Daisies & Weeds

Daryl Did It

The front garden was overgrown. Daisies and weeds lined the pavement. A broken folding chair sat right in the middle of the cracked stone path and the bird bath that stood in the corner was empty. The veranda was painted white years ago and had turned pus yellow over time. People on the street called it the Long Time No See House on account of the owner. She only came out on Tuesdays for exactly two hours. Once at six in the morning with her black cat and once in the afternoon on her own at four. The cat roamed the neighbourhood whenever it wanted by getting out of a broken window at the back of the house. I would watch it from the armchair in the attic. Steve, my mother's boyfriend, liked to watch baseball with the volume loud enough to hear it in the garden. He didn't have a TV in his trailer so I suppose that's why he watched it here. His beers left ringed water stains on the side table next to our sofa.

My mother wasn't wary of the Long Time No See House. The owner, Stella, had brought over an apple pie as a welcoming gift when we first moved in. No one else in the neighbourhood acknowledged our existence even though our moving truck blocked part of the street for an entire afternoon. I guess Daryl, our neighbour, knew we were there. A branch from our tree hung over his yard. He yelled at my mother over the fence about it. So, the branch was cut and mom flung clover seeds into Daryl's yard when his lime green Cadillac pulled out of his driveway.

The Long Time No See House remained the same on holidays. There were no children hunting down Easter eggs in the yard in April and there was no wreath up on the door in December. In summer, I watched the house from the inflatable pink flamingo in the pool. I began talking to Stella because of the pink flamingo. On a particularly windy day, it flew straight into the backyard of the Long Time No See House. I was planning a stealthy way of retrieving it when the back door swung open to reveal Stella. She lifted the flamingo over the fence to me and I thanked her. Before long we were having regular over-the-fence conversations. I didn't dare tell anyone from the neighbourhood because they always happened on Saturdays at exactly three o'clock when no one expected her to be out. On a particularly sweltering day in late July, I found the flamingo popped in the middle of the yellow grass. Apparently, Daryl did it. Stella told me she saw him.

Stella only wore bright yellow clothes and the same shade of bright pink lipstick. I wondered what colour I would wear if I were to choose only one. Maybe green; like Daryl's car. My mother liked that Stella only wore one colour. She decided it was practical.

"Imagine how easy the wash would be," she said while cooking dinner. I was busy making a drawing of Stella's cat at our dining room table. I would bring it to our next conversation to give it to her.

Steve was less impressed with her. The house seemed to bother him greatly and Stella even more. He'd stare at the house through the window at dinner, using his fingernail to get to the corn stuck between his teeth, and growl.

"I like her," I said with my mouth full.

"I don't. She's batshit," Steve replied, turning the TV volume up.

I had decided that my opinion wasn't going to be swayed by someone who walked around with a toothpick in his mouth unironically. I gave the drawing to Stella on the Saturday of that week.

"Why, you've captured Marvin perfectly!" She hugged the drawing to her chest as though it really were Marvin.

"Did I get the colour of his eyes right?" I asked. I had never looked into Marvin's eyes up close and so I worried about the answer she was going to give for days.

"Absolutely! I'm going to put this on the fridge right next to Piper's drawings," She replied. This was the first time I had heard of Piper. As far as I knew there was no Piper in the neighbourhood.

"You know what, honey?" She began, "You and your mother are invited over for lunch next Saturday."

"What time?" I asked, because I knew it was important. I was determined to find out about Piper.

"One." She replied.

My mother and I spent the week looking for yellow things to wear. She found a dress from years ago that made her look like a checkered table cloth and I wore an oversized yellow bowling shirt of Steve's. I wasn't quite sure what Stella would make of our attire but I brought another drawing of Marvin in case we had to make up for our appearance. My mother was just as curious as I was. She wondered aloud what Stella's house looked like from the inside for most of the morning and even took my spot in the attic to see if she could find any clues. Now that we were on Stella's doorstep, my mother's hand froze just before knocking.