At the far end of Lilou’s garden grew three flowers with round petals and funny Halloween faces. They were the Flowercandy trio.

The purple one could wink without moving a single petal. The green one bent her stem to listen whenever someone whispered. And the yellow one laughed so easily that all you had to say was “pickle.”

Whenever the three flowers leaned in close, a little mischief was about to begin.

One evening, Lilou the little pink ghost had a problem.

“I want to say ‘Boo!’ when my friends get here,” she said. “But every time I try, I start to giggle.”

“Let’s hear it,” said the green Flowercandy.

Lilou took a deep breath.

“B… b… hee hee hee!”

The yellow Flowercandy giggled, too.

The purple one winked. The green one leaned in. The yellow one leaned in, too, even though nobody had told her the plan yet.

A little mischief was about to begin.

The purple Flowercandy picked up a wrapped candy with the tip of her leaf and set it in the middle of the path. The green one put a second candy beside a pumpkin. The yellow one set a third in front of a big leaf lying upside down.

“What now?” asked Lilou.

“Now we wait,” whispered the green Flowercandy.

Rosie the spider was the first to arrive.

“Ooh, a piece of candy!”

She followed the little trail. Just as she bent down to lift the big leaf, all three Flowercandy shouted together.

“BOO!”

Rosie jumped. Lilou jumped, too. And the yellow Flowercandy, who knew exactly what was coming, jumped higher than anyone. Even her petals shook.

Under the leaf, Rosie found a pile of candy. She picked up a piece, thought for a moment, and set it back on the path.

“Here come the little ghosts,” she said. “Shall we do it again?”

This time, Lilou leaned in with the three flowers. When her friends lifted the leaf, her “Boo!” was the loudest of all.

And then she got the giggles.