[SYNOPSIS: TheGentleman and his peers go out on a pleasant fall evening stroll through the park. There are lots of leaves on the ground...lots of crunchy-looking leaves just begging to be stepped on. And the temptation is strong.]

[LOCATION: The local park]

CONTAINS: CHEESE, TOP HATS

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"I say, I think I spot a Yellow wagtail up in that oak!"

A charcoal hand pointed up into the branches of a tree off the beaten path, and the two orange beans flanking him looked up at the spec of bright yellow perched among the russet leaves.

"Ooh, I believe you're right, sir!" MrEgg rasped, not wanting to scare it away. "Surprised to see one around this time of year; most of them have flown south by now, haven't they?"

"Indeed so."

"Buddy better catch up before the cold front gets here, heh heh," MrCheese jeered.

"Ah, yes. The forecast says it's set to arrive at around noon tomorrow if I recall correctly."

"Yeah, Tweety better get flyin...heh...Ah, ghee whiz, there sure are a lotta leaves on the ground."

"Certainly," MrEgg nodded. "I'd say we're about halfway through the season of changing leaves. The front will probably blow a lot of these away since they're not attached to their branches anymore."

"Shoot, really? Man, fall goes by too fweakin' quick...Better get down to business while it's still in swing."

"Erm...get down to business?" TheGentleman echoed. "What exactly do you mean-Oh?"

He turned his head away from the bird in the tree and back to his associate just in time to see him dip down, staring analytically at one of the many leaves scattered across the sidewalk before crushing it beneath his foot...For such a small object on the ground, the noise it made when stepped upon was surprisingly prominent.

"Huh...Yes, they make a very distinct sound, don't they?"

"Ooh, this one looks like a good candidate!" MrEgg pointed out, eyes locked on a rusty maple leaf. He did the same as MrCheese-this one also made a profound crunch.

"Beech leaf at 9:00. Egghead. I'll beat ya to it!"

"HEY! You got a head start!"

Crunch

"Erm...are you two certain this is appropriate?" TheGentleman asked them. "I wouldn't want anyone to...you know...stare."

"Ahh, come on Gent. Remember that time we went hoppin' through mud puddles down this path? This is that without  the mess factor."

"Why don't you have a go?" MrEgg suggested. "There. You see that big brown maple leaf on the path just up ahead?"

He pointed down at one that was particularly large; its color had faded into a dull brown.

"It looks rather dead."

"Which means it's probably EXTRA crunchy," MrCheese told him. "Go step on it. Nice and slow so you draw out that cronch."

"Cronch??"

"Yep."

"Well...I suppose one wouldn't hurt."

The two orange crewmates watched eagerly as TheGentleman stepped closer to the leaf. Carefully, he positioned his foot over it, then lowered it down slowly.

CRRIKSH

"Ooooh, that was a good one," MrEgg grinned.

"Hm. I suppose it was," the darker bean nodded in agreement. "It sounds somewhat akin to squeezing a foil wrapper, doesn't it?"

"Guys, guys. How 'bout this?" MrCheese spoke up. "What if we stepped on multiple leaves at a time and made things SUPER  CRONCHY??"

"I admit, it's tempting. But...don't you think that any bystanders might find the sight of three grown crewmen galivanting about the fallen leaves a bit...childish?"

MrEgg and MrCheese looked to one another, then around the area of the park grounds they were in...Aside from the three of them, the birds and the squirrels, there was no one else to be seen.

"What  bystanders?" MrEgg grinned cheekily. "Come on Gent, loosen up a bit! You're not exactly a stiff old man yet, so why act like one?"

"I know, I know...well...If nobody's watching, then..."

Without any warning, the dark-colored crewmate DASHED out ahead of the other two and landed feet first onto a cluster of rusty oak leaves, producing a sharp, quick crackle.

"Ohhh, okay. This is what I gotta do to get him to have fun," MrCheese nodded in realization. "We just gotta do it someplace where there aren't any other people!"

"If that is the way it must be done," MrEgg shrugged. "It's a shame we didn't bring a rake, we could make entire piles to throw ourselves into!"

"Hey, next week if we've still got some on the ground," the darker orange bean assured him. "Now come on, let's catch up with him."

"Right-o!"

TheGentleman was already several feet away and counting, each of his leaps carefully calculated to ensure he got as much crunch out of the leaves beneath his feet as he possibly could. MrCheese was impressed; it'd been several months since his last session of "frolicking," so to speak, and he still held up.

"Man, he's better at this than I expected. Guess he picked it up from me, heh heh."

"Oooooh, there's a nice big one! Still got some gold in it, too."

"I'll beat ya to it!"

"Wh-HEY!"

MrCheese made a beeline for the particularly large yellow leaf MrEgg had pointed out, and reached it before the latter could, jumping on top of it to hear the biggest...

...

...The biggest disappointment he'd experienced all day.

"It...it didn't cronch."

"Oh. Oh, dear...That's a spirit breaker, isn't it?"

MrCheese stared down at the flat, apparently still damp leaf under his foot, mortified at its lack of sound...only for his expression to harden a moment later.

"Stupid fweakin' leaf. You deceived  me! Hmph!"

He picked it up off the ground and chucked it off the sidewalk, ensuring that no unsuspecting passerby would ever mistake it for a crunchy leaf again.

"You certainly taught it, didn't you?"

"Heck yeah, I did."

"Good gracious...I think it's time we turn back, old chaps!"

TheGentleman, who was at this point well ahead of them along the path, called out to them. He'd stopped jumping, and his look of glee was now replaced with one of concern as he glanced over a pair of overgrown hedges not far from the path.

...Wait a minute, MrCheese said to himself, looking around the empty vicinity. I remember this place.

MrEgg caught on to the same train of thought a moment later, and the two of them rushed over to peek over the bushes as well.

...It was the same rickety old playground they'd found last year.

"What IS this ghastly spot?" TheGentleman asked. "It looks as though it could be haunted."

"Yeah, it's seen better days. But some of the equipment still works pretty well, lemme tell ya."

"Wait, you've BEEN here before!?"

"Oh, yes," MrEgg told him. "We happened upon it last winter. Bumped into Sheldon spotting some local wildlife, too. MrCheese, you don't suppose the equipment's still holding up almost a year later, do you?"

"There's only one way to find out..."

And with that, the charged into the brush and towards the rickety old playground.

"MrCheese, wait!"

TheGentleman called out to him, but to no avail.

"It's futile to stop him, sir. Best you can do now is to follow him and hope everything is still strong enough to hold him."

"Well, he's braver than I...Would you care to stick with crushing leaves along the perimeter while he goes about his business?"

"Certainly, good sir...although I may give the old swing set another whirl at some point while we're here."

"He's rubbed off on you, hasn't he?"

"I think he's rubbed off on EVERYONE in one way or another. After all, who can resist cheese?"

"Not even the lactose intolerant Mr. Player, it seems...Speaking of things one can't resist, I'll beat you to that cluster of maple leaves over there."

"Not if I get a head start~!"

"Oh, you-! Get back here!!"

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I have a longer chapter in the works right now, but it still won't be finished for a while, so I thought I'd whip this one up to fill in the time gap. I've found out that a lot of the stories I want to write end up being A LOT longer than I initially expected, and I don't like to cut them short because it might affect the quality. Because of this, I might post another shorter piece soon so the wait for the bigger one has some more filler in between.

It feels great to upload in this book again, though! I haven't has as much time for it nowadays for a few reasons(more hours at work, other hyperfixations, and ongoing mysterious muscular maladies that I'm still trying to get to the bottom of.) But I'm still at it, don't worry folks.

Hope you enjoyed this entry! See you again next time! :D