Open the Gates

Odd?

Ding! Dong!

I sighed as the door remained closed. However, as soon as I began to turn, it opened to reveal a middle-aged woman. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was the doorbell." She smiled at me.

"That's alright, these doorbells take some time to get used to. Anyways, I have your package from The Smythe Sweets."

"Oh, that's great! Thank you so much." She smiled wider and after handing her the package, I was back on my bike and riding towards my next destination. Soon I arrived at a large mini golf course that was filled with carnival themed decorations. Approaching the small, wooden check-in gazebo I saw a flash of red and brown duck under one of the wall counters.

"Hey Tate!" Clunk! "Oops, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." I grimaced as the 19 year old reappeared rubbing his head.

"Nah, it's fine. If you're looking for Tracie, though, she's with Ami. One of their trucks got flooded last night."

"What? That's terrible! How is the golf course holding up?" I frowned and glanced at the course. None of the green seemed damaged, but a few of the flowerpots lining the holes showed some destruction.

"Luckily the only equipment that was really harmed was the large Ferris wheel in the middle of the course. But we're having Tracie designing a new one since the wheel is old." He nodded to an empty space that had no decoration for the hole.

"I guess it worked out then. Oh, aren't you leaving for college soon?" I watched as he pulled a few of the golf clubs from their cubbies on the wall counters.

"Yup, in two days actually. I'm pretty excited and yes, I'll miss everyone. No, I don't want any food and yes, I'll be careful of any parties." He laughed. "Everyone's been asking me the same thing on this topic."

"Sounds like it. Before I forget, this is for your dad. It's his candy." I handed Tate the medium-sized package.

"Cools. And remember, anytime you want your hair dyed you can ask our dad! I think blue would go great with that light brown."

"Hah, thanks. Maybe next week? I'm tight on dye and time right now." I pulled on my ponytail and smiled apologetically.

"Sounds good! Tell Oliver I say hi."

"You do the same to Tracie for me." I nodded at him and waited for his nod back before hopping back on my bike.

Knock! Knock!

"Who are you and why have you been knocking for the past-oh hi Quinn." The 16 year old pushed her long black hair back over her shoulder and tilted her head in confusion. "Why didn't you ring the doorbell?"

"Hi Mai. I did, like four times. And I didn't stop because I saw the lights on." I smiled as she let me into the medium-sized house. She didn't even question the wagon full of packaged sweets that I brought in with me.

"Oh, our doorbell's broken?" Mai leaned out to push the doorbell and we listened to the silence as I replaced my shoes with slippers. "Great, we can add that to the broken list." She rolled her light brown eyes, motioned for me to leave the sweets at the door and led me further into the house.

"I'm sorry about your trucks and all the mess." Mai sighed and brought me into their brightly lit kitchen.

"Thanks. Right now we're trying to figure out how it happened since all the trucks were supposed to be safe in the garage. So far it looks like an odd situation. Tea?"

"Odd?" I nodded to her and she took the kettle off their oven.

"All the trucks were in the garage before the storm begun. Ami, Yori and I all checked. But it looks like someone broke into our garage, damaged some things inside, and took the truck outside. The truck was damaged too, which was how it flooded." She scowled as she poured tea into two small china cups. "Not to mention all of the damage done to Granny's garden."

"Isn't the garden in a greenhouse?"

"Yup, but one side of the greenhouse is shattered and a bunch of her garden has been destroyed."

"What? How can a storm do that?"

"It doesn't. A person did all of that damage during the storm. We found footprints left in the dirt, and a few of the holes are human sized."

"That's...wow." That was really all I could say.

"Yeah, well Granny's out in the garden fixing it up. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you...have you eaten yet?" Mai grabbed her cup and led me to the back of the house. "You know the rest of the way; I need to make some calls, so sorry I can't bring you to her." Mai shrugged. "Just take whatever food she gives you even though you bought groceries from us yesterday."

"Thanks, Zen and I always enjoy your granny's food. Good luck with the calls." I waved goodbye as she left and began my walk across their Zen themed yard. Instead of grass there was the normal, white beach pebbles and the path was a combination of wood planks and stone. On the left side of the yard was a sitting area with a small pond. There were some rocks in the pond where a person could sit and dip their feet in with the small Golden Rain Tree providing shade over the pond. On the right side was a large glass greenhouse with a path of dark wood planks leading to the door. Along the path were assorted shrubs and bushes along with a stone birdbath halfway. "Granny Shea?" I called out as I slid the door open.

"Over here dear!" I followed the sound of the old woman's voice and gasped at the gaping hole. In front of all the broken glass stood an elderly Asian woman with her grey hair pulled into a loose bun and wrinkly hands on her hips. Watching her eye the hole critically with her dark eyes made me rethink her 5-foot height. At that moment, she seemed to loom over the place. Well, until she spotted me and returned to being a normal, friendly grandmother. "Hello, Quinn. I was just assessing the damage."

"Hello. I just brought Mrs. Shea's sweets over." I said, still trying to catch up with the sudden change.

"Good, she'll need that after today. Here, hold these." She plopped some dirty vegetables in my arms. "I'm thinking of making this area into a glass garden. That way no one will have to go through the dirt and pick out all the glass." She paused and turned to me questioningly.

"Hmm? Oh, that'll be pretty. What would you use?" She nodded approvingly.

"We have some glass bottles I can make into flowers and put a small glass waterfall here. You can keep those by the way."

"Thank you."

"I'll send Ami over with more food once I make it. Have you looked at the beach yet? I would imagine there would be some damage from the storm."

"...I should do that now."