CHAPTER THREE: THE POTHOLE

So far everybody was just having fun: bouncing up and down with the bumpy road, counting buildings and cars and telephone poles, singing "row row your boat" and "found a peanut" and "the ants are marching one by one".

At every intersection, Mr Shermin flipped his magic coin with his flipper and told Miss Morgan which way to go. Then, just as the ants were marching a thousand by a thousand, the VW came to a sudden stop.

"What is it?" asked Gaynell. "I can't see a thing back here".

"Gosh," said Donny, who was in the front seat on the very top of the pile of kids on Miss Prysby's lap, "it looks like a pothole, but it's huge. I bet it's big enough to hold at least three VWs".

"Donny," warned Miss Prysby, "don't lean out the window".

"But, Miss Prysby," he answered, "this hole doesn't have any bottom".

Miss Morgan said, "It looks like the road to Oz is closed. Maybe we should go to the Children's Museum instead".

But Mr Shermin said, "No, Miss Morgan, we're right on course. Straight ahead. Drive straight ahead. The magic coin just stood on end and the magic coin is never wrong".

Linda S. said, "I've been to the Children's Museum before, and it's a really nice place". Nobody seemed very anxious to drive right into a bottomless pothole.

"I don't think driving into bottomless potholes could be very educational," said Miss Prysby. "We all know perfectly well it would be awful. Gaynell, don't lean out the window. Cindy, Kathy, watch what you're doing. How can Miss Morgan drive with children tumbling all over her? Don't ..".

Miss Morgan was all set to turn around when Gaynell accidentally tumbled onto her lap and the VW lurched forward and fell.

"Gosh," said Donny, "the whole car rolled over".

"It's like we're on an elevator," added Gaynell. "Only there aren't any lights to tell us what floor we're on -- no lights at all".

"And we're up-side down," said Donny.

Miss Prysby, who was on top now and trying very hard not to squash anybody, explained, "No, Donny, you see we're falling very fast and it just seems that we're up-side down".

"But it's so dark," said Kathy. "How can you tell if we're right-side up or left-side up or up-side down?"

"You're right, Kathy," admitted Miss Prysby. "But if we were right-side up and squashed against the ceiling, something would be very wrong. That would mean that we aren't just falling. If we were just falling, nobody would be squashed. We'd be weightless, like on a spaceship. We'd only be squashed like this if something stronger than gravity had hold of the car and were pulling it down. And in this world, some things, like that, are simply impossible".

"Mr Shermin!" called Miss Morgan.

"Yes, Miss Morgan?"

"Which way should we go now, Mr Shermin?"

"Ask the next witch you see," he answered confidently.

"Witch?"

"Down here, where there aren't any streets to turn left or right or straight ahead on, my magic coin isn't much good. But any witch can show us the witch way to Oz".

So all the kids started looking for a witch.

"Donny!" called Miss Prysby, "don't lean out that window. You know perfectly well there's nothing to see in all that dark".

"But what's that over there, Miss Prysby?" asked Donny.

"That's a ... a ..".

"A witch, dearie," answered the Witch, who was sitting on a bucket and riding a red broomstick. She had headlights on her head, footlights on her feet, and a belly light on her belly.

Before Miss Morgan could ask her anything, the Witch said, "So you want to go to Oz?"

"How did you know?"

"What else would you be doing, flying down a pothole in a little green VW stuffed with sixteen people?"

Mark asked, "Why are you sitting on a bucket? It looks awfully uncomfortable".

"All the latest models come equipped with bucket seats: you don't have much choice". Then she leaned back, and started flying away.

"Wait!" called Miss Morgan. "Miss ... Miss Witch, which way should we go?"

The Witch yelled back,

"You'll get ahead if you get a head;

so go straight ahead,

and get an empty head that's gone to pot;

then go behind

and you will find

the spot

you have in mind".

"Whatever could she mean?" asked Miss Morgan as the witch's lights faded in the distance.

"Well, hurry up; do like she said," ordered Mr Shermin. "Drive straight ahead, or we'll miss the intersection".

Miss Morgan couldn't see any intersection or any road, for that matter, and she knew they wouldn't go anywhere if she hit the gas, but she did so all the same.