Trouble in the Trees (8 page)
I spent most of the weekend feeling sorry for myself. It was raining and I couldn't climb, so I just stayed inside, feeling miserable and dirty.
On Sunday afternoon, I finally forced myself to go outside and find someone to play with. The sun had won its battle with the clouds, and I was starting to feel pathetic.
I found Ethan sitting under a big cherry tree in full bloom. He was reading again.
I sat down next to him. Right away I could smell soap. I sniffed the air to make sure it wasn't just the cherry blossoms. Nope, definitely soap.
I didn't want another confrontation like the one I'd had with Ashley. Ethan was my friend. But I needed to know what was going on.
“So,” I started gently, “what're you reading now?”
“
The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein
,” he said, without looking up.
I waited a minute, wondering if he was going to stop reading. This was weird. Ethan was normally excited to see me.
“So,” I began again when it was clear that my silent strategy wasn't working, “how do you think the protest is going?”
Ethan sighed and closed his book. “Don't be mad, Bree.”
“What?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.
“Mom made me take a bath. For Church. It's Palm Sunday, you know.”
“Oh.” My parents never took me to church. Mom said she was more spiritual than religious, and Dad said he just wasn't interested.
“I really had no choice, Bree.” Ethan looked sad enough to cry.
“I know,” I replied. I couldn't imagine what it was like to have Ms. Matheson as a mother, but I wasn't surprised that she had forced Ethan into bathing. Really, it was more surprising that he'd lasted this long.
“So, what now?”
“I don't know, Ethan. It's not looking good.”
“No, it's not.”
“As long as you are clean, your mom isn't going to care that the rest of us are dirty and smelly.”
“There are other parents on the council who might care,” Ethan said hopefully.
“Maybe.”
We were both silent for a while.
“How's your elbow?” I asked finally.
“Oh, it's totally fine now,” said Ethan, stretching his arm out to demonstrate.
“I'm glad. Was it a really bad fall?”
“No. Not really. It was Mom's reaction that was bad.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Does it make you think tree climbing is dangerous?”
“No.” Ethan didn't even hesitate as he said this. “It was my own fault. I should have been more careful.”
“So you'd like to be able to climb trees again?”
“Yes! I'd love to be able to climb trees like you do, Bree. You make it look so easy and so fun.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Tell you whatâ¦,” I said slowly, trying to think of something that would make him feel better about the no-bathing thing. And then it hit me. “When this silly protest is over and the bylaw has been overturned, I'll teach you to climb safely.”
“Really?”
“Really. Do you think your mom will let you?” I asked.
“If the bylaw is overturned, I think she could be convinced.”
“Okay, so we have a deal?”
“Deal,” Ethan said, looking happier than I'd seen him in a long time.
Making Ethan happy made me feel good for the rest of the day. But really, I didn't know when or if it would ever be possible for me to teach Ethan to climb. Even if the bylaw was overturned, I had my doubts about Ethan being able to convince his mom to let him climb again.
It didn't help that the protest just sort of fizzled out after that. No one actually talked about ending the protest, but there were more clean faces around Cedar Grove every day.
By the end of the week, the only holdout was Tyler. But I was sure it wouldn't be long before his smell disgusted even him.
I lasted until Friday, when I was invited to Sarah's for a sleepover. If it had been just me and Sarah, I might have held out longer. But she invited two other girls from her basketball team. I didn't know them very well, and I didn't want to feel self-conscious. Plus I was worried they might judge me before I had a chance to explain about the tree-climbing protest.
Man, did it feel good to be clean. And I had fun at the sleepover.
Did I mention how good it was to be clean? Even though I felt really bad about giving up on the protest, I knew there wasn't much point to it anymore. The Cedar Grove Neighborhood Council was never going to listen to us. Bath or no bath, it made no difference. Nothing did.
The Friday night sleepover at Sarah's was the kickoff to the Easter long weekend, which was a big deal in Cedar Grove. A bunch of the moms, not including mine, always organized a big community Easter egg hunt. They were really serious about it. They even printed up a map of Cedar Grove so we would know where to look.
Despite the rain, everyone came out for the egg hunt. The Cedar Grove moms had put in a ton of work, and the younger kids were superexcited. I wondered if maybe I had outgrown this kind of silly fun. But all the kids were into it, even Tyler. And there was chocolate involved.
The idea behind the map was simple. Cedar Grove had been divided into three different zones. In the first zone, the area closest to the townhouses, the eggs were really easy to find. I mean
really easy
; I think I spotted at least ten as I walked from my front door to the courtyard. But I didn't touch any of them. That area was meant for the really little kids, like Sammy.
In the second zone, the eggs were a little harder to find, but still pretty easy. That area was for the kids Ethan's age. Most of the eggs were hidden in zone two because the majority of the kids in Cedar Grove were that age.
Zone three was my zone. It was the one farthest from the townhouses in an area bounded by the road, the river, and the railway tracks. The eggs were really hard to find in zone three. Even I found it challenging. And, of course, I was competing against kids like Michael and Tyler (but mostly Tyler).
As soon as Mrs. Williams shouted, “Let the hunt begin,” I sprinted as fast as I could to the edge of our property. I had a copy of the map stuffed in my back pocket even though I was certain I knew everything there was to know about Cedar Grove. I just didn't want to risk getting caught collecting eggs in zone two. That would be bad.
I headed toward the river and the railway tracks. I figured that's where most of the eggs would be hidden since the moms didn't want us going too close to the road. And there weren't many hiding spots in the field between Cedar Grove and the other townhouse complex.
Within minutes I had found two eggs. One under a rock and one hidden by the branch of a thorny bush. No way was I too old for an Easter egg hunt! This was fun!
I continued to search along the pathway that served as the border between Cedar Grove and the Fraser River. I looked around the lampposts, on the benches and even in the garbage bins.
Of course, I was hoping to avoid Tyler. And, of course, he showed up when I was looking through the garbage. As I lifted my head from the bin, there he was.
“Need something new to wear for Easter dinner?” Tyler smirked.
“Actually, I was just looking for you. I thought you might be in there,” I said, pointing to the garbage can.
Tyler was too cool to carry an Easter basket. He was carrying a pillowcase instead. And I could see there were already a couple of eggs inside. “How's the egg hunt going?” he said.
“It was great fun until you came along,” I replied.
“Well, don't get distracted and start climbing trees.” Tyler winked. “Being the honest guy that I am, I'd have to report you to the Neighborhood Council.”
“You like that bylaw, don't you?” I accused.
“I'm not the one who gave up on our protest.”
“I haven't given up,” I snapped.
“It sure smells like you have.” For a minute I thought he was saying that I smelled like garbage. Then I realized he was talking about the fact that I'd had a bath. I was about to be on the other end of the conversation I'd had with Ethan and Ashley.
“Yeah, well”âI hesitatedâ“the no-bathing thing wasn't working. It was a stupid idea.”
“It wasn't a stupid idea. It wasn't working because you people don't have enough backbone to follow through.”
“What happened to your backbone when Ms. Matheson came out?”
“I'm wasting my time talking to you,” Tyler said. “I've got eggs to find.”
He turned and walked away. Toward the river.
I turned toward the railway tracks to get away from Tyler and his stink. Just beyond the tracks I spotted three trees that looked perfect for hiding eggs. I searched all the low branches but found nothing. I was surprised the Cedar Grove moms, who had so much experience with this Easter Bunny stuff, would miss such a great egg-hiding opportunity.
Curious, I checked the map. Surprised, I looked again.
There was no doubt about it. These trees were outside the Cedar Grove property line. Just over the border.
This was huge! I'd found treesâgreat treesâ I could climb! Legally! Near my house! I wanted desperately to climb those trees right then and there. But I knew I shouldn't, and I didn't. Tyler was still lurking around, and I was expected back from the egg hunt soon.
I told myself to proceed with caution. If only I had listened.
I waited three whole days to return for my first climb. Not because I wanted to. Because it took that long for the rain to stop.
The bark felt damp as I grabbed the highest branch I could reach and swung my feet upward. From there, I slowly made my way up into the tree, one branch at a time, staying close to the trunk. When the branches started to crowd in on me, I climbed out. There were only a couple of branches at that height that were thick enough to support my weight. I was high. About five feet from the top. I looked around. I could see the river, the train tracks and the east side of Cedar Grove. But I was pretty sure no one in Cedar Grove could see me. The trees were too far away from the townhouse. And I was wearing my camouflage capri pants and a green shirt just to be safe.
Sarah sat below me, pretending to be on the lookout. She'd lost interest in climbing a long time ago. She was the sportiest girl I knew, but she wasn't the best tree climber in the world.
Of the three trees, the one closest to the tracks was easiest to climb. I thought of it as the Spoon. It's big, thick trunk was covered in smooth bark. Several large branches fanned out from the tree at waist height. All the branches were widely spaced and sloped up at a gentle angle giving the top of the tree a nice round shape. Sarah had already been up and down the Spoon twice.
The Fork, the tree I was in, was tougher. Its branches started higher up the trunk and then jutted out at a ninety-degree angle. A few feet away from the trunk, each branch took a sudden turn so that it looked like the tine of a fork. The flat surfaces of the tree made it easy to move around. But the angles were tricky, especially where the branches went straight up.