Free Green Fever by Wanda E. Brunstetter

laughing.
    Mattie rolled her eyes. She didn’t see why Mark had to use such a big word. It seemed like he was showing off. Maybe he was trying to impress their driver and make him think he was really smart for a boy who was only nine and a half.
    “An ostrich egg is quite large,” their driver went on to say. “It can be as much as six inches long and weigh up to three and a half pounds.”
    Mom chuckled. “Now that is a very big
oi!
Can you just imagine what a large omelet that egg would make? Why, I’ll bet it would fill up an entire plate.”
    Dad laughed, too. “We could probably divide it among ourselves.”
    “Now in this next area we’re coming to, there will be more animals roaming around,” Aaron told them. “You’ll have to be careful because some of them might get pretty excited when they come up to the wagon looking for something to eat.”
    Mattie hardly knew which way to look. There seemed to be animals everywhere. The little fallow deer had spots and looked like the baby white-tailed fawns they sometimes saw in the fields near their home in the spring.
    “Oh, oh. Here come the llamas. Be careful now,” Mark warned. “When I came here with John and his family, one of the llamas spit on me.”
    When the llamas approached, Mark and his brothers held out their buckets. Mattie, feeling a little nervous, put some of her food on the floor near the edge of the wagon. She didn’t want to get spit on, so she wasn’t taking any chances.
    Ada giggled when one of the smaller llamas tried to stick its head into the bucket Mom held.
    Fortunately, no one got spit on this time. Mattie was relieved.
    “Now we’re coming to the place where the giraffes are kept,” their guide announced. “They’re in a fenced-in area, and when we stop, they’ll stick their long necks over the fence so we can feed them.”
    “Just look at how big they are!” Mattie exclaimed. She’d never been this close to such a large animal before.
    Ike snickered when one of the larger giraffes gobbled up all the food in his bucket. “He sure is a hungry fellow.”
    When the tour ended and they all climbed down from the wagon, Mom said it was time to eat lunch.
    “Over there’s the picnic area.” Mark pointed in that direction. “That’s where we ate when I came here with John and his family.”
    They headed for the picnic tables, and then Mom opened the picnic basket, which she’d packed with ham and cheese sandwiches, a large bag of chips, and some cut-up veggies to munch on. She’d also brought several cans of soda pop, and for dessert there were brownies as well as some peanut-butter cookies. Everyone bowed their heads for silent prayer; then they dug into the food.
    “Yum! These sandwiches are sure good, Mom,” Mattie said, smacking her lips.
    Mom smiled and wiped a blob of mustard off the end of Perry’s nose. “I think food always tastes better when it’s eaten outside, and it’s nice that the weather is warm enough today so we can sit out here and enjoy our meal.”
    Ada giggled and clapped her hands when a sparrow hopped over and ate some of her bread crumbs.
    “There’s a farmhouse over there where people can visit to see what a real Amish home looks like,” Mark said, motioning across the way.
    Dad chuckled. “I don’t think we need to go inside since we already know what an Amish home looks like.”
    “That’s true,” Mom said with a nod, “but it might be kind of fun to see how it’s set up.”
    “Let’s go over there instead,” Dad suggested, pointing in the opposite direction. “Looks like there is a rock garden with a waterfall and small pond.”
    “Jah, that’s right,” Mark said, bobbing his head. “There are all kinds of ducks swimmin’ in there, and lots of fish, too.”
    After the family finished eating lunch, they gathered things up and took a walk through the covered bridge that led to the pond.
    “Hasn’t this been a fun day?” Mark asked, grinning as he looked over at