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“Now, everyone repeat after me… ‘Jack Frost knows fun’. Got it?”
Five voices dutifully mumbled, with different degrees of enthusiasm, “Jack Frost knows fun.”
“Now say, 'Jack Frost is always right.’ “
“Quit while you’re ahead, mate.”
Bunny’s words would have sounded sharper if he hadn’t been smiling. Like the other Guardians, he was burdened down with his own haul of stuffed toys, chest bedecked with multiple strands of beads, and wearing a flower crown on his head.
“And humans do this every week? And it’s not just for children?” Tooth inquired, her eyes shining as brightly as the pretend “jewels” that she wore as anklets and wristlets, pretty ribbons clutched in her hands as well as in Baby Tooth’s. From her endless supply of quarters, she’d seen to it that all the Guardians had been able to pay for their share of carnival games, where they had accumulated an astonishing amount of prizes.
“I don’t know about every week, but in Burgess it’s most weekends during the summer and autumn,” Jack replied. “Everyone gets to let their hair down and feel like kids again during fair season…”
“Not everyone,” interjected Pitch. “Remember why we are here.” The seriousness of his tone was offset both by the affectionate squeeze he gave Jack’s hand and by the effect of the golden-eyed black velour lobster tied onto Pitch’s staff, bobbing merrily with every movement. Jack ventured a guess to himself that that particular stuffed toy was going to be coming home with them.
North nodded. “We have had our fun, yes, but let us not forget other children who cannot get out to fairgrounds. Time to move on to second part of our day.” Sandy floated into the air and scanned the crowd, pointing at a group of cosplayers who were approaching. The Guardian of Wonder smiled and pronounced, “Ah! Our escort.” He clapped Pitch on the shoulder, causing the Guardian of Caution to stumble forward, but the slender spirit kept his feet and settled for an aggrieved look at his compatriot.
The Guardians as a group followed the teens and adults in costume away from the town square, down several streets, and into the city hospital, trailing along until they arrived upstairs at the Pediatric Wing.
The nurses and doctors on duty could never agree, afterwards, how many superpowered and fantasy visitors they had actually hosted that day, The children talked just as eagerly the next morning about seeing Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Boogeyman and the Tooth Fairy as they did about seeing Mister Miracle and Big Barda and Spider-Man and Black Panther.
Nor had any of the hospital staff seen which of the cosplayers had distributed all the beaded necklaces, coloured ribbons, plush animals, and flower crowns they found in every room.
Equally inexplicable was the little black plush lobster found on each and every nightstand.