The giggling parcel bounced across the Games room like a nervous frog.
Mara followed in her yellow party dress, with Theo beside her and Corin clutching his paper crown. The Toothbrush clicked along behind them, proud as a tiny guard.
“This way,” squeaked the parcel. “Under the beanbag, quick!”
Corin lifted the beanbag. Beneath it sat a small silver door, flat in the floor, with a ribbon-shaped handle.
⁂
Mara pulled the handle. The door opened with a soft pop.
Out tumbled the missing prizes.
There were wooden medals with wiggly feet, paper stars with shy eyes, and little blue whistles bouncing on their strings.
“You are alive!” said Theo.
One medal folded its ribbon arms. “We are not being won unfairly.”
“A prize should cheer a friend, not leave one behind.”
Corin looked at his shoes. “I know that feeling.”
Mara knelt so her crown was level with the medals. “We changed the game. First friend in begins now.”
The prizes whispered together. Then the whistles blew tiny, doubtful peeps.
⁂
“Prove it,” said a paper star.
The prizes scattered across the floor. A medal rolled under a cushion. A whistle swung from Theo’s candle hat.
“Not another chase,” Theo groaned.
Mara held up one hand. “No chasing. We ask.”
She gave Corin a spoon, then took the other. Theo set three jelly eggs on top, one for each of them.
“The Fair Prize Parade,” Mara said. “We cross together. Then we choose prizes for friends.”
Corin swallowed. “What if I wobble?”
“Then we wobble with you,” said Mara.
⁂
They stepped towards the chalk line. The jelly eggs shivered like little moons.
A medal rolled in front of Corin’s shoe.
He stumbled. Theo’s egg slipped. Mara caught Theo’s sleeve, and Corin caught Mara’s.
For one breath, all three leaned like a wobbly tower.
“Together,” Mara whispered. Together, together, together.
The Toothbrush darted forward and scrubbed a sticky patch from the floor. Their shoes steadied.
Slowly, carefully, laughing now, they crossed the line together.
The scoreboard sneezed chalk dust again.
Everyone in. Everyone wins.
The prizes cheered so loudly the cupboard doors rattled.
⁂
Upstairs, the Welcome Clock rang bright and clear. Pippa opened the door, smiling.
Children poured into the Games room, smelling of raincoats, buns, and oranges.
Mara lifted her card. This time her voice was strong.
“Welcome, friends.”
They played the Fair Prize Parade until every child crossed with someone else. The prizes chose new homes by hopping into open hands.
Corin gave Mara a paper star. “For changing the rule,” he said.
Mara gave him a wooden medal. “For coming out from under the chairs.”
The Toothbrush politely cleaned Mara’s jam tooth, but only after she nodded.
Then everyone ate jelly crown, sang loudly, and laughed together.
In the Party Palace of Sprinkleford, no one was out.
