Tree Whisperer

Chapter 15: Brenda

Chapter 15: Brenda

You know, I would love to say that time flew and I was home before I knew it, but that would be a complete and utter lie. The time until the pizza arrived walked along, dragged along, and worst of all, scraped along. I think it was fair to say that I was nervous.

True to her word, we did have pizza. I think it was a miracle, really, that pizza was invented. It was masterfully created with the perfect amount of dough, seasoned sauce and cheese that seemed to never end. To say the least, it was delicious. I probably looked like a pig, too, with the number of slices I’d had. Nathan, Michael and their dad, who I was allowed to call Mr. Grumboth, were all on their second. Miss Zowie, who wanted to simply be called Zowie now, was halfway through her first slice. Here I sat, already on my fourth. There was one piece left now, and I looked guiltily at my plate. I had one crust from my last pizza on there.

A loud noise exploded from my mouth. I quickly slammed my hands over my mouth. So that was what it felt like to burp… I had never actually had this much food before as I received most of my food from the sun. You know, being a tree and all.

“Nice,” Michael said, then proceeded to give a fat burp of his own. Nathan just shook his head at me, silently laughing while Mr. Grumboth and Zowie concealed their smiles behind hands.

“Welcome to the family Brenda,” Mr. Grumboth smiled.

I was so completely and utterly confused. By burping, I had just been accepted into their family? Did that mean they wouldn’t be upset with me because Nathan and I had skipped school? I really wished that were the case.

“Um, thank you?” I replied. Smooth, I know. “The dinner was delicious. Thanks for having me.”

“No problem,” Zowie smiled warmly at me. “But…” Her eyes narrowed. “Why weren’t you two at school today?”

I glanced at Nathan for help. There was absolutely no way his mom could find out about me. Nathan knew that too as realization dawned on his face.

“Uh…” Great plan Nathan. Maybe we can say Uh until they get annoyed and forget what they were asking.

Thinking quickly, I responded, “We had a project we needed to work on for English. Since Nathan’s older than me, we were partnered up since we had to have an older partner.” I prayed she would buy my lame attempt at an excuse.

“Why couldn’t you just work on that at school?” she questioned.

“I- I don’t know. The teachers didn’t really,” I cleared my throat, “explain it in detail to us.”

            Zowie nodded, obviously not convinced. “Well, I’m sure your mother is going to be wondering why you aren’t home for dinner. Nathan, how about you walk Brenda out? After that, we need to have a little,” she paused. “Talk.”

            I stood up from my chair, the wood scraping against the tile floor. I pushed it back towards the table, and waved goodbye. Mr. Grumboth smile kindly at me while Michael was still trying to finish his second slice of pizza. He must have been a slower eater than Zowie by now.

            Nathan tugged on my arm a little to snap me out of my stupor. I continued walking towards the door. Then I realized, how in the world was I going to get home? Wow, I really had not thought this through.

            When Nathan and I were outside, with the door shut, I told him of my predicament.

            “Oh, yeah,” Nathan mumbled. “I’ll go ask my mom if I can drive you home. Alright? And if she won’t let me, and Michael somehow is forced to, please ignore him. He can be such an idiot sometimes.”