Let's Play in the Garden (25 page)

“Come, dear family, the seeds are ripe,” Simon said.

Their feet creaked upon the wooded porch as they made their way into the mild night air. The lantern light glowed softly, lighting the way for them. They walked around the house and to the garden. The gate waited in silence, barred and sealed like a fortress.

Simon laid down his items, took out his keys and unlocked all the padlocks. He then removed the links and yards of heavy chains. Lastly, he undid each and every board. Slowly, softly, with great caution, he eased the gate open. He took up his gun and basket and entered the garden.

It had been such a long time since Gladys and Marion had set foot inside the garden, but it seemed to welcome them just as it did Simon.

“Let us hurry,” Simon said. “Pick all the seeds you can and fill your baskets. We will make such a feast of them tonight! Thank you, my precious garden, for sharing your gifts with us.”

All the plants in the outer reaches of the garden sprouted odd, prickly stems. Brown in color, they grew like ugly parasites on all the plants. At the very end of these stems was a large seed resembling a walnut. The similarity was astonishing, but these were no walnuts. These seeds were special. Simon’s garden was the only place in the world where these seeds grew. They gave their harvesters something unbelievable, miraculous, something that every human on Earth longed for. Something for a price.

With fast, experienced hands, they picked the seeds and threw them into their baskets. Simon kept careful watch of the garden trails, his ears alerted to the slightest movement. His shotgun was fully loaded and he was ready to protect himself and the seeds. The women occasionally looked up, wondering if the thing they’d heard would show itself tonight. Fear stung their hearts as a light sweat dampened their brows.

Once the seeds were picked, the stems they grew from would shrivel, crumble to dust, and blow away in the wind, leaving entirely no evidence that they ever existed.

As they neared the end of their harvesting, Simon heard a rustling in the distance. “Hurry, faster, we must leave as soon as possible,” he yelled.

They continued to look around as they sped up their picking. Suddenly, heavy footfalls echoed in the distance…growing louder until they were rushing toward them. They had filled their baskets, the stems had all turned to dust, and now it was time to flee for
It
was coming right for them.

Rather than face confrontation, they decided to run, racing with all their speed from the garden, careful not to spill a single seed from their baskets. They could hear the footsteps drawing closer.

They made it to the gate in a whirlwind and slammed the gate shut behind them.

Not a sound came from the garden.

Simon placed the boards back on the gate and began wrapping the chains around it when a mournful cry resounded in the distance. He paused for a moment and then continued to secure the gate.

Each of them then gathered a basket and headed back toward the house. Marion was the last, and as she passed, she looked up and saw the curtain of Merydith’s room ruffling. She stopped for a moment and stared. Nothing. She followed the others.

They brought the seeds into the kitchen while Gladys brought out three large mortars and pestles from underneath the cabinets. The three ground the seeds down and in no time fashioned a fine, hazel-colored powder.

Gladys brought out three golden chalices, each with the name of the respected person engraved on it. They emptied the contents of their mortars into the chalices and added hot water. Steeping and stirring the concoction well, they waited for the power to dissolve and then toasted the chalices in that odd pyramid that they had done on New Year’s Eve.

“Praise and bless the garden. We thank it for this gift,” they said in unison before gulping the liquid down as if they had been thirsting for a lifetime.

“Now clean it and hide it,” Simon said as he left the room in silence.

Gladys and Marion obeyed without objection.

22. The Awakening

Merydith rose early in the morning hours, put her hair up in a tight ponytail, and prepared herself. She was more determined today than any other. No one else was up yet. It was dawn and the sun was just climbing up from the horizon, patches of darkness still cling for life as the sunlight vanquished it.

She walked over to the garden and stood in front of the gate. She felt the chains with her hands, felt the boards. “The chains are strong,” she whispered. “The boards are nothing, but there’s no way I can take out the padlocks. I need the keys, but I don’t want to wait for them. I want in…now.”

She walked around the garden wall and looked up, eyeing the iron spikes going all the way around the top of the wall. She turned and flattened her back against the wall and placed her hand by her head. She measured her height and compared it to the wall. “Hmm a bit hight,” she said. “But I know I can make it with Tobey’s help, maybe with some rope. I can manage the spikes, and once I get to the top of the wall, I can pull Tobey up. That’s the way I’ll do it. I can’t wait anymore. Right after school we’re going to penetrate that garden.”

She ran back inside the house and up to Tobey’s room. She closed the door behind her and went to Tobey’s bedside. “Tobey! C’mon, Tobey, wake up!” She shook him forcefully.

He rolled over, rubbed his eyes, and as his blurry vision sharpened, he saw Merydith standing before him. “Merydith, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, little brother,” she answered. “I just wanted to let you in on the plan. The most important one I’ve ever had.”

“What plan? Why is it so important? And why now, in the morning?”

“This is the only chance we’re going to get. We’re going to do it after school. We have no more time to waste. Things are getting more dangerous, I can feel it. I can feel something wanting to give way, wanting to be freed, unleashed, in that garden. We must let it out. We must free the truth! I saw them last night, the adults. They performed their harvest just as they talked about. Remember the seeds? They gathered them last night. First time I’ve ever seen it done, but they’ve been doing it since the garden came into being. Tobey, I feel we’re running out of time. So after school today we’ll go inside the garden. We’ve been shut out of it long enough.”

“Are you sure, Mery? I thought the garden scared you. Remember all the bad things? How are we going to get in, anyway?”

“I know it scared me; it still does. But it holds answers. We must enter it one last time for all our sakes. Here is how we’ll do it. I went to the wall this morning and stood up against it, straight as could be. I’m not much shorter than it. With your help, I can use the spikes to climb right to the top of it. Then I’ll reach down and pull you up. Just grab the spikes and you’ll be up. Then we’ll both be in.”

“Sounds risky, and how will we get out of the garden without them seeing and punishing us?”

“Already thought of that. Bring all the books you can carry with you home. That way, they’ll think we got a lot of make-up homework to do. Then, when you’re safely up in your room, sneak over into my room. From my window we’ll climb out and be directly at the wall where we can do it without them knowing. Today, Tobey, today. Get yourself ready. The war has begun. Us against them! We’ll win, Tobey, we’ll win!”

“You bet we will, Mery! All right!” Tobey reached up and joined his hand with his sister’s. No hug this time, just their private sign of impending victory.

They had both been seduced by the thoughts of beating the adults and winning this game that they now indulged in so willingly. It had been turned into just that, a war game, one destined to have no winners. The glory and rage blinded them both to what their eyes dared not look upon.

After breakfast, Simon took them to school as he always did. Tobey and Merydith stared at each other and smiled. Their secret understanding was happening right under their grandfather’s nose. A massive plan stirred and he was totally unaware of the treachery that would take place. Darkness hovered about them all.

###

All day in school Tobey sat and waited, his body pumped with excitement, all the juices flowing within him. He sweated from every pore of his body. His heart thumped heavily, and he felt it in his chest. He thought of the garden, the wall, Merydith. He couldn’t hear or see anything else.

For Merydith, it the same; excitement swelled inside her as perspiration dampened her forehead. Her math class was nothing but numbers jumbled together over and over, making no sense. The voices were indistinguishable, sounding distant and unfamiliar. Mrs. McCormick stared at Merydith, who seemed off on a distant planet today. She could think of nothing but what she could gain by this ultimate feat. There was no doubt in her mind. She had set her mind to doing this, and it would be done. Nothing and no one would stop her. Everything spun about in her head, the adults, the garden, Aaron, Tobey. It was going to succeed. She felt it in her soul.

That was not all. Merydith indeed felt something strange. It was not just the excitement; it was something else. She felt it under her skin like movement, or like something new filling her veins, pumping into her bloodstream, something powerful. It made her feel different. What was it?

She glanced at the clock and noticed the day was nearing its end.

The bell sounded and Merydith raced out of school, for the first time anxious to get home. The green pickup was there, as always, on time. Everything was on schedule.

Tobey sat inside, rubbing his palms on his pants, shaking, quivering as if he was cold. Merydith smiled and took his hand. That made him smile back. The truck carried them home but moved as slowly as it could, as if they were never going to arrive. It was the most excruciating ride the children had ever had.

Finally they arrived at the dirt road and the truck rolled down the path with a sluggishness that was unmatched by any snail. It bumped and thumped all the way to the house. The children practically jumped out before Simon had gotten to a full stop. He glared at them with uneasiness.

Each of them carried a stack of books into the house as Marion met them in the hallway.

“Hello, children. How was school today?” she asked.

“Just fine,” Merydith called. “We can’t talk now. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” The two scrambled up the stairs.

“That’s excellent,” Marion called after them. “Keep working hard, keep studying. You must have a lot of catch up to do.”

They settled into their rooms, sat a moment, and waited patiently. There was unnerving silence all around them. Tobey peeked from his room and detected mumbling voices from downstairs. He eased himself out a bit and listened to make sure no one was coming before running to Merydith’s room.

She had changed from her dress into some pants and a sweatshirt and had left her long chestnut hair in a ponytail so it would not catch on anything. She tied some jump rope around her waist. She meant business. “Okay,” she began. “The window is wide open, now just take hold of my arms and ease me down and I’ll fall the rest of the way.”

“Merydith, that’s quite a fall.”

“I am not a weakling. Just do it. It’s not that bad. You’re lowering me most of the way. Besides, you’re a rough, big boy. You can make the jump, and we need to help each other and use our strength now, in the spring, while it’s at its best. Let’s do it.”

There was no more hesitation as Tobey went silent. Merydith took Tobey’s arms and climbed onto the windowsill. He carefully eased her as far down as he could without dropping her. About halfway down, she looked up at him and nodded.

He let go of her and she fell directly onto her rear. With a sigh, she stood up, brushed the dirt off, and waved him to come down.

Tobey lowered himself down from the windowsill, and, closing his eyes, dropped down, landing on his back and rolling over onto his stomach.

“Tobey, are you all right?” Merydith called with concern as she ran to him.

His eyes opened and for a moment as he lay frozen. Finally, he pulled himself up, brushed off the dirt, and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m okay. Let’s do it.”

###

They approached the wall slowly and stared at it in awe.  Merydith searched for a stone around the base of the wall. When she found one she liked, she unraveled her jump rope and tied a the end of it to the stone.  She then tossed the stone over the wall with all of her might. It hit the wall and bounced off.

“What are you doing?” Tobey asked.

“Just hold on.” She picked up the stone and tried again and again. Finally it sailed over the wall. Merydith pulled the rope hard and dragged the stone up the other side of the wall. It wedged against the spikes and she pulled it taut, testing it against her weight.

“Okay,” Merydith said. “Take both your hands and link your fingers together so I can step into them.” He did as she said. “Now give me a shove when I step up.”

She stepped in and he pushed with all his might. Her hands took hold of the tope and she pulled herself up, bracing her feet against the wall. Struggling a bit, she stumbled, Tobey gasped but she held on.

Finally, she reached two spikes and she used each one to pull herself to the top of the wall. “You see,” she called down to him. “I told you. Now, quick, take the rope and pull yourself up I’ll help you as you get closer.”

He jumped up, trying to reach her hands but missed. He tried again and again, and still he missed.

“It’s all right, Tobey,” she called. “Just keep trying. You’ll get it! Keep jumping up; I’ll grab you.”

He tried again and again, and on the sixth attempt finally grabbed hold of Merydith’s hands, nearly pulling her back off the wall. She pulled with all her strength, closing her eyes tightly as Tobey’s feet slipped and slid against the wall.

With one strong yank, she pulled him up and the two of them plunged backwards into the garden, hitting the ground hard.

“Are you okay?” Tobey asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered. “Well…where do we start?”

They stood up and soaked in the beautiful façade of the garden, alluring with its giant fruits and flowers and plants, glowing and sparkling with innocence and glee. Birds skimmed about, butterflies gathered, and critters skipped up trails.