How Does Your Garden Grow

How Does Your Garden Grow - Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

Seven days earlier...

Lilly heard it, too. It was the sound of a cooing voice, an older woman’s voice.

“Here you go, my babies. My sweet darlings.”

Rick shushed them and silently waved a hand at Lilly, Regina and Eddie.  They stopped on the sidewalk beside an eight-foot high stone wall covered in a leafy vine that was pepered with rasberry-red flowers. The wall ran the length of the block, and indeed, surround the property owner’s entire lot. Set back and rising above the wall, was a very old house with a gabled roof.  In the second floor windows, Lilly could see old curtains pulled closed behind dirty window panes.

Someone just on the other side of the wall was talking, and now Rick leaned close to listen. Looking over Regina’s shoulder to watch, Lilly could only see the back of Rick’s high school letterman jacket and the Blackwater Warriors logo featuring crossed hatchets with feathers.

“Oh, yes. That’s it. So beautiful. You look so beautiful.”

Rick cupped his mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Who is it?” Lilly whispered to Regina.

“It’s Mrs. King. I think she’s talking to her plants again.” Regina pointed to her temple and made a circle with her finger.

It took a few seconds for the name to click in Lilly’s head.  It had been almost 10 years since she was trapped for an entire year in Mrs. King’s first grade class. Cruelty, intimidation and corporal punishment were the bedrock of Mrs. King’s teaching style.  The only time Lilly and her fellow first-graders ever saw the woman soften, even a little, was when she spoke to the row of exotic flowers she kept on the window sill of her classroom. Annie used to joke that they could both get straight As from Mrs. King if they only knew how to grow flowers out of their ears.  First grade was the worst year of her life, for a lot of reasons, the least of which was Mrs. King, and she remembered now how lucky she was to have Annie to help her through it; God, how she missed her still.

Now, Lilly watched over Regina’s shoulder as Rick fished both his hands deep into his pockets. She couldn’t figure out what he was looking for until he turned and she saw his right hand emerge from his jeans with a few small paper cylinders. Each as thick as a No 2 pencil and only two inches long, they were a mix of green, red, and blue, with white stars printed on them, and they were joined together by what looked like a silver string.  Regina and Eddie were standing between her and Rick, so Lilly couldn’t see very well, but she knew what he had. Kids sometimes tossed them around on the ball field during the Blackwater Founders Day Fair held on the Fourth of July. But what was he planning to do with fireworks on the sidewalk in the middle of this neighborhood.

With his left hand, Rick pulled a plastic Bic lighter from his other pocket, thumbed the wheel and put the flame to the fuse.

Eddie was surprised at this, but didn’t seem to react until the fuse ignited into a frantic sparkle. “Whoa, shit,” he half whispered.

Eddie and Regina stepped back, and stumbled into Lilly.

 “Got a gift for you King-shit,” Rick called out.  He heaved the bundle of firecrackers with the hissing and sparkling fuse over the top of the wall, and then ran as fast as his Puma’s would take him. Eddie and Regina dashed after Rick. 

CRACK! Cracka-Cracka-CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The exploding fireworks shattered the calm that had enveloped the quiet suburban street.