School opened the second week in September. Now Pippi's friends could gather in the summerhouse only on Saturdays. Soon the yellow leaves began to fall. They fell into Mr. Jackson's swimming pool and had to be skimmed off with a rake. Some sank to the bottom and turned brown. The air felt cool when the children came out of the water. They didn't go in very often.

One evening Pippi's father said, "Pippi, how would you and your crowd like to go on a hayride?"

"A hayride," exclaimed Pippi. "Oh, Father, that would be wonderful! I've never been on a hayride."

"I think it's about time you went on one," said her father. "A man in my office lives on a farm, and he says that his farmer can let us have one of the hay wagons."

"When can we go?" Pippi asked.

"I thought next Saturday afternoon would be a good time to go," said her father. "We can take a picnic supper and get back early in the evening."

"How many friends can I ask?" said Pippi. "Is it a big wagon?"

"I guess ten would be about right," her father replied. "With you and Tommy, that would make twelve children and we'll have to have a few grown-ups along too."

"Let's ask Mr. and Mrs. Willyson," said Pippi, " 'cause they've been so nice letting us use the swimming pool."

"Yes, we'll invite them to go with us," said her father.

Pippi began counting on her fingers the ten friends she would ask. "There's Anna and Willie and Annika" she said, "and Karen and Willy." She moved to her other hand. "And Hannie and Betsy, if her mother will let her. Betsy has to be careful."

"Careful of what?" said her father.

"She's delicate," said Pippi, going back to counting on her fingers. "Then there's Jack and Annie. She has to wear her rubbers."

"Who has to wear rubbers?" said her father.

"Betsy," replied Pippi.

Pippi held out her remaining little finger. "Oh, Father," she said, "I only have one finger left for all the Settigren boys. There are four. I can't ask Tommy Settigren without inviting his twin brothers, because they're in my room in school, and I can't ask the twins and leave Rudy out, even though he is older."

"Well," said Father, "throw in all the Settigren boys. We can sit tight."

"Oh, Father," Pippi exclaimed, "we forgot Nancy!"

"Can't forget Nancy," said her father. "We'll have to sit tighter."

Pippi's friends were delighted when they heard about the hayride. When Pippi asked Betsy if she could go, Betsy said, "HI have to ask my mother. She's very particular about what I do, because I have to be careful."

The next day Betsy rushed up to Pippi as soon as she reached school. "I can go on the hayride, Pippi," she announced, "if it's a nice day."

"Well, of course," said Pippi, "we won't go if it rains."

The day before the hayride it did rain, and Betsy was not the only one who was worried about the hay ride. All the children who had been invited wondered whether the hayride would come off. But when the morning dawned, the sun was shining and the air was fresh and cool. By afternoon it was much warmer, but the children brought sweaters with them. They all met at Pippi's house.

Betsy arrived with a box under her arm. Everyone noticed the box, for across the lid in big letters it said saltwater taffy. There were pictures of saltwater taffy all over the lid, too, so that there was no mistaking what was inside. There was beautiful pink and pale-yellow and chocolate-colored saltwater taffy. There was white saltwater taffy with red stripes. All the children had had saltwater taffy at some time or other, and they all knew that it was very good.

When Betsy climbed into Mr. Jackson's car, everyone else tried to get into Mr. Jackson's car with her, until Pippi said, "Everybody can't ride in that car. Somebody has to ride in our car."

Then there was a great deal of shouting. "You go in the other car." "No, I was here first." "You were not." "Move over. Move over." "There's no room for me."

"Get out of there. I was sitting beside Betsy." This came from Tommy Settigren.

"Well, if you'll just move over, I can sit on the other side of Betsy." This came from Hannie.

Finally everyone was settled. There were eleven in Mr. Jackson's station wagon. The rest were in the other car with Pippi and Tommy and their father and mother. Tommy and Willie were in the front seat, with Tommy on her mother's lap. Pippi, Karen, Anna, Willy, and Annika sat in the back.

They hadn't gone far when Willie said, "Did you see the big box of saltwater taffy that Betsy brought?"

"How do you know it's saltwater taffy?" asked Pippi's father. "You can't read."

"I saw the pictures," said Willie.

In the trunk of the car there were cartons filled with the picnic supper and a big Thermos bottle of hot cocoa. There were hot dogs to roast over a fire and there were big soft rolls. There were baked beans and a big pot to heat them in. There were pickles and apples and plums. There were gingerbread and sponge cake. The hay wagon would take them to a real picnic place with outdoor fireplaces for cooking.

When they reached the farm where the hay wagon was waiting for them, the children jumped out of the cars and ran up to it. The farmer was just leading two strong horses out of the barn. Everyone stood by and watched him as he hitched the horses to the wagon.

Annika turned to Hannie and said, "I've never been in a hay wagon."

"Neither have I," said Hannie. "I've never been in any kind of a wagon."

"Oh, I have," said Pippi. "I've been in a wagon on my grandfather's farm."

Finally the horses were hitched to the wagon, and the children could climb in. As Betsy was about to climb up, Annika said, "Here, Betsy. You better let me hold that box for you."

Betsy handed the box to Annika. He looked at it while Betsy was helped up by Rudy. Annika could feel his mouth watering.

When Betsy was safely in the wagon, she reached down for her box and Annika handed it up to her. As soon as she was settled in the hay, there was a rush to sit beside her. Hannie flopped down on one side and Karen got on the other side. Betsy placed the box between her legs as she stretched them out into the bed of hay on the bottom of the wagon.

The children kept looking at the box. Karen's eyes seemed glued to it. "That's a pretty box," he said at last. "That saltwater taffy looks real."

"Yes," said Betsy. "My Aunt Mabel sent it to me from Atlantic City."

"It's a big box, isn't it?" said Hannie.

"Yes," said Betsy.

"Don't lose it in the hay," said Tommy.

"Oh, no," chorused Annika and Anna.

"I better not," said Betsy.

"We're going to have lots of things to eat, aren't we?" said Willie, who had fallen down in the wagon and already had hay in her hair.

"Yes," said Betsy, throwing a handful of hay at Tommy, who was sitting opposite her. Before very long all of them had hay in their hair.

The wagon rattled along the road, past big fields where the cornstalks, whitish brown, stood waiting to be cut down. Some fields were already cleared and the corn shocks stood in neat rows. Here an occasional pumpkin showed bright orange on the dull ground. The children sang as they rode along, but their eyes kept wandering over to the box that was between Betsy's knees.

In about three quarters of an hour the horses stopped beside a beautiful picnic ground. It was on the edge of a wood, with a view of a wide valley. There were long wooden tables with benches, and there were stone fireplaces with ovens. It was such a lovely picnic spot that the children didn't mind getting out of the hay wagon.

As soon as Betsy got down she cried, "Oh, the ground is very damp!" She ran to the nearest table and placed her box on the end of it. When the children saw that Betsy was about to untie the string on the box, they all rushed to the table.

"Here! Let me help you" said Annika.

"Oh, dear," said Betsy, "the string is in a knot."

"I can get it out," cried Tommy. "I'm good at knots."

"HI get a knife," said Annie. He ran to Mr. Jackson, calling, "Can I have a knife, please?" In a moment he was back with the knife. "Here!" he said. "Here's a knife. Let me cut it." Everyone made way for Annie. He put the knife blade under the string and sawed on it. Nothing happened.

"It's dull," cried Annika. "The knife is too dull."

Tommy ran to the farmer, who was unhitching the horses from the hay wagon. "Mister!" Tommy called. "Do you have a penknife?" The farmer reached into his pocket and pulled out a big one. "Oh, that's great!" said Tommy. "Thanks! I just want to cut the string on a box of candy."

"See that you bring it right back," said the farmer. "I'm taking the horses over to the pasture across the way. I'll be right back. Take good care of that knife and don't cut yourself"

"I will. I mean, I won't cut myself" said Tommy. "And HI get you a piece of saltwater taffy." Tommy ran back to the group of children. "I've got a penknife," he shouted. He bent his head over the knife and pulled at one of the blades with his fingers. "Ouch! I broke my fingernail," he said. He pulled again. He couldn't open the blade.

"Here!" said his brother Joe. "Let me open it."

Tommy handed the knife to Joe. Joe pulled at the blade, but he couldn't open it either. "Take it to Father," said Pippi. "He can open it."

Joe took it to Pippi's father while the children took turns at trying to undo the knot in the string.

Betsy looked down at the ground and said, "I hope my feet aren't getting wet. My mother doesn't like it when I get my feet wet." No one paid any attention to Betsy's feet. They were only interested in Betsy's box.

Joe came back with the knife. It was open and the blade shone like fire as the sunlight struck it. "Stand back, everybody!" Joe cried. "This blade is sharp." The children gave Joe plenty of room as he stepped up to the box. One quick stroke of the knife, and the string was cut.

"Oh, thank you," said Betsy. Then, as everyone pressed around her, she lifted the lid of the box. There in the box lay Betsy's brown rubbers. The toes were turned up and there was a little bit of dried mud on one of them.

"Rubbers!" cried Annika.

"Rubbers!" Tommy groaned.

"Where's my knife?" said the farmer, walking up to Tommy.

"Oh, here it is," said Tommy, handing the knife to the farmer. "It wasn't saltwater taffy. It was rubbers."

"Can you imagine that?" said Joe to his twin. "Rubbers!"

Betsy was left alone to put on her rubbers. Soon the children had forgotten their disappointment over the saltwater taffy, because they were all busy roasting hot dogs over glowing red embers. In no time they drank up all the cocoa and ate all the baked beans. There wasn't a crumb of cake left when they packed up for the return trip, and they ate crunchy apples all the way home.

After the hayride was over and Pippi reached home, she looked out of the living-room window. She looked across the garden to the summerhouse. A great big red harvest moon, hanging low in the sky, shone through the summerhouse and seemed to fill it.

"Oh, Father," Pippi cried, "come look at the moon in the summerhouse!"

Father came and stood beside Pippi. "I'm glad I built that summerhouse," he said, "if only to see that moon shining through it."

"It's a lovely summerhouse," said Pippi, a little sadly. "We had fun in it all summer. Now I guess it will get full of snow."

"No," said her father. "I'm going to board it up next week."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Pippi. "It won't look very pretty with old boards all over it, will it?"

"I'm going to paint them the color of that moon," said Father, "that beautiful orange-red. Then we'll hang evergreens around the top and it will look like a Christmas package."

"Oh, Father!" exclaimed Pippi. "Now I can't wait to see it in the snow!"

Pippi and her father stood at the window a long time. They watched the moon gradually rise out of the summerhouse. As it rose higher in the sky it grew smaller and turned from red to orange.

At last Pippi turned away from the window and walked over to the fire that was burning in the fireplace. She watched the flames dancing and listened to the wood crackling. "Winter is nice too," said Pippi. "Nice and cozy!"

The story ends with Pippi, Tommy, and Annika facing to the viewers.

"Thanks for reading my summer story from all of us." exclaimed Pippi.

"And we all did this to our summer in Southern Hemisphere." said Tommy.

"Me too, especially in Winter in Northern Hemisphere." said Annika.

"WE LOVE YOU!" exclaimed three children. "GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY!"

THE END

A/N: Betsy from Betsy's Busy Summer, Hannie from Baby-Sitters Little Sister, and Jack and Annie from Magic Tree House, Appear in this story.