The Cherry Trees

Chapter Two: 2013

Eight days later, on January 15th, it was Lexi's birthday. I have to admit, I didn't even know this until the day before when she told me how excited she was, and how I could come over for cake if I wanted to. I nodded and smiled, telling her I wouldn't miss it for the world. When I got home, I urgently told my mom that we needed to go shopping, now. She understood, and took me out to find something that I thought Lexi would like.

We walked rows upon rows at different stores, but I couldn't find anything that I thought Lexi would truly enjoy. I kept in mind what I knew that Lexi liked. Fish, the beach, turtles, the color teal, our clubhouse, the river, waterparks. I realized all of those things had to do with water. Great. It was the middle of January, and we couldn't go in the creek or go to waterparks. I was officialy stumped.

I tried to think of other things that I knew Lexi loved, but I couldn't think of anything creative or special, like what she had given me.

Then it hit me. She needed something useful. Something that she would really enjoy, and something creative. Except, it wasn't necessarily something that I could buy. I quickly told my mom my idea, and I watched her face as she thought about it. I didn't tell her everything it would be for though, knowing that she would object.

"C'mon mom! It will be fun for her, and then she  won't have to hop the fence anymore, and it will be so much easier for her to get to the clubhouse! Plus, it will be something that nobody else would be able to give her," I said making my best puppy dog eyes.

"Anne... I don't really know what Ms. Lotter would say to that..." my mom said.

"Mom, I will ask her about it! Just let me use your phone to call her," I said,

My mom rummaged through her purse, trying to find the phone that was probably helplessly lost inside of her portable black hole.

When she finally pulled it out, I flipped it open and dialed Lexi's home phone, knowing it by heart.

"Hello?" I heard Lexi's voice.

Shoot, I hadn't thought of that.

I changed my voice slightly to try to make it sound more like my mom's.

"Hi. This is Mrs. Gallot. Is your mom home?" I said.

I could almost hear Lexi's suspicion when she answered, "Yeah... one second."

I gave the thumbs up to my mom who looked at me like I was crazy. Then, I heard Ms. Lotter.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hi Ms. Lotter! It's Anne. I was just wondering how you would feel about this gift I was thinking about giving Lexi for her birthday."

That night, when I knew Lexi was out of the house, because her mom said she would take her out, my dad and I quickly installed Lexi's birthday gift. I knew that she was going to love it.

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Lexi, happy birthday to you!" we all sang as Mr. Blackwell brought her cake in. On her birthday, her parents got along pretty well for Lexi. I also knew that later, Lexi's brother that I had never heard about was coming home from college to celebrate the occasion. That made me even more suspicious of the girl whose picture was in out clubhouse.

Lexi blew out the nine candles in the center of her chocolate cake and I watched as she closed her eyes and made a wish.

"Can we open presents now?" she asked.

We all laughed, and I became very excited for her to see my gift.

After she had opened all of her presents, I saw her look over at me dissapointed that she hadn't gotten one from me. Or so she thought.

"Hey, Lexi, can we go play upstairs for a little?" I asked.

She nodded, probably still upset.

I bounded up the stairs to her room, and she followed sluggishly behind me. When I got into her room, far before her, I opened up her window and pulled back the curtains for her to see her present.

When she walked in, she looked up and saw what she had gotten.

"No. Way."

I nodded excitedly.

"You got me a zipline!!!?" she said.

"Yup! Now you never have to hop the fence to get to the clubhouse again!" I lowered my voice, "And, it makes it easier for emergency meetings when we have to sneak out," I said.

She smiled wider than I could imagine. "Can we try it out?" she asked.

I motioned to the window, and she climbed out, taking a seat on the end of the wire. My dad and I decided it would be too risky if she didn't have something to sit on, so we had also put a seat on, as well as handles. She pushed off the side of the house and screamed all the way to the end of it, which was right before the clubhouse where my dad and I had built a small platform. She returned the seat ti me by pulling a rope, and I ziplined to the clubhouse, too. When I got there, Lexi was smiling again and she clapped her hands ecstatically.

"Best, Birthday. Ever," she said.