Across the Railroad Tracks

Chapter 11

“They’re cutting the tree down!?” My grandma yelled and I nodded.

“Well…looks like people are gonna die. Here’s some money for dinner.” She stood up, closed the album, grabbed her jacket, gave me a fifty and left. I stood up as I heard her car speed off. I sighed and left out the front door. I needed to think. A month tip it’s down…wow. I walked down the street and to the busy part of town.

I went to the art store and bought a sketch pad and some pens. I then got my food at the pizza place next to the art store. After finishing I started walking home. A car slowed down next to me and I looked over but kept walking.

“Hey Lilly! I see you’re feeling better.” It was Jane. There were a few girls in the back and a girl in the drivers seat.

“Yeah…I am. My grandma freaked out when I told her and sped off somewhere.” I said and Jane nodded.

“Well that’s good to hear. Oh I guess you haven’t meet my sisters yet. Lilly the ones in the back are my two younger sisters, Amy and Lisa. The one in the drivers seat is my older sister Janet.” They waved at me and I waved back.

“Nice to meet you three. I was wondering when I would meet you guys.”

“Hey Lil get in we’ll give you a ride home.” I opened the door and got in the back between Amy and Lisa.

“What’s in the bag?” Amy asked.

“Just art supplies.’ I said as Janet drove off. Amy and Lisa then began poking me after a minute.

“Jane…why are they poking me?” I asked with a slight annoyed tone in my voice. Lisa then poked my face and I squinted my eyes trying not to yell at them.

“We like poking things.” They said in sync. Amy then poked my eye and Lisa poked my ear.

“Ow! Why you li-“

“And we’re here!” Jane said before I could finish. Jane just saved her two little sister’s butts. I thanked her and I climbed out when I got to the front door Jane called my name.

“Hey Lil can my sisters and I come in for a while!? I texted my mom while we were coming here! She said it was fine!” My eye twitched and I turned my head slowly towards the car. I smiled and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Sure!” I really didn’t want her sisters to bother me anymore but I was bored. Jane beamed and they all got out. I opened the door and saw Lulu pushing her food bowl towards me and meowing. I picked her up along with the bowl and Jane closed the door since she was the last one to come inside.

“Stay here I’ll be right back I have to feed Lulu.” I said and made my way towards the kitchen. After filling her bowl I left her and went back in the living room. Amy and Lisa were poking the TV. I sighed and went back in the kitchen. Lulu was still eating and I bill her water bowl before I got a bottle of water and four bottles of soda.

“Here.” I said and threw the sodas to Jane’s sisters. Amy’s hit her in the head, Lisa, after stumbled with it, caught it and Janet caught it in mid air as it was about to go over her head. I handed Jane her soda.

“So why did your grandma leave?” Jane asked as I took a sip of my water.

“She found out about the tree house.”

“What tree house?” Amy asked.

“Come on I show you guys.” I said and walked to the back door. When I got to the door I jumped, screamed and held my heart when I saw Matt.

“How in the hell!?” I yelled and he started laughing hard.

“I j-just w-wanted to scare you!” He said through bursts of laughter. I pushed him out of the way and walked towards the fence as I heard the back door close. I looked back and saw Amy catching up to us and Matt on the ground.

“I hate him so much.” I said and looked forward. after helping Amy and Lisa up Jane, Janet and I climbed over. We walked for a couple minutes till we got to the tree and we climbed up the ladder.

“Why does that man smell like pee and have squirrels sleeping on his face?” Lisa asked when we were all up. I poked Frank and he groaned.

“This is Frank. He’s a hobo that lives here sometimes.” Frank nodded when he saw me and climbed down after he crawled over to the ladder. I reached into the backpack, got the lamps set up, since it was getting dark, and sprayed the air with an air freshener.

“So why are we here?” Amy asked.

“Well…this tree’s being cut down.” Jane informed her.

“And it turns out that my grandpa built this for my mom and since it holds precious memories that my grandma cherishes she got furious when I told her…” I said and I saw Frank peek over slightly.

“I live here also so if it gets torn down I have no where to go when the weather gets bad.” Frank said and when we all looked at him he went down slowly.

“Yeah…” I said and Lisa looked at me.

“Why is the tree being cut down?” Lisa asked.

“Well it’s not just this tree…most of the forest is being cut down to make way for a shorter root for the trains that go by here.” When I said that a bird flew in and landed on my shoulder.” I looked at it, smiled and grabbed some bird seed from the backpack. I held it in my hand and the bird started eating.

“Why is there a bird on your shoulder and why are you feeding it?” Janet asked with a really confused look on her face.

“Almost all the animals in the forest know her. They’re like her pets.” Jane said and a squirrel ran in and climbed onto my head. I reached into my backpack with my free hand and pulled out an acorn. The squirrel took it and climbed up to the rafter.

“ So a lot of animals will lose there homes?” Lisa asked as a owl flew in and landed between Amy and Lisa. They both tried to poke it but it flew up to the rafter and landed next to the squirrel.

“Yeah…” I said sadly.

“Then…what are you going to do?” Janet asked.