“Ahhh! Quick, turn…it…off!” Juliet yelled over the noise.
Gnomeo tried everything he could think of to stop the earsplitting music. Nothing worked! “The button’s stuck!” he called.
Across the garden, Lord Redbrick raised his head. What was all that noise? He marched in the direction of the music.
“Juliet!” he hollered.
As Gnomeo continued to struggle with the switch and wires, Shroom suddenly appeared. Benny had sent him into the Red garden to find Gnomeo.
Juliet spotted Lord Redbrick headed right for them.
“My dad’s coming!” she warned Gnomeo.
Just then, Nanette hopped over to investigate the noise. “Juliet! What’s with the—” she started, but Shroom tripped over some wires and landed right in her mouth! She removed Shroom and then spotted Gnomeo. “So,” she said, turning to him. “You must be Gnomeo. Lovely to meet you in the thirty seconds before you’re discovered and killed.”
Nanette sat down on a nearby rock. She wanted a good seat for all the action. She knew that Gnomeo and Juliet were doomed, but she hadn’t expected their love affair to come to an end quite so soon!
Juliet waved at Gnomeo frantically. “Quick! Hide!” she cried.
Gnomeo grabbed Shroom, dove into the garden pond, and held his breath.
Lord Redbrick stomped through Juliet’s grotto. He reached behind a flowerpot and pulled a plug from a socket hidden there. The lights snapped off and the music went silent.
“Juliet! I’ve told you before—no music in the grotto after ten o’clock. What’s going on here?” her father demanded.
“It was a…I saw a…a squirrel…and he…,” Juliet said, struggling to come up with an excuse—one that wouldn’t give Gnomeo away.
Luckily, Lord Redbrick was too flustered by the night’s events to be very worried about Juliet’s explanation. “Well, okay. But no mucking about, especially tonight,” he told her. “We’ve been attacked. By a Blue!”
Nanette and Juliet eyed each other.
“And if I ever get my hands on that Blue”—Lord Redbrick clenched his fists—“he’ll be sleeping with the fishes!”
Just then, Gnomeo popped out of the water, gasping for breath.
At the sound of Gnomeo’s splashing, Lord Redbrick turned around.
Nanette leaped in front of Lord Redbrick just in time, blocking his view of the pond—and Gnomeo. “Lord Redbrick!” she called, and started asking him silly questions to distract him.
Gnomeo saw his opportunity to get Juliet’s attention. “I guess now isn’t the best time to talk?” he whispered.
“It’s not ideal,” Juliet whispered back. She looked nervously toward her father.
“But I—” Gnomeo started again. He wanted to tell Juliet how he felt about her, but he wasn’t sure where to begin.
“Just go! Please go,” Juliet begged him. She cared too much about him to see him get caught.
“But I just came here to tell you I…um, I—” Gnomeo tried again.
“What? You what?” Juliet asked. Then she heard her father approaching again. “Sorry,” she said quickly. She pushed Gnomeo back under the pond water and turned toward her dad.
“Juliet, is there something wrong with the pond?” Lord Redbrick asked.
“The pond? No, it’s fine. Just as pondy as ever—ha ha,” she said, laughing nervously. Then she pointed over her dad’s shoulder. “Oh my gosh! What is that thing over there?”
Lord Redbrick turned away from the pond. “What? What is it?” he asked.
Juliet motioned to Nanette.
Nanette pulled Gnomeo and Shroom out of the pond and pushed them toward the gate. “Okay. Bye-bye, then. Good night, sweet prince. Parting is such sweet sorrow,” she said quickly.
Nanette shoved Gnomeo and Shroom out into the alley and slammed the garden gate behind them. She wiped the sweat from her brow. That was close!
Shroom gave a consoling whimper as he followed Gnomeo down the alley. Gnomeo was feeling sorry for himself. He had been so close to telling Juliet his true feelings for her—but the timing, not to mention the whole situation, was less than perfect. He paused in front of the deserted garden where he’d first met Juliet. He looked toward the greenhouse. Then he got an idea.
Juliet ran over to Nanette. “Nanette, where’s Gnomeo? Has he gone?” she asked. She clutched Nanette’s arm.
“Yep. Gone forever,” Nanette informed her friend.
Juliet looked devastated. “What?” she cried. She climbed toward the top of the fence, hoping for one last glimpse of Gnomeo through the wooden slats of the trellis that extended along the fence’s edge.
When she reached the top of the fence, she unexpectedly came face to face with Gnomeo, who was staring through the slats in the trellis, hoping to get one last glimpse of her! In his hand he held the white orchid that Juliet loved so much.
“I think you’ll find this does actually belong to you,” Gnomeo said.
Juliet smiled shyly as she took the flower. “Thank you,” she said, blushing.
They stared into each other’s eyes. But Juliet knew that they couldn’t be together. She started to leave, but Gnomeo stopped her.
“I can’t go,” he said.
“I know how you feel,” she replied.
“No, really…I can’t go. I’m stuck,” Gnomeo admitted. His face had gotten wedged between two slats.
“So…can I see you again tomorrow?” he asked, his face slightly squished.
“Yes. But not here,” she told him.
“Noon?” he asked hopefully.
“Not soon enough,” she replied.
“I can do eleven-forty-five,” he told her.
Juliet kissed her fingertips and placed them against Gnomeo’s lips. Then, with a gentle push, she unstuck his head from the trellis.
“Back in the old deserted garden, then. Eleven-forty-five a.m.,” Gnomeo called as he slipped down from the fence. “That frog was right. Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Juliet smiled. She was in love!
Gnomeo practically skipped into the Blue garden as he returned home with Shroom. But as soon as he shut the gate, Benny raced up to him.
“Gnomeo! Gnomeo! Where on earth have you been, Gnomeo?” he cried frantically.
Gnomeo looked startled. “Well, I—”
“We thought one of those Reds must’ve gotten to you!” Benny exclaimed.
“A Red? Get to me? Yeah, as if,” Gnomeo replied, shrugging uncomfortably. He thought of Juliet and sighed.
If Benny only knew.
The next day, Miss Montague walked out of her house bright and early. It was a beautiful day for gardening. “Ah la la la la ah,” she sang as she made her way to the back shed.
As he stood on his pedestal, Gnomeo’s eyes cut toward Miss Montague. She was about to discover what had happened to her lawn mower in the race with Tybalt.
Miss Montague unlatched the shed door and pulled out the mower. Whumph! All four wheels fell off the battered machine. “Ahhhh!” she cried in shock. She looked down at her ruined mower.
Gnomeo cringed.
In the Red garden, Mr. Capulet was also recovering from an early-morning shock. He stood in front of his wishing well, which was covered with graffiti. He glared across the fence at Miss Montague. Clearly, she had to be responsible for this.
“This is an outrage!” he shouted. “The gardening gloves are off, then, are they?”
Miss Montague shook her finger at Mr. Capulet. “You! Wrecking my mower,” she yelled back through the fence.
The two gardening rivals shouted back and forth at each other. This was war!
Miss Montague turned her back to Mr. Capulet and stormed toward her house. “Who thinks I should order the best new lawn mower my money can buy?” she growled as she slammed her back door.
A new lawn mower! Benny grinned. Score!
Later on in the Red garden, Tybalt, Fawn, and the Goons were busy scrubbing the graffiti from the wishing well.
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“Why would anyone do this to Tybalt?” asked Fawn.
“Because nobody likes him!” replied one of the goons. Tybalt scowled.
“So, what are we going to do?” Fawn continued.
Tybalt’s eyes wandered over the fence and rested on the Blues’ prized wisteria. “Find their weak spot,” he growled.
“Then what are we going to do?” Fawn asked. He was confused.
Tybalt laughed evilly. “Damage. Lots and lots of damage,” he replied.
At the same time, in the Blue garden, Benny crept quietly up to Miss Montague’s window. He peeked in and spotted her at her desk. She was browsing the Internet for a new lawn mower.
“Ohhh! She’s on the worldy-widey-web!” Benny said gleefully.
Miss Montague scrolled through the lawn mower options. Each one was bigger and flashier than the last. There were so many possibilities to choose from!
Benny could hardly contain his excitement. “Yes,” he whispered outside the window. “Pick that one! Oh, that one. I like that one, too!”
Then Miss Montague scrolled over a picture of the largest, glossiest, most high-tech lawn mower Benny had ever laid eyes on. This was the T. Rex of mowers: the Terrafirminator.
“Oh, what’s this?” Miss Montague asked. She clicked on the Terrafirminator’s picture.
A booming voice rang from the laptop. “Are you losing the war in your garden? Maybe it’s time for a secret weapon. Terrafirminator! It’s the most ruthless five-hundred-horsepower grass-dominating piece of hardware the world has ever seen. It’s unnecessarily powerful!”
Benny’s eyes grew wide with admiration. “Ohhh, that one,” he whispered. The Terrafirminator was perfect.
“Oh my!” Miss Montague exclaimed. She dragged the cursor toward the ordering box. Then she paused.
Benny watched in horror as Miss Montague moved the cursor toward a picture of a tiny pink mower instead.
“Oh, not the Kitten Clipper,” Benny groaned.
Miss Montague clicked the buy button.
Defeated, Benny slid down the wall onto the grass. Defeating the Reds with that tiny lawn mower would be next to impossible!
At the same time that Gnomeo was on his way to meet Juliet, Nanette was busy helping Juliet make some finishing touches of her own. After a little sanding and buffing and a little drying with a leaf blower, Juliet looked lovelier than ever.
“Juliet!” Lord Redbrick suddenly called out. “There you are!”
Juliet looked over her shoulder to see her dad approaching. She bit her lip. Was it just her, or had her father been popping by at the most inconvenient times lately?
Lord Redbrick took his daughter by the arm and led her farther into the garden. Juliet looked back longingly at the garden gate. Nanette followed them. No way was she going to miss this.
“I’ve maybe misjudged your situation on that pedestal,” Lord Redbrick announced. “It must be boring up there…and lonely. What you need is companmanship.”
“Huh?” Juliet asked, startled.
“You know Paris, don’t you?” Lord Redbrick continued, referring to a local gnome.
“Yes, yes, of course, why?” asked Juliet.
“Well, he’s come to pay you a visit,” her father announced, beaming with pleasure at his own cleverness.
Juliet, on the other hand, was not happy. “Dad!” she cried.
Lord Redbrick nudged Juliet around a corner. And there stood Paris, waiting for her. He adjusted his glasses nervously.
“Hello! Juliet! I’ve got something for you,” Paris said as he shoved a bouquet of flowers in her direction. “Here. It’s gypsophila. It means ‘lover of chalk.’”
Juliet took the bouquet and sighed. She hated to be impolite, but she needed to end this conversation quickly or she would be late to meet Gnomeo. “Right…well, it’s been nice speaking with you,” she said. She hurried in the direction of the garden gate.
Paris scurried after her. “Where are you going?” he called, determined to see his courting of her to the end. He stepped in front of her. “But…um…surely it’s a bit rude to leave me on our first date?”
Juliet raised an eyebrow. “First date?” she questioned.
“Yes,” Paris replied. “And I thought, ‘What does a boyfriend get his girlfriend?’”
Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Juliet groaned at the thought of dating Paris.
Juliet was sure Paris was a nice, dependable gnome. But she had her heart set on someone else. Why couldn’t her father just understand that she needed to live her own life?
Nanette giggled. “Oh, this is good!” she cried.
With a magician’s ta-da! motion, Paris yanked a sheet off a large bush. The bush had been trimmed into the shape of the two of them dancing. “A small token of my affection,” Paris declared. He grinned at Juliet.
“Oh, wow,” Juliet mumbled, unsure of what to do. It was a nice gesture and all, but she was not about to be Paris’s girlfriend!
“Juliet,” Nanette said. “Do you realize what this is? It’s a love triangle!”
Juliet moaned. A love triangle was not what she needed right now. What she needed was a way out of this mess!
Juliet motioned to Nanette with her eyes as Paris began describing his creation in great detail. He was very excited about it.
Nanette nodded and slipped in close to Paris. As she listened, she began to see Paris in a different way. He was so passionate about his work! And so handsome!
It was now or never! As Nanette led Paris in the opposite direction, Juliet slipped out the back gate. She had a date to get to!
Inside the deserted garden, Gnomeo gazed at his reflection in one of the windows of the greenhouse. For what must have been the tenth time, he practiced what he would say when Juliet arrived.
“Hey, Juliet! What a name—it goes with your eyes. Did it hurt when you fell down from heaven? So, how you doing?”
As Gnomeo was talking to himself, Juliet appeared in the reflection behind him. “Oh, I’m fine. How are you?” she said in a teasing voice.
Gnomeo spun around and blushed. Busted!
He leaned against a stack of firewood, trying to regain his cool. But the stack started to wobble and Gnomeo lost his balance!
Juliet pushed Gnomeo out of the way just as the logs went crashing loudly to the ground.
“I forgot. Stealth is your middle name,” she joked, giggling. “Do you think anyone heard that?” she then wondered nervously.
“There’s nobody here,” Gnomeo replied. He smiled to himself. It was just the two of them. On a date. Together.
Juliet spotted something in the overgrown lawn nearby. She ran over and parted the long blades of grass in front of it.
“It’s a 1950s model!” she cried. She couldn’t believe it. This type of old-fashioned lawn mower was rare these days. “It’s got the original chrome hubcaps!”
“Yeah, they featured those the first year,” Gnomeo remarked, admiring the antique.
“Actually, they were available by special order through 1954, when they switched to aluminum,” Juliet corrected him, winking.
Gnomeo grinned. Not only was Juliet beautiful, but she also knew her mowers! She was too perfect.
“Let’s start it up!” Juliet exclaimed.
Gnomeo hesitated, but only for a second. “Okay,” he agreed. An opportunity like this was too good to pass up. He jumped on board and grabbed the throttle. “Check out the power on this beauty!”
He tried to start up the mower. Putt, putt, putt. He tried again. Putt, putt. Nothing. “She’s empty,” he said, disappointed. He looked around and spotted the old shed. There had to be some kind of fuel in there!
“Bingo,” he said, taking Juliet by the hand.
Juliet found a long metal rod and offered it to Gnomeo. He used it to pick the lock on the shed door. The heavy door creaked as it opened.
The two gnomes crept inside the dark shed. As their eyes adjusted to the gloom, a gust of wind blew the door shut behind them. Slam!
Gnomeo and Juliet jumped. Then, in the darkness, they heard an unfamiliar voice.
Gnomeo and Juliet screamed and scrambled to open the door. Racing into the yard, they dove behind the toppled pile of logs.
“What was that?” Gnomeo asked, panting.
“I have no idea,” said Juliet. She eyed the shed door nervously.
Gnomeo took charge. “Okay,” he called to the shed door. “Whatever you are, come out slowly. I have a loaded weapon and I’m not afraid to use it.” He held the metal rod in his hand, ready to strike.
Gnomeo and Juliet waited. But nothing happened.
“Do you think I scared him?” Gnomeo asked Juliet.
“Oh, definitely,” came a voice from behind them.
Gnomeo and Juliet shrieked again. Who was that?
“My name’s Featherstone,” said a plastic pink flamingo. Featherstone grabbed the metal rod Gnomeo was holding. He shoved it into the ground and perched on top of it. How nice to have his leg back!
Gnomeo looked relieved. Featherstone was a lawn ornament, just like them!
“Sorry, we didn’t think anybody lived here!” Gnomeo told Featherstone.
But Juliet still looked nervous. She couldn’t afford to be seen with Gnomeo. It was too risky.
“Yes, we shouldn’t be here. We’ll be going now,” Juliet said nervously. She tugged on Gnomeo’s sleeve, urging him to leave with her. The two took off across the grass.
But Featherstone wasn’t going to let them get away easily. He was thrilled to have visitors, and besides, he’d recognized young love as soon as he’d seen them. “I think you two are on a date,” he said knowingly.
Gnomeo and Juliet began talking at the same time, each trying to come up with a good cover story. “Date?” Gnomeo repeated. “Nooo. No, we’re not—”
“Date? No way! What makes you think—?” Juliet started. “Definitely not dating—we’re fighting. That’s what we’re doing.”
Gnomeo and Juliet Page 3