The Chase

(When we last left Fred, his peanuts had been just been stolen by the PEANUT terrorists and they had left a ransom note)

   The Pathological Environmentally Antagonistic Novices Utilizing Toques terrorists.  That name was feared by every man, woman, and child in the world.  Their favorite method of assassination is to suffocate their victims with their toques.  And now they had Fred’s peanuts.  He couldn’t let his peanuts come to harm, that was the one thing he knew for sure, so he pulled out his wallet.  Sure enough, he had the money.  103 dollars actually.  He took an even hundred out and put it on the seat next to him.  Then he leaned his head back and tried to go to sleep, but it wasn’t easy.  The plane was still jerking and his mind was racing with concern for his peanuts.It took some doing, but he finally got his brain to calm down enough to fall asleep.
   When he awoke, the plane was on the decent to the airstrip.  His eyes shot to the seat next to him.  The money was gone and the seat was empty.  Fred gasped.  No peanuts!
   The plane hit the runway with a jolt and slowed to a stop, but Fred sat in shock, barely observing the world around him.  But as his fellow passengers were exiting the plane, he saw something that caught his eye.  A young man in a nice suit was just about to leave the plane.  That in itself was not odd, but the young man was also wearing a toque*!  Now that is not something you see every day, and Fred’s peanuts had just been stolen by the infamous PEANUT terrorists.  He shot out of his seat just as the young man left and ran to catch up, pushing anyone and everyone aside to do so.
   He burst out of the airplane and into the crowded terminal, searching frantically for the guy in the toque.  There he was!  Fred started running, jostling the people around him and drawing many angry exclamations, but he ignored them all.  He had to catch that toque.  His peanuts’ lives were at stake. 
  Toque man was just twenty feet away.  Fred broke into a clear section of the crowd and sprinted forward.  Just then, of all people, a litterer crossed Fred’s path, tossing a banana peel aside as he did.  And, with Fred’s amazing luck, he stepped right on it.  Again, with his amazing luck, the banana peel was right side up and he did not slip and fall.  However he failed to noticed a small child until the last moment.  In an incredible feat of agility he leapt right over the child and kept running.  He was so amazed at his skills that he didn’t realize the automatic doors had not opened and slammed right into them.  As he bounced back and fell to the ground, they jerked open. 
   He lay there for several seconds, dazed.  Then he remembered his mission and leapt to his feet.  The guy with the toque was nowhere to be seen.  And if this was not a G rated story, Fred would have swore.

*Big, white chef's hat