Weather Girl (gxg)

ii

After that day, I was seeing her more often. Either while I was walking Wes, going to the store with my mom, or just walking to my friends house; I always saw her. And each time, she had a different expression. Sometimes, she was smiling and laughing loudly, not caring about her surroundings at all. Other times, she was quiet and kept to herself as her family members talked around her. During times like that, she was on her phone, tapping away at whatever was there before stuffing it into her pocket and laying her head down on wherever she can.

And not only that, I learned that she was Mrs. Growers granddaughter who was going to be staying with the older woman with her mother and three siblings until they found a place to stay. I had overheard this information from when one of our neighbors came over when I was outside with my mother, helping her tend the flowers that were outside (which was usually a job that was left to my younger sister, however she was out with her friends that morning and left me to do the job). Our neighbor Mrs. Howl, the town's reporter in her late thirties, came straight towards my mother with quick steps as she quickly told her what she learned. She carefully stepped over the two bags of manure that I had to haul out and stood behind my mother, waiting for her to turn around. When she did turn around, Mrs. Howl had this huge grin plastered on her face as she clasped her hands together. "Guess what?" She squealed, the same why she always does when she has something new to tell my mother.

Usually, I would tune the two out, not wanting to hear any of it, however, when I had heard "Mrs. Grower" and "family members", I just had to listen. She first began by telling my mother that it was her only daughter that moved in with her, bringing her four children with her from the north. The oldest child was said to be helping Mrs. Grower with her bakery (which is one of the best bakeries in all of Tennessee, and I'm not kidding. If you ever want some baked goods that are sweet and actually good, go visit Angels), the second child was currently a college student, the third was in high school, and the fourth one was in middle school. When I heard about the third child, I couldn't help but to think about the mood swing girl. She looked like she was near my age, but I could be wrong.

It wasn't until my mother glanced over towards me and told me to go get her the other set of flowers that she left in the garage. At first, I didn't want to get up, wanting to wait for Mrs. Howl to finish the rest of the information about Mrs. Grower's family, but I knew that my mother would continue to pester me and that Mrs. Howl wouldn't continue until I finally did what my mother needed me to do. So, I pushed myself up onto my feet and headed for the garage. As I was walking away, I could hear Mrs. Howl continue talking with my mother about the new family. I quickly tried to look for the other set of flowers and found myself trying to figure out which one my mother wanted to use.

I stuck my head outside of the garage and stared at my mother. "Mom," I said, loud enough for her to hear me. "Which set do you want?"

She glanced up at me and Mrs. Howl once again found herself stopping, crossing her arms as she waited for my mother to reply. "My Pansies should be in there, the citrus blend."

Turning back to see what she was talking about, I saw the set of flowers that sat in the far back of the counter that held all of my mother's already grown flowers. Making my way to the counter, I carefully picked up the set and held onto the black container carefully. It was heavy, if you would count flowers and dirt to be heavy.

Once I had a good grip on the container, I started to walk out of the garage and slowly made my way to my mother. Mrs. Howl was still there, standing behind my mother, but this time it seemed as though the two were on a different subject. Unlike before, Mrs. Howl no longer had that excited expression on her face and my mother was actually engaging in the conversation. The two older woman let out a small laugh as I sat down the container of flowers beside my mother. She smiled up at me and began to take one of the flowers out and ready to put them in the ground.

Getting down on my knees, Mrs. Howl put a single hand on my shoulder. "Well, I better leave, Diane. I still have to go to the store and I have work to do that's due tomorrow morning," she sighed. "See you both later."

We waved goodbye to Mrs. Howl as she walked away, making sure to be careful not to trip over anything on our lawn. When she was two houses down, my mother went back to working on her plants and I did the same. We worked in peace, only the sounds of the birds chirping and people talking filled our ears. It wasn't until my mother finally broke the silence.

"Mrs. Howl was just talking to me about the new family that moved here," she picked up the small shovel and began to dig a hole in the ground. "It's Mrs. Grower's daughter's family and I believe Mrs. Howl said that one of her grandchildren is going to the high school."

If I were a dog, I swear that my ears would've perked up in interest. But luckily for me, I wasn't a dog and my ears remained at the side of my head (then again, where else would they be?). Instead, I continued with the yard work and asked her, "Really? That's cool."

"Isn't it? Maybe her grandchild will be in your grade."

"Maybe." Was my simple reply before I continued with my task. Picking up one of the flowers, I carefully took it out of the pot and began to put it into the hole that my mother had finished digging. Silence took over the two of us once again before I looked over at my mother. "Did she ever give you the name of Mrs. Grower's grandkid?"

Just like me, my mother stopped what she was doing to make eye contact with me properly. "Now that you mentioned it, she never gave me a name. She only said that that one of Mrs. Grower's grandchildren will be attending the high school, she didn't even specify if it was a girl or boy." She then went back to her task as she continued. "I guess that just means you'll have to find out yourself."

Internally, I groaned as I followed my mother's actions. However, my movement was a bit more sluggish after knowing about the lack of information. Even though Mrs. Howl was always in everyone's business and seemed like she knew everything, this time she didn't know everything. And this was when I needed her to have the information since I was curious about the family.

Or at least, the girl who I would always see.

I guess I'll just have find out about her once school starts, I thought to myself as I went ahead to grab another flower.