The Road to Newtopia (The Calamity Girls Book 2)

Little Frogtown

We were stuck in Newtopia traffic, actually that was mainly because of Hop Pop not paying attention to the road. I turned on a detective movie on my phone. "Aren't these old detective movies just the greatest?" I asked. "It's like a normal movie, but no one talks out loud and everybody loses in the end." "I love it." Hop Pop replied. "Just a hard-boiled guy trying to right wrongs without any of that fancy color nonsense getting in the way." "Hop Pop, shouldn't you be focusing on driving?" Anne asked as he took an exit to clear traffic.

"Alright, kids, we're here." Hop Pop said, pulling up to an arcade. We all got really excited, until he pointed to where he originally planned to go, an abandoned sandwich stand. "Sandwiches!" I exclaimed. Anne, Sprig, and Polly booed. "Shush it, youngsters, have a little respect, this is Sal's." Hop Pop explains. "Sal was like a brother to me, we've been friends since the old ways were just the ways, he was so good at making sandwiches, he decided to relocate to Newtopia to make the bucco delores." Then he began daydreaming about the sandwiches. "Whoa, sounds like you need to be alone with this sandwich HP." Anne explains. "Hush, I promised myself if I ever made it to Newtopia, I'd stop by for one of those sweet, sandwiches, now c'mon, gang, who's ready to revisit the glory days?" Hop Pop asked. "Hop Pop, this seems really important to you, and the four of us would never want to get in the way of something so perfect." Sprig said. "You wanna go to the arcade, don't you?" Hop Pop asked. They cheered. "Fine, play your newfangled games, but it's that attitude that's causing tradition to be left in the dust." Anne, Sprig, and Polly dashed toward the arcade, leaving me alone with Hop Pop. "Rowena, why didn't you go to the arcade?" Hop Pop asked. "I like sandwiches, it's my second favorite food next to pasta, besides, I already have my own gaming system." I explained, pulling out my Swap. "Also, I haven't had a sandwich in months." Hop Pop opened the door to the sandwich shop. "Guess what, Sal?" He announced. "It's your old pal, Hoped..." The sandwich shop was completely trashed. "Wow, it looks like the cheer coach from one of my favorite shows was here." I commented. "What happened here?" Hop Pop asked. "Sal, Sal?!" "Holy frog abuse, look on the floor." I said, picking up a table. "Sal's trademark fedora, he never went anywhere without it, Sal would never leave his shop unattended, something happened here, something bad!" This was foul play, and it was up to me and Hop Pop to get to the bottom of it. "I just wish we had some sort of clue." I sighed as I fixed a painting in the shop, which revealed a safe, which contained a stained piece of paper. "What's this, blood?" Hop Pop took the piece of paper and tasted it. "No, sauce, people were always asking Sal for his secret recipe, offered to pay big, but he said family tradition was more important than a few copper coins, my kind of frog, who made my kind of sauce." Hop Pop explains, tasting the paper again. "Newtropolitan gala tonight, 8pm, get the sauce?" We read. "Looks like someone got tired of asking, took the recipe by force." I said. Looks like all we had to do now was follow the sauce to find Sal.

Hop Pop and I went to the location of the gala to investigate. "Oh, we don't see many frogs, and whatever you are at the Newtropolitan, you two must be quite wealthy, what do you do." A rich newt asked. "I'm a farmer." Hop Pop replied as I nudged him with my elbow. "Pharmaceutical executive." "Nice save." I whispered. "Canopy?" A server asked. "This sauce is to die for." Hop Pop and I gasped. It was Sal's sauce, and it wasn't on a sandwich. One thing was for sure, Sal was in trouble and needed our help. "Excuse me, would you mind doing me a favor?" I asked. "Anything." He replied as Hop Pop knocked him out and stole his uniform. Hop Pop went to the kitchen to look for a clue, until the server woke up and called the cops and we were thrown out. "Looks like we hit a dead end, without a source on the sauce, or even an address, we're out of luck." I sighed. Hop Pop picked up an empty can that was filled with sauce. "Well, that works." Hop Pop said. But we had to hurry, whoever was behind this could be torturing Sal right now.

Hop Pop and I followed an address that was on the can. We were directed to a sauce factory. This was bigger than any of us could've imagined, whoever was behind this turned an old frog's family legacy into a soulless profit machine. We finally found the sauce, but where was Sal? "Hey, who the heck are you two?" A security guard asked. "Who are you?!" I repeated. "I'm the bloomin floor manager, and you two are trespassing, mates." He replied as he and Hop Pop began to fight. Hop Pop eventually knocked him down.

More security took us to the owner's office. We were in the room with the frog who possibly killed Sal. "The jig is up, villain, now tell me what you've done with..." the owner turned around, revealing himself to be... "Sal?!" "Hopediah, it's been a long time, old friend." Sal said. "So, you're behind all this, you kidnapped yourself, to steal your own, hang on a sec." Hop Pop gasped. "Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about?" Sal asked. "We went by the deli, it was ransacked, someone stole your recipe, and sold it off to the highest bidder, they were spreading your sauce on fancy food at a swanky gala!" Hop Pop explains. "Hop Pop, I think what he's trying to say is that this factory is his." I said. "It's true, I sauce all the major events in Newtopia." Sal added. "I don't believe it, the Sal I knew was a sandwich man, through and through." Hop Pop said. "You know, it was a tough call, the sandwich biz was dying, I knew my sauce was a hit, but nobody wanted it in between slices of bread, I was nervous at first, but the change ended up being great for me, heck, I even retired that silly fedora, now, instead of making traditional sandwiches for no one, I can make just the sauce for everyone, turns out if you embrace change instead of clinging to the past, you get a say in what the future looks like, heck, you can even bring some of the past along with you." Sal explains as he grabbed two bottles of sauce for us. "Thanks, Sal, you're a good frog, sorry for getting so carried away, we almost took it too far." Hop Pop apologized. "He did." I corrected. "Hey, I've got a kitchen in the other room, why don't you make one of my traditional sandwiches?" Sal suggested, handing me a recipe as I dashed into his kitchen, to have my own sandwich.

After an hour or so, we headed back to the arcade to pick up the others. "Hey, kids, play any newfangled games?" Hop Pop asked. "Actually, they banned us for life." Sprig replied. "It was Anne's fault." Polly added. "Because I was willing to stand up for what's right." Anne scoffed. "Anyways, I was right and that's that, how about you guys, you enjoy those sandwiches?" "Oh yeah, we've got a tale to tell about that." I smiled. "He gave me a sandwich recipe!"