Jam

   Silas loves to play at the park.  He loves to swing and slide and climb.  He's kind of a natural at climbing, actually.  And at his favorite park, he can drop out of a tree right onto the slide.  Sometimes he drops from so high and slides so fast that he flies halfway across the playground before he lands!  It feels like halfway to him, anyway.  In any case, it's really far. 
   Not too long ago, Silas was practicing his tricks at the park, which was packed with so many people that they didn't notice an apricot dropping out of the trees onto the playground equipment.  They didn't notice the apple, either, but that is someone else's story.  The pine cones were just pine cones.  Silas got a lot of good climbing in that day, and he was pleased with his dropping-and-sliding performance, too.  Just as the park had cleared out for the day, Silas geared up for one final flight across the playground.  He chose the tallest slide (which was, naturally, the fastest) and climbed as high as he dared up the closest tree.  He studied his angles, took a deep breath, and then dropped at the perfect moment on the perfect spot on the slide.  Well, that slide whisked him right down, and he was three-quarters of the way across the playground before he had let out all his breath.  Unfortunately, Silas hadn't really planned out his landing, and he happened to land in the exact spot where, earlier in the day, some kid had been eating lunch.  Splat!  That was one sticky peanut butter and jelly puddle!  Avery came by just as Silas was rolling himself out of the mess.
"Silas!" said Avery.  "Are you in a jam?"
"Ha ha ha," said Silas.  "As a matter of fact, I am."
"Well, let's get you out of it," said Avery.  And Avery pushed him out of the sandwich goop and onto the (freshly mowed) lawn, where he rolled him around a little bit.  After taking a picture of the now-grassy Silas, Avery used some of the blades of grass to scrape off most of the jelly, which Silas would not have been able to do on his own.  On their way home, Avery and Silas discussed how to tell the story to Nora and the others who would ask about Silas's remaining jelly patches.  And Silas told Avery all about how far he had flown off the slide.  Before they climbed up the tree, Silas tapped Avery on the back.
"What is it?" Avery asked.
Silas smirked.  "Thanks for getting me out of a jam."