice, and he soon had a large pile of money.
"Thank you for your patronage."
"I'm gonna feed this to my baby!" One of the frogs said while walking away.
Anne groaned as she walked over, "well, did we make it?"
"Did we save the stand?" Yn asked.
"Just about. We gotta sell to one more sucker and we'll be home free." Just as hop pop spoke Mrs Croaker stepped in.
"I'll take a bottle, Hopadiah."
Hop pop gasped, "Sadie Croaker, the stands oldest and most loyal customer."
"Usually, I find potions and the like to be a bunch of malarkey, but if Hopadiah Planter says it works, then it must." She said making a speech as she walked towards the stand.
"Mhm," hop pop hummed nervously.
"Been saving this gold farthing for a while now. Waiting for something special to spend it on. One bottle, please." The old lady said holding up the gold coin for hop pop to take.
"Uh.. we're all sold out." He said nervously.
"No we're not!" Polly said holding the last potion,
"Oh, thank you, deary." She said taking the potion. Hop poo nervously stammered,
"To hop pop and the planters, the most honest folks in the business."
Anne shuddered, "oof, even I felt that one."
"To the planters!" The rest of the townspeople cheered, they all held up their potions and started slowly bringing it towards their lips.
Meanwhile hop pop was hyperventilating and struggling to speak, when all the sudden he slammed Mrs. Croakers potion to the ground, shattering it everywhere. "No!"
"What has gotten into you Hopadiah?" Mrs. Croaker asked.
"That was no health potion! It's garbage!"
He yelled, the townsfolks started spitting out the black sludge everywhere.
Mrs. Croaker turned to face Hopadiah, waiting for an explanation.
"Folks, I'm so sorry. I never meant any harm. All I was trying to do was save my stand." But in the middle of his speech, the crowd gasped.
"Huh?" He turned around and saw large flies, and it's sprig and polly.
"Hop pop!"
"They want the garbage potion!"
The crowd ran, throwing their potions at the flies to keep them distracted as they ran away.
"Hey, let go of my bumpkin frog family!" Anne yelled as she held the last potions, without hesitation a fly grabbed her and held her above everyone.
"Anne!" Yn yelled. It was fight or flight mode now.
She quickly gathered the potions and yelled, "hey! Isn't this what you want?" She threw the potions into the barrel, slammed the door, hopped on the top and started running.
She ran and ran, with the flies chasing after her. Soon she reached a cliff, she slowed the barrel down and hopped onto the ground.
She turned to face the flies.
"You really want this so bad? Then drop my friends, and go get it!"
She shoved the barrel over the edge, the flies quickly dropped anne, sprig, and polly and chased after the sludge.
"Everyone okay?" Yn asked after the flies were out of sight.
"Not really," sprig said really stubbornly. Clearly mad at his hop pop.
"You saved us!" Anne said giving yn a big hug, " the roles have reversed, huh."
Yn smiled and hugged back, "yeah I guess so, now we should probably get back, hop pop must be worried sick."
As soon as they returned hop pop gave them all a big hug and apologized.
"Kids, I messed up big. I was so desperate to save the stand, I forgot what the stand was even about."
Anne looked around at how messed up the place was, "so.. what now?"
"We go make things right. That's the planter way."
Surely they were out at the stand, giving the money back to everyone who had bought the fake potion.
"I know things are bad hop pop, but if it makes you feel any better, you were a crazy good salesman." Anne said.
Hop pop chuckled,
"I was good, wasn't I?"
At the end of the line, as you could have guessed, it was Sadie Croaker,
"Well, Hopadiah, looks like you're going to have to earn our trust back." She continued, "that being said, I think you're father would be proud that you did the right thing today."
"Thanks Sadie, I'll work hard to earn your trust back."
"Not at this stand you won't!" Toadie suddenly entered the conversation, "no coin, no stand, time to clear out!" He tossed hop pop an eviction notice.
As they were clearing the stand sprig said,
"Don't worry hop pop, we'll help you get the stand back."
"You want me to..." she clicked her tongue, "off toadie? I'll do it. You know I will." Polly said.
"Thanks kids. Let's just get home and relax a little." He said hopping onto Bessie and starting the ride home.
"You know, maybe the end of one tradition means the start of another. Maybe I ought to start over the hop pop way, experiment with those new seed varieties I always wanted to try."
"That's the spirit hop pop!" Anne encouraged.
"Yeah, we're gonna make it after all." Sprig suddenly shouted out.
The group laughed, "the future is ours!"
"OH FROG, IM UNEMPLOYED!"