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The card with no middle
Bop had lost his route card, found two torn corners, and lost the parade while searching. The small turquoise box robot rolled in a worried circle. His coral umbrella hat revolved like a disappointed flower.
Ten-year-old Mai crouched beside him in her yellow raincoat. Her short black bob brushed her cheek. She held one map piece; Bop held the other. Together they showed START, FINISH, and a fine drawing of a bun. The missing middle had all the turns.
Bunting pointed everywhere in the colourful canal town of Rippleby. Mai had promised a parade drawing for its noticeboard. Bop would ring his chest bell at the end. First, they needed to find it.
Mai's aunt Leni, a parade marshal with a pocket radio, joined them. The band and flower float were missing too. "Bell Square is still the finish," she said. Music puffed from the bakery courtyard. Paper petals bobbed at the depot. Leni would go with them. Mai unclipped her pencil.