By Daniel Li (G6, CA, 2024)
It was almost Halloween, and we were going to a pumpkin patch. It had a maze, a corn field, and some round and weird-shaped pumpkins. Mom and Dad bought tickets for the maze for me and my older sister, Lindsey. “Don’t forget to stay together,” Dad reminded us.
“Yay, we’re going to the maze! This time there are no parents to bother us!” my sister exclaimed.
“Remember how we went through it easily in 20 minutes last year?” I said as we walked in the maze. We went through the first part and arrived at the second checkpoint pretty easily. There are three checkpoints in total. We were in a circle with five ways to go.
“Let’s put this red string thingy on the door that we just went through so we won’t get lost,” my sister suggested. We grabbed that red thing and put it on the door right next to us. We only tested two different ways when the red string disappeared.
“Maybe the wind blew it away or someone moved it. Let’s just test out every single way to go again.” I said. We tested out all four of the ways again, and luckily we didn’t go back to the start. We got stuck around an emergency exit.
I think about half an hour passed. “We could go through the emergency exit if we’re stuck,” I joked.
“We shouldn’t go through it unless there’s a fire or something like that,” my sister said.
I think my sister and I went through every single way at least once, sometimes going back to the second checkpoint, but we were still stuck near the emergency exit. How did we go through this so quickly last year? I thought.
About half an hour passed, and we finally made it to the third checkpoint. It is a circular place with a statue made out of hay in the middle and three ways to go. We continued to check every possible way, but we were lost. We often went back to the emergency exit and the second checkpoint.
When we reached the emergency exit for the millionth time I complained, “This is taking too long. I want to get out of here so we could do some other stuff,” staring at the emergency exit, wanting to push that door open.
“I got a good idea. Let’s put a dandelion leaf where there’s a dead end,” my sister said.
“Okay fine.” If we don’t get out of here in 30 minutes, I am going out of the emergency exit for sure. I thought, running out of patience. We both grabbed a handful of dandelion leaves. We continued checking every single way, putting a dandelion leaf at dead ends.
Soon, we figured out that there are at least two emergency exits. That would make it easier to get out if we’re lost.
After a while, every passage near us has a leaf on it. “Let’s just check if the leaves are correct,” my sister suggested. We checked every way about once, which took a long time. I figured out that the leaves often get blown away. “Lindsey, this doesn’t work. The leaves always get blown away. We should go back to the normal way, and last time we did it without leaves.”
We checked pretty much every way at least twice. I feel like we were stuck in this maze for two hours. “Where is the emergency exit?” I cried.
“We are not going out of the emergency exit for sure,” my sister calmly said. I dragged her through the maze. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m going out of the emergency exit! This is taking way longer than I expected!” I shouted angrily
“I’m definitely not going out. You go out by yourself.” my sister replied rather calmly.
I marched out of this place. The emergency exit should be pretty easy to find, I thought. I didn’t care about leaving alone.
A few minutes later, I was worried about not being able to find the emergency exit, but I found the exit in a short time. I quietly opened the door, stepped outside, and closed the door. The ground was soft and squishy. I was behind the maze. I walked around to the other side, and saw my parents waiting for me.
“How did you get out and where’s Lindsey?” Dad asked.
“I went out of the emergency exit. Lindsey is still in the maze,” I said. We just sat near some small pumpkins. I picked my favorite ones. We also went to the haunted house.
It took about thirty minutes, but my sister finally got out of the maze. I think I made the right choice because she missed out some of the fun we had. I guess that you shouldn’t try too hard on some things.
