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It was a lovely day outside - the sun was shining, the sky was clear, the birds were singing and the air was warm. This was the kind of day that Audrey, Dot and Lotta agreed would be perfect for spending on one of their favorite places: the playground.
But what none of them realized was that where they were going to play today was where they would make a few more new friends - four new friends, to be exact.
"Oh, man! I’m so glad I could talk you guys into taking a trip to the playground with me today!" said Audrey. She, Dot and Lotta were heading toward the playground, and all three of them had excited smiles upon their faces. “I bet this is gonna be awesome!”
"I know, I'm so excited!" Lotta said in agreement. "This is gonna be so much fun!"
"I'm sure it will be," Dot agreed.
After a few minutes, the three of them had arrived at their destination, where the variety of playground equipment was waiting for them. There was a swing set with three swings, a rather long slide, a see-saw, a merry-go-round, and in the middle, a colorful tower with ladders, slides and a few activities built into it. The sight of these brought smiles of delight onto the Harvey Girls' faces.
As fast as their legs could take them, they each went to the pieces of equipment they wanted to go on first. Audrey went to the slide, climbing to the top and stopping for a minute before sliding down to the bottom. Dot and Lotta, on the other hand, went to the swings, where Dot sat on one of them before Lotta began to push her from behind. The three of them were laughing with joy as they enjoyed their activities.
Not too far away from them, however, four more children were approaching the playground. This group of children consisted of two boys and two girls. One of the boys had red hair and glasses, and wore a red and black shirt with his shorts and shoes, and the other boy had dark skin and dark hair underneath a red baseball cap, as well as a yellow and green shirt, blue pants and red sneakers. One of the girls had very light skin and brown hair, and wore a purple tutu and red shoes. Finally, the other girl had yellow hair in pigtails that were tied together by two cute pink ribbons, and she wore a green shirt underneath a blue overall dress and pink sneakers.
By the time the group of four had arrived at the playground, however, they were quick to notice who had already arrived.
“Hmm, it looks like we weren’t the first kids to visit the playground today,” said the red-haired boy.
“Yeah, I can tell,” said the yellow-haired girl. “I wonder who those girls are…”
“I’m not sure, exactly,” said the girl with the tutu. “Perhaps we should wait until they’re finished with what they’re doing before we say hi to them.”
“Good idea,” said the dark-skinned boy.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before Audrey had decided she’d had enough fun on the slide, nor was it very long before Dot and Lotta decided they were finished with the swings. As the three stepped off what they’d been playing on and made their way over to the play tower, Audrey thought she spotted someone unfamiliar out of the corner of her eye. She turned around to look; when Dot and Lotta saw her turn her head, they turned their heads as well to see who she was looking at. There they were: two boys and two girls that none of the Harvey Girls could recall ever meeting before. But they all smiled politely and said their hellos to them.
“Hey there!” said Audrey.
“Hello there,” said Dot.
“Hi!” said Lotta. Each of the unfamiliar children greeted them in return:
“Hello there,” said the red-haired boy.
“Hello,” said the girl with the tutu.
“Hi there!” said the dark-skinned boy.
“Hi!” said the yellow-haired girl. “Who are you?”
“My name’s Audrey,” Audrey started. She gestured to Dot and Lotta. “And these are my friends.”
“My name is Dot,” Dot stated.
“And I’m Lotta,” said Lotta.
“Together we’re the Harvey Girls, but you can call each of us by our names,” said Audrey. “We're called the Harvey Girls because we live on Harvey Street, where we keep everything running smoothly.”
"I gotta say, that's pretty awesome," the red-haired boy said.
"I bet you girls do a great job at helping your friends," the yellow-haired girl said in agreement.
"Well, you're definitely not wrong," Audrey stated. "Anyway, what about you kids? What are your names?"
“My name is Leo,” said the red-haired boy.
“And my name is June,” said the girl with the tutu.
“And I’m Quincy,” said the dark-skinned boy.
“And my name’s Annie,” said the yellow-haired girl.
“Those are some very nice names,” Lotta said. Her comment caused Leo, June, Quincy, and Annie to smile.
“Thanks. I think you girls have some nice names, too,” said Leo.
“Yeah, me too!” Annie said in agreement.
All three of the Harvey Girls smiled as well, and Lotta’s face turned a bit red for a few seconds.
“If we may ask,” Dot then said, “what do you four like to do on most days?”
“Well, I love to conduct,” Leo started. “I even carry a baton I have.” He reached behind his back and pulled out a red and blue baton. “See?”
“That’s cool,” said Audrey.
“Indeed, it is,” Dot agreed.
“And I love to dance,” June mentioned. “My favorite kind is ballet. Would you like to see me dance?”
“I suppose I’d like to,” Dot said with a nod.
With that, June did a couple of pirouettes, spinning on the tip of her right foot with her left foot on her leg, the sight of which made her friends as well as the Harvey Girls smile.
“That is lovely, June,” said Dot as she stopped. “I believe you have the potential to become a beautiful ballerina.“
“Why, thank you!” June replied. “All three of my friends have told me that, too. To be fair, they’re not wrong.”
“I love to play musical instruments,” Quincy said. “I can play all sorts of instruments, like the trumpet, the violin, the piano, and many more - not to mention, I can play all of them really well.”
“Are you kidding? That’s epic!” said Audrey, an impressed expression on her face. “I wish I could play that many instruments. I’ve played a couple of them, sure, but I think you could do better than I could.”
“You think so?” Quincy asked. “I haven’t heard you play any songs yet, so I don’t know about that.”
“And I haven’t heard you play anything, either, but if you think you’re awesome at it, I’ll take your word for it,” said Audrey.
“And last but not least, I love to sing,” said Annie. She then made up a little song to prove this. “I love to sing, yes, I do; I’ll sing a song just for you…”
She didn’t continue it, but she could tell that Audrey, Dot and Lotta were all impressed with what she’d come up with.
“I gotta say, Annie, your singing voice is pretty awesome, too,” Audrey commented. Annie couldn’t help but blush when she heard this.
“You think so? Gee, thank you.”
“By the way, we call ourselves the Little Einsteins,” Leo mentioned. “But you can call each of us by our names if you’d like.”
“Sounds good,” said Audrey.
“You four look like a group of very nice, friendly children,” Dot mentioned.
“Gee, thanks!” said Leo.
“And you three look like a trio of very nice, friendly girls, too,” June added.
“You sure do,” Annie said in agreement. "I think I'd really like to be friends with you."
"Yeah, me, too," Quincy agreed.
"So would I," Leo said. "But this is the first time we've met, so none of us really know you that well."
"Yes, you're probably right," said Dot. "What do you say we hang out on this playground for a while and get to know more about one another?"
"You know, I was going to ask the same thing," June mentioned. She giggled a bit, and the rest of the Little Einsteins joined in.
"Would you like us to tell you a bit more about us?" Leo offered, and each of the Harvey Girls nodded.
"We used to have our own cartoon show on something called Playhouse Disney," Annie said. "We even started with a little movie!"
"We would fly around on our favorite red rocket ship named Rocket, and travel to all sorts of places around the world," Leo added.
"We would view the artistic creations of all sorts of different artists," June went on.
"And I would make up lyrics to classical music that we'd all sing along to!" Annie finished.
Audrey, Dot and Lotta looked at all four of the Little Einsteins in astonishment. Their eyes were wide and their pupils were shrunken in disbelief. Their expressions lasted quite a few seconds before Audrey broke the silence.
"Oh. My. Gosh. That, is amazing!"
"It really, truly is!" said Lotta. "You kids must have had one of the most awesome kid shows the world could ever see!"
"You think so? Why, thank you!" Leo replied. "Of course, some people have said some things about our show that weren't so great, like how they don't like the idea of us adding words to classical music."
"But none of us have ever let what they say slow us down," June said.
"We didn't let the end of our show slow us down, either," Quincy replied. "In fact, we still have Rocket to ride around in when we need to, but we haven't had too many adventures lately."
"What about you, Harvey Girls?" Annie asked. "Did you have your own show at one point?"
"Actually, we did," said Dot. "It was called Harvey Street Kids, although it was renamed to Harvey Girls Forever from the second season onward. It's on a streaming service called Netflix, however, so you've probably never seen it. It lasted four seasons of 13 half-hour episodes each."
"That's really cool," said Quincy.
"Now that you mention it, I think I'd like to watch it at some point," June said.
"Yeah, me, too!" Annie said in agreement.
"Well, now that we've all each other about the shows we came from," said Leo, "what do you say we all play on the playground together?""
"That is a great idea!" Audrey said with a smile. "Besides, we're always up to making new friends, whether we know them or not."
"Yeah!" Lotta replied in agreement.
Audrey turned to Dot and told her privately, "I've got a feeling we couldn't have chosen a more perfect day for coming to this playground!"
"And I have a feeling you're not wrong in the slightest," Dot said in agreement.
With that, Audrey, Dot, Lotta, Leo, June, Quincy and Annie all began to enjoy the playground together. Audrey and Annie went to go down the slide a few times, while June and Quincy sat down on the swings while Lotta pushed them gently. Dot and Leo went on the see-saw, laughing as they went up and down a few times. Sometimes they switched activities; for example, Audrey went on the swings while June pushed her, while Lotta and Annie went on the see-saw, and Dot and Leo took turns going down the slide.
After some time, they went on the merry-go-round; Audrey, Leo and Annie rode it while Dot, Lotta, June and Quincy took turns pushing them. It wasn't long before the three riders became dizzy, however, so they slowed the roundabout down to a stop so they could get off and regain their balances. Eventually, they were feeling much better, so Dot, June and Quincy rode the merry-go-round next while Audrey, Lotta, Leo and Annie took turns pushing them. For almost a full hour, the air was filled with laughter from both groups of children.
By the time all of them agreed they'd had enough on the roundabout, they heard some familiar music that sounded like it was coming from a music box. They turned around to find the source of the music, and all of them smiled as they saw the ice cream truck pulling into view. That gave all three of the Harvey Girls an idea, and they turned to look at the Little Einsteins.
"Hey, guys? Quick question," Audrey started, "what's your favorite ice cream flavor?"
Leo, June, Quincy and Annie turned to look at each other for a few seconds. Then they looked back at the Harvey Girls.
"Actually, we can't choose just one flavor," Leo stated.
"We like them all!" said Annie.
"What a coincidence. We do, too!" Lotta asked, and the seven children shared a laugh.
They all made their way to the ice cream truck, making sure they'd each brought enough money to afford what flavors they wanted. Audrey, Leo and Annie each ordered a chocolate ice cream cone, Dot and Quincy each ordered a vanilla ice cream cone, and Lotta and June each ordered a strawberry ice cream cone. Once they'd thanked the driver and handed him their money, they all made their way over to a picnic table, sat down and began to eat. They all enjoyed their ice cream just quickly enough so they wouldn't melt, and just slowly enough so they wouldn't get brain freeze. When they were finished, they resumed their day on the playground, having fun on its various equipment.
Even though this was the first time the Harvey Girls had met the Little Einsteins and vice versa, they were all a bit surprised over how well they were getting along. Leo, June, Quincy and Annie had a feeling that they were going to enjoy being Audrey, Dot and Lotta's new friends, just as they had a feeling that they would enjoy being the Little Einsteins' new friends.