The magic of the second.., p.10
The Magic of the Second Backyard, page 10
The market had been turned on its head by her honest mistake. Soon, Cassidy had four squirrels in her face waving purple stars.
“Give us a yell.”
“I’ve got purps.”
“How many purps. I just want one. One yell.”
Oh no! They thought she had yellow ones already! A large crowd gathered, pushing against each other to get closer to Cassidy and the yellow column.
“Uh, I don’t have any yells. I am looking for yells too.” Cassidy stammered. “I don’t have any!”
The crowd silenced. The extended hands lowered, stuffing treasured purple blocks into their pockets and bags. They looked at each other.
“Get out!” One shouted. Others nodded. Cassidy backed away slowly, her hands raised.
“Get. Out. Get. Out!” The squirrels began chanting at her, their escalated shouts growing angrier and angrier. Cassidy’s back reached the wall. She was trapped by the angry squirrels. Her heels touching the wall, she edged towards the stairs and the exit.
She wasn’t moving fast enough for the squirrels, though. One grabbed at her wrist. Another grabbed at her ankle.
“No!” She cried. “Get away!” But her voice was drowned out by the incessant chanting of “Get out!”
Then she was in the air. The squirrels lifted her up above their heads. Their tiny claws scratched her skin and tore her clothes as she was passed overhead by the mob. They moved as one, carrying Cassidy with them. They pushed open the swinging doors, and upon reaching the stairs, the squirrels, in a violent heave, threw her down the stairs!
Cassidy bounced and tumbled. She closed her eyes and covered her face as she fell, down and down, over the stairs, through the door, and into the street.
Super Duper Trouble
Cassidy’s tumbles came to a rest, and she opened her eyes. She wasn’t in Wonderland anymore. Again, she had fallen out. And she still didn’t have her tablet.
Cassidy sniffed. She wanted to go home. She was a mess from the afternoon. Cassidy touched her face. It hurt, and her finger came back with a tiny bit of blood on it. She looked at her bare arms, the sleeves still rolled up from her work cleaning the greenhouse. There were tiny scratches all over them. Were they from the squirrels tossing her out? Or from the barbed wire fence?
Cassidy got up from the hard earth and snatched at her backpack lying next to her. At least it was still here. She slung it over her shoulder and trudged back towards the house.
As she walked back, Cassidy dragged her feet in defeat, staring at the ground. She ignored the beautiful oranges and pinks streaking across the sky in godlike fingers from the sun setting behind the mountains. If there were any robins out, they were fleeing for a favorite warm spot before the coming April night. Cassidy wanted the comfort of her mom. Without her tablet, she couldn’t call her. Instead, she walked into her dad’s house and was reminded of how stuck she felt here. She wanted Spring Break to be over.
Surprisingly, the light in the kitchen was on. Cassidy smelled tomato sauce simmering and eagerly peeked her head around the corner to see who was cooking. To her disappointment, Oscar stood over a baking sheet of piping hot pizza rolls.
“Hey,” he spied her, sucking the grease off a finger and then thumb. “Want some?”
It was the nicest thing she had heard all day. Too bad they aren’t yellow squares, Cassidy pouted to herself, noting their shape and size. She was tired and hungry. Even though she never would have had pizza rolls at her mom’s house, they called to her rumbling stomach. She crept into the kitchen and gingerly picked up one of the bubbling pockets. She ventured a tentative nibble to avoid burning her tongue with the hot sauce. Her bite released scorching steam, so she blew on the pizza roll until it was cool enough to eat. The crisp dough tasted like salted wood.
“I’m sorry to hear about Grandma and Grandpa,” Oscar said.
“Me too,” Cassidy admitted. They ate in silence for a while, standing in front of the oven.
“I think Dad doesn’t show it, but he’s sorry in his own way.” Cassidy wondered what to say back. Oscar didn’t look like he wanted a hug, but he did look like he wanted to keep talking. Cassidy chewed her pizza roll and decided she did too.
“I hadn’t seen them in a really long time,” he said. “Not since I was eight or ten or something. I don’t remember them much.”
“They were nice,” Cassidy remembered. “Their house had a pool.”
“I remember the pool,” Oscar smiled. “That was cool.”
“It got harder for them to keep it clean though, so my mom—our mom—she helped a lot.”
“It’s hot in Florida. I remember that too,” Oscar said as he picked up another piece and blew on it.
“Yeah. Every time I went over to their house, Grandma and Grandpa gave me ice cream. But they only had vanilla.”
“That’s boring,” said Oscar.
“Yeah,” Cassidy said. “But Grandma would save a jar of chocolate sauce just for me. And it wasn’t that dumb chocolate syrup stuff. It was real chocolate.”
“That sounds good,” smiled Oscar.
“Mom misses them a lot,” she admitted. “I hope she feels better. We usually garden together for Spring Break. I thought the garden would cheer her up, but instead, I’m here, and we have to wait before we plant anything.”
“I bet there are plants that grow in Colorado that don’t grow in Florida,” offered Oscar. “I don’t know what they are, but I bet there’s something cool.”
Cassidy laughed. The pizza rolls were quickly gone, but Cassidy was still hungry. She got the leftover pancakes and put them on the tray to reheat them. The warm wave of oven heat felt good.
Oscar scrutinized her, now with worry instead of friendly approval. “So, are you going to tell me what the hell happened to you?” He gestured at her scratched face with his pinky.
“I…” Cassidy trailed off, undecided on what she should tell Oscar. She wasn’t going to tell him about the squirrels in Wonderland. But she had already told him about the greenhouse. She finally said, “I got scratched up in the woods.”
Oscar hummed at her. “Hm. Is that all?”
“Yes,” she lied.
“What about your castle?” Oscar teased, surprising her that he remembered.
“I was cleaning my castle, as a matter of fact,” she replied triumphantly, looking him in the eye. Oscar wasn’t fazed and hummed in acknowledgment at her again. “Don’t tell Dad.”
“Don’t tell Dad what?” Oscar asked. He watched her take out the tray of pancakes, and then he grabbed one with his fingers.
“Don’t tell Dad I was at the greenhouse,” she said, selecting a pancake for herself.
“Why does he care about some greenhouse?” Oscar sniggered.
“I don’t know,” Cassidy chewed. “But he went berserk when I told him I had found it in the woods. He said it wasn’t mine.” Finders keepers, she thought snidely, remembering the squirrel’s rules.
“He’s too busy with work to care about anything outside,” Oscar said, leaning against the oven door and continuing to eat. “I say do whatever you want.”
There was something else Cassidy wanted to ask. “Do you know if Dad has a key for the greenhouse hidden somewhere?”
“Wait, you haven’t gotten inside?” Oscar chuckled, his mouth full of pancake.
“No. It’s locked,” Cassidy frowned.
“Too bad there’s not a guidebook for life,” Oscar said. “You could just look up where Mario finds the secret key.”
Cassidy gave his joke a half smile.
“I’ll find it,” she said.
The following day, Cassidy’s face hurt. The scratches were red and puffy from lying against her pillow all night. It was chilly above the covers, and she pulled the blankets up, wanting to bury herself like one of the squirrel’s seeds.
The squirrel. In a flash, Cassidy remembered her predicament. She still didn’t have her tablet, and she remembered that she needed to find seeds if she were to trade for it back. Cassidy knew where she could find seeds: the greenhouse. But the greenhouse was locked. And she didn’t have a key.
Cassidy threw off the blanket. She knew what else squirrels liked. Peanuts. Cassidy remembered seeing peanuts in one of the kitchen cabinets when she looked for cereal. She could get some peanuts, return to the seed exchange, and trade for her tablet that way.
Her spirits perked up with her new plan, and Cassidy went down for breakfast. First things first, she rummaged around until she found the tin of peanuts. Proudly she set it on the table. She was getting out more Cinnamon Cold cereal when her dad came in. He walked by her towards the coffee machine but then stopped.
“What happened to your face!” he exclaimed. He came over and grabbed her chin, turning her face so he could see the tiny scratches on her cheek.
“It’s nothing,” she said and tried to pull away.
“How did this happen,” he demanded.
“I was looking for my tablet,” Cassidy admitted. She wasn’t going to tell him about the squirrels.
“What?”
“Well, I kind of lost it and—”
“You lost it? Where?” He shouted.
“Outside. Near the fence in the back near the—”
“Didn’t I tell you to be careful? You shouldn’t be back there! You shouldn’t be wandering around where you can get hurt!”
“But dad, this greenhouse… It looks like it hasn’t been touched in years, and I started cleaning it up a bit—”
“Don’t you know how to listen? I said I don’t want you going there!”
“But Dad, I love it there!” Cassidy wanted to explain to him how special it was to her. If he could understand how much it meant to her, maybe he would help her. He had to know where the key was! “It’s the closest thing to gardening with mom that’s out here and—”
Now her dad was mad. The mention of her mom made him stand up straight, and his eyes grew red. He gripped her arm. Hard.
“Don’t ever go there. Ever. Again. Do you hear me?” He shouted at the top of his lungs at Cassidy.
“But Dad, it’s just a greenhouse. I promise I will be careful. I—”
“That place is off-limits. It used to belong to her, back when she meant something to me. But your mom left, so that place is dead to me. All the plants are dead anyway. It’s boarded up and forgotten for a reason.”
“It was Mom’s?” Cassidy couldn’t decide if she was surprised.
His voice changed to a twinge of sorrow, but it didn’t quiet as he continued, “you wouldn’t understand.” Her dad’s eyes bulged as he let go of her arm, leaving red marks where his fingers were. “You’re just a kid, but it’s not a happy place. Promise me you’ll never go near there again. Do you hear me?”
Cassidy wouldn’t say yes. She couldn’t. Tears welled in her eyes. She turned and ran out of the room, snatching the tin of peanuts. She ran to her room and slammed the door.
After hearing her dad’s office door close, Cassidy slipped out of the house. She couldn’t comprehend why he was so mad at her for going to the greenhouse. He had known about it the whole time, yet he wanted her to stay away from it. He was the one who didn’t understand. She knew how to garden and how to use the greenhouse, even if he didn’t.
But first, Cassidy had some unfinished business. She was determined to get her tablet back, and now that she had peanuts, she thought she had a chance. She headed straight for Wonderland. Cassidy knew the way now but had difficulty finding the exact spot along the fence.
“Where is the scarf?” she wondered aloud.
Then, she remembered. She had used it for the snowman! She had untied the scarf and the bright red fabric must have blown away in the wake of the magpie’s flying ship.
But Cassidy was in a hurry. So she started blowing across the top of the fence until she could hear the wind chimes chiming.
Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do!
There! The pinecones were still there, too. She jumped into Wonderland as quick as a rabbit.
As her eyes focused, Cassidy took a confident breath seeing the snow of Wonderland. The promise of spring being a wink away was comforting here. She reached into her jacket pocket. Her hand grasped the peanut tin, and with one eye closed, she pulled it out to see its transformation.
She gasped. The round metal box was a beautiful sapphire blue. It was painted with white, gold, and yellow geometric shapes and dots. There were paisley swoops of jade-green in between. Cassidy twisted the top and opened the lid. Inside were round wooden blocks. They were not yellow. They were green.
Cassidy had no idea how much a green would be worth at the seed exchange. She didn’t remember seeing any greens. I hope these green circles can be traded for some yellow squares so I can get my tablet back! she thought.
Bringing Spring
Cassidy closed the beautifully painted box full of green stocks. She returned it to her pocket and started off down the left path again. She walked for a long time but didn’t see any squirrels. She was worried she was going in circles.
She needed some help. She closed one eye, looking around at the colors and promise of spring. The new leaves were small and bright, sparkling like green glass in colors of seafoam, viridian, and chartreuse. She couldn’t see much of the sky through the brilliant greens. Then Cassidy heard crunching. It sounded like a giant was chewing with its mouth open. Cassidy looked around, but she didn’t see anyone. She looked side to side, up and down, and around the tree trunks.
“Hello?” she called out. “Is anyone there to show me the way?”
No answer.
“I’m trying to get to the pinecone fort. Does anyone know the way?”
The owl would be asleep, and she didn’t want to wake a sleeping owl. But where was the white robin?
“Shhhhhhh,” the wind replied.
Then one of the tree trunks moved! The tree lifted straight out of the ground and set back down again a few feet away. It looked like the base of the tree was wrapped in a dark cloth, so there weren’t any exposed roots. Cassidy had seen transported mature trees wrapped similarly at the garden center. She ran over to the tree to take a closer look.
As soon as she reached it, another tree in the distance moved! It did the same thing, seeming to lift straight up and set back down again. A moving forest? Maybe it heard her and was showing her the way?
Cassidy ran to the next tree trunk. It was wearing a boot! And the trunk was hairy! A mixture of brown and white hairs covered the whole tree. It reminded Cassidy of the palm trees back home. This tree didn’t have branches like a palm tree. What was a palm tree doing in Colorado? Or Winter Wonderland?
The hairy tree lifted and set back down again. Cassidy knew it was headed somewhere! Cassidy followed the two trees. Back and forth she ran. She was careful not to run ahead. She didn’t want the trees to squish her.
After a while, Cassidy started to see pinecone cabins. The smaller buildings on the edge of town were remote, like her dad’s house. She knew the rest of the pinecone town would be close. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted upwards, drawing out the words like a howl so they would carry to the tops of the hairy trees.
“Thank yooooooooooooooooouuuu.”
The trees bent in response to her call, and then together, four moving trees bounded off. Bounded? Yes! As the trees ran away, Cassidy could see the outline; the tall tree trunks weren’t trees at all. They were legs! Legs that belonged to a deer! A giant deer compared to the pinecone houses and Cassidy’s small size. The white tail of the deer disappeared into the horizon.
“You shouldn’t yell like that,” said the owl. Cassidy turned around, surprised by the other voice. There was the owl.
“I wanted to thank them for helping me,” she said.
“The deer startle easily. They think any loud sound is a coyote.”
“I haven’t seen any coyotes,” Cassidy said.
“They see you first,” said the owl.
“I see,” Cassidy said.
“But you don’t. I just explained.” The owl ruffled his feathers. He was so particular about words.
“I’m looking for the squirrel,” Cassidy said, changing the subject. “I need to get my book back.”
“The chickadees have been saying a lot about the Book of Answers,” said the owl. “Many questions have been asked, and many answers have been traded.”
“Trading answers?” Cassidy asked. She hadn’t thought of that. Selling answers.
“Yes,” confirmed the owl. “The Book is giving answers, but they aren’t matching the questions.”
“It’s giving wrong answers?”
“No. It is mixing answers,” said the owl and continued when it saw it needed to elaborate. “Winter will end with nine. The cost of yells is soon. I told you. You can’t trust the Book of Answers.”
Cassidy didn’t like the sound of that. But she still needed her book back.
“Is this the right way to the Seed Exchange?” she asked, pointing straight ahead.
“There you go again, asking me what is right and wrong,” the owl frowned.
Cassidy decided she was right, whether the owl answered her or not.
“Well, I’m going to get my book back,” she said and walked off.
“That’s good. Take the Book of Answers away from here,” the owl yawned.
Cassidy spotted a stack of stones or a cairn. She saw another and then another cairn. When used as natural trail markers, they were often called ducks, and they confirmed her intuition that she was headed in the right direction to get to town. Why didn’t the owl say so?
As Cassidy strode into the pinecone town, she noticed shadows hovering around corners. Then the shadows had eyes and then tails attached. Most were fluffy squirrel tails, but some were long skinny mouse tails or short white bunny tails. As furry ears and faces appeared, they began to follow Cassidy. First, cautiously at a distance, but when a handful grew into a crowd, Cassidy had a scurry of squirrels and other woodland creatures with her as she approached the Seed Exchange. Cassidy hoped they were only curious. She looked behind her, checking with one eye closed, but they didn’t scatter. They watched her as she walked straight up the steps of the Seed Exchange, but they didn’t follow. She pushed open both double doors like a princess striding into a ballroom. She knew she had something worth trading. She was not afraid.
