One of Nine

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

"Hey, psst. Kira."

"Hmm," I rolled over to the other side of my bed, turning away from whoever was shaking me awake.

"Wake up." It was Rhody.

"What do you want?" I groaned as I rolled back over to look at her. She was standing over me, looking down, her face lit up with excitement.

"Get up. Come on, I wanna show you something."

"Ten more minutes," I mumbled, shoving my head into the pillow.

"If you are not out of this bed in two seconds, I will be pouring cold water onto your sleeping body."

"Ugh! Fine. I'm up," I said, sitting up and looking at her. I knew exactly how bad my bed head would be. My eyes were still very heavy, so I'm guessing I had bags, too. You know me, always dressed to impress.

"Come on," she said, extending her hand.

After I changed, she took me out back to the courtyard and opened up one of the unlocked stalls along the side walls. She beckoned for me to follow her in.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, kind of frustrated that she pulled me out of bed to show me a musty, dirt covered, smelly stable with slowly rotting wood and rusty tools.

"We are going to start a garden. You and I," she smiled.

"Why?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Because you need something to occupy your mind, and I like gardening. You will not be arguing with me on this." She had her back to me as she grabbed something unidentifiable out of the boxes lined up on the shelves. "The ground is thawing; spring is on it's way and it'll be fun. Hold that," she said, handing me a large shovel.

"Do we even have things to plant?" I asked.

She turned and waved little packets in the air. "We have these seeds. I don't know how old they are and if they'll even produce something worthwhile, but we can try. If it doesn't work then it doesn't work, but at least we're doing something productive."

I guess it wasn't a horrible idea. I had never gardened before, so I was probably lousy at it, but it would make Rhody happy. However the thought of putting in so much time and effort into something that might not even produce an outcome was not my idea of 'self care.'

Rhody was right about the weather though. Spring was starting to make her appearance. Every night, rain would come and wash away the snow, putting slush and mud in its place. The days were becoming longer and the weather was becoming warmer.

"Fine, I'll help," I finally said.

Rhody grinned.

After we had gotten everything we needed to start, Eli called us in for breakfast. Rhody and I ate quickly and then went back outside to the patch of ground we had decided to turn into our garden.

We spent most of the morning digging into the earth, turning over the ground to create a large dirt patch. It was easier than I thought it would be, seeing as the ground was damp from the constant rain. The more time I spent with Rhody the more I wanted to be around her. She made me laugh, and she was easy to keep a conversation with. But the same went for Jonah. He made me laugh, and I could talk to him easily. It was safe to say I had created a very big problem for myself.

"How'd you learn so much about gardening?" I asked Rhody, wiping the beads of sweat off my forehead. Today was the warmest and sunniest it had been since we arrived.

"It's just always been something I've enjoyed. I've read quite a few books and studied the properties of plants in my free time. Did you know that the roots of trees mirror their branches?"