Cake in the Dirt Jolly Phonics · Step 2, Unit 11: er, ir, ur as in her, bird, turn

Zom steps out at first light. Then he stops with a jerk. His mouth hangs open wide. What is that thing on the farm?

Cake! Rows and rows! Cake sits in neat lines in the dirt. 'I did not plant cake,' Zom blurts. 'Do cakes grow?'

Zom brings Skel and Jack out to see. Skel groans. 'What a mess. What a big job.' Jack howls with mirth. He shakes and shakes.

They pack the cake in crates and cart it to town. The day turns to dusk. The sheep rest in the pen. 'That was odd,' says Zom.

But at sunup, coal! Black lumps in the dirt. Black lumps by each post. 'First cake, and now coal,' Zom says. 'This is very odd.'

They pack up the coal. Skel lugs crate after crate. Jack shirks the work. He is bent over with mirth. Zom looks at that grin. 'Jack. It is Jack.'

At dusk, Zom stands firm by the crop patch. 'It was not me!' Jack blurts. 'It is just a fun joke!' But that grin looks like a smirk.

So Zom stands by the hut all night. He does not sleep. Jack does not come out. He does not stir. Not one bit. 'Got him,' says Zom.

But at sunup, eggs! Eggs by each rail. Eggs on each path. This is the third morning! 'It was not Jack,' Zom says. 'He did not stir all night.' Skel asks, 'Then who?'

Jack bursts out with a big egg box. He sprints down the stone path to town. 'Eggs! This is the best one yet!' He grins all the way there.

Skel has had it. 'Three days! Cake, coal, eggs! No one does the farm work.' He takes a firm grip on his bow. 'Tonight, I keep watch.'

Then a glowing lantern comes over the hill. Then a mob! They lurch down the turf, grinning wide. Skel jerks up his bow. 'Oh no,' he says. 'They all look like Jack!'