by Greg Fowler
‘I think that’s enough of the chit chat.’ Then she was gone, door closed and busy feet on the stairs.
Eddy didn’t see her at all again that day. She didn’t bring his lunch up and by the time he figured she wasn’t bringing his dinner up either he was absolutely starving. Not that he was going to do anything about it of course.
On the plus side, his Tree, Mr Tree, hadn’t seen so much as a blunt spoon let alone a chainsaw. And long may it last.
15. JAM SANDWICHES
‘Eddy. Eddy are you there?’
If he wasn’t ‘there’ before, he was ‘there’ only half a second or so later.
‘Hi R…Reagan.’
‘What ya doin’?’
‘Just n…nothin’’
‘Where’s your Grandma Daisy?’
‘I don’t know. She’s hasn’t f…fed m…me today.’
‘What! Not all day?’
‘Um…I had breakfast.’
‘Well we’ll have to take care of that won’t we.’ With that said she pulled a Grandma Daisy trick and strode with purpose out of the room and out of his sight. Eddy didn’t know what to think. In the end he simply stood his ground at the side window and waited for whatever came next.
He didn’t have to wait long though. Soon enough Reagan came bursting back into her bedroom, ten foot tall and bullet-proof and loaded with four of the hugest sandwiches Eddy had ever seen, two in each hand. Just the sight of them made his stomach do a triple somersault.
‘Okay,’ considered Reagan as she looked at the distance between her window and his. ‘How are we going to do this?’
‘J…just throw them.’
‘No silly. Girls don’t throw sandwiches, and besides, they’d just end up splattered on the ground. Now that wouldn’t get your tummy full would it?’
‘N…no.’
‘I’ve got an idea.’ And with that, Reagan did just about the last thing Eddy ever expected. As if she’d done such things all her life, she placed the two piles of sandwiches on the window ledge in front of her, nicely to each side though, then, to Eddy’s jaw wide amazement, she proceeded to lift herself out of the window. Letting go with one hand and reaching out, she was able to grasp the closest tree branch to her side of the house and use it as leverage to drag her body the rest of the way out. Before Eddy knew it, she was sitting in the tree like a monkey and reaching back across for her payload of sandwiches.
‘Wh…what are you doing!’
‘I figured if you can’t come to the sandwiches, the sandwiches can come to you.’
‘Bu…but you’ll f…fall.’
‘No I won’t,’ she said with absolute self assurance. ‘These branches are nice and big. You could have an elephant up here.’
‘H…how would an e…elephant get up there?’
Reagan just shook her head at him. No need for words.
Piling all four sandwiches carefully in one hand, she made ready to make her way across to where Eddy watched on from his side window, the saliva already flowing freely in his mouth. She was about half way across when she paused for a moment. Looking out, through the space between the houses, the warm orange light of the setting sun bathed her face. Eddy looked on and saw how the shadows formed by the various twigs and branches formed jostling capillaries all over her body. Like snakes and ladders he thought.
Hold on to her Mr Tree. She’s very, very precious.
‘You should see it out here Eddy. It’s beautiful.’
‘Y…you should be c…careful.’
‘Don’t be a scaredy cat. Come on, why don’t you come out and sit here with me. We could have our own little picnic in the tree.’
‘N..no way.’
‘Do you want your sandwiches?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then come and get them.’ To prove her point, Reagan placed the sandwiches down on one of the broader branches, then sat down beside them before picking the top one up and taking an almighty bite out of it; all the while staring straight back at scaredy cat Eddy. ‘Ummmm,’ she said with a full mouth. ‘This is yummy.’
‘W…what about Grandma?’
‘Take a risk for once Eddy. What’s she going to do? Ground you in your room?’
Eddy didn’t like this. No. Not one bit.
‘Please Reagan.’
Her only response was to pat the tree over on his side of the pile of sandwiches…of which now there were only three left. One, two, three.
Sliding his hand along the ledge, he rested his palm on his special branch and closed his eyes for a moment.
It’s okay Eddy. I won’t let you fall. And neither will she.
This is so crazy!
Taking a handful of quick breaths Eddy opened his eyes again and measured the challenge ahead of him. It wasn’t just the tree of course. Other than the odd doctors visit he couldn’t even remember, he had never been outside before. Simple as that. Outside was where mean boys that called him Pissy Pants lived. Outside was where there were schools that made Stupid Boys bleed. Outside was big and wide and open and, most of all, it was dangerous.
Outside is also where flowers grow, and people laugh, and birds fly. I will hold you Eddy. I will always hold you.
Taking one more gulp of oxygen Eddy did what, up until a few moments ago, was unthinkable. He lifted his left foot up on to the ledge, reached forward along his branch with his right hand and, before he could release that load of oxygen, he was out of his bedroom and amongst the labyrinth of wrinkled bark and waving leaves.
Looking down was a bit scary but not too bad. It helped that he’d looked down from his room pretty much every single day of his life, so he was used to it in a different sort of way. That didn’t stop him from holding on tight though. He held those branches like it was a thousand foot drop into a pit of alligators. Edging ever so slowly over to where Reagan and her sandwiches were waiting for him, he put everything out of his mind except the absolute security of his footholds and handholds. You couldn’t eat a sandwich with a broken arm or a smashed up head.
He finally got there though and when he did he sat himself down with a great sense of accomplishment and relief. The fact that he’d eventually have to climb back was a thought he tried to push out of his mind. First and foremost, it was sandwich time. He wasn’t used to just taking food, and despite his rumbling tummy he looked across to Reagan for permission.
‘Go for it. There’s two for you and one more for me.’
Grabbing the top one, he held it in both hands and fed as much in his mouth as he could without choking. And, oh, what an explosion of taste! So sweet and succulent, it made every taste bud in his mouth dance and sing.
‘What is this?’ he asked, but it came out more like ‘wa thith’ considering the truckload of sandwich he had in there.
‘It’s jam.’ Reagan was giving him one of her ‘weirdo’ looks. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t had jam before.’
‘Nope.’
‘Man, what is going on with you.’
‘Th…this is s..so nice!’ They were the only words Eddy was prepared to fit in between the first and second bites. Reagan just smiled and picked up her second sandwich. It was one of those satisfied smiles you get when you know you’ve done the right thing.
All four sandwiches were gone in the blink of an eye. Eddy had eaten two and a half of them thanks to Reagan offering him the other half of her second one. Now, with appetites settled, they both just sat there and watched the sun chase itself out of the day.
‘Th…thanks Reagan. They were yummy.’
‘No prob. It’s nice up here isn’t it?’
‘Yep.’ And for Eddy it was. It was beautiful. When the sun was this low it was hard to stare at, but at the same time, it was hard to look away from. With the houses across the road silhouetted against it like castle abutments you could almost imagine reaching out and touching it. But you didn’t have to. It was reaching out and touching them. Its golden light seemed to tingle gently against their skin and, for Eddy at least,
it played a contented melody in symphony with the energy from the tree.
For a while there didn’t need to be any words. Nature spoke more than enough for the both of them.
Just as the very tip of the great, glowing orb was dipping below the horizon, Eddy looked across at his tree bound companion. The orange fading to purple haze of sunset was still painted across her face and it only added to impression that this was a wonderful, wonderful dream.
‘What?’
‘N..n…nothin’’
‘We should do this again.’
‘Yep.’ Even the prospect of being caught jam handed by Grandma Daisy and climbing the gauntlet of this tree wasn’t enough to extinguish that idea. Seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days of the year would work just fine for Eddy.
‘I sure showed that boy the other day didn’t I?’
‘Yep. Di…did you get into t..t..trouble?’
‘A bit.’
‘Um, wh…what did you s…say to him wh…when he got up?’
Reagan smiled as she rummaged that memory out of her head.
‘I told him that my Dad has a gun in our house and that I know where he lives.’
‘You didn’t!’ Eddy didn’t know what opened wider, his mouth or his eyes.
Reagan let out a little giggle. ‘Well he ain’t coming back is he?’
‘N…no, I guess n…not.’ Eddy giggled too. Not too loud though. Then, in a slightly more serious tone…’Does y…your Dad have a g…gun?’
‘No you silly. But he doesn’t know that.’
‘Oh.’ Eddy was glad to hear that. ‘Wh…what does your D..dad do?’
‘He works in an office in the city. Something to do with big companies I think.’
‘He works a lot.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I see his c…car leave ear…early and c…come home late.’
‘Yeah,’ responded Reagan as she considered this. ‘He does work a lot doesn’t he.’
‘I think I’d better g…go in now.’ He didn’t really want to but Grandma Daisy wasn’t going to stay downstairs forever and besides, he had to say something to break Reagan’s onset of melancholy. ‘B…but we’ll d…do it again r…real soon?’
‘It’s a date.’
Eddy and Reagan both made it back to their respective rooms just fine. How Reagan slept, Eddy didn’t know, but he stayed wide awake most of the night and that was also ‘just fine’. He’d found that if he scurried down a little in his bed he could reach Mr Tree on the wall above him and the thought of his time on the tree with Reagan and the soft sensations of his branch blossoming through his body was a combination one wanted to be awake to experience. Life just didn’t get any better than this.
16. A DAY TO BLOSSOM
Eddy did eventually fall asleep of course. No nine year old boy can stay awake all night long, no matter how hard he fights it. And when he did shake the morning fuzzies off he discovered he had a surprise waiting for him.
He hadn’t let his branch go all night long, but his arm wasn’t sore in the slightest. And better than that, there, sitting amongst a patch of effervescent green leaves was a flower. A stunning pink blossom.
Eddy sat up and wiped his eyes. Yep, it was still there. Taking his finger, ever so gently, he traced across the delicate petals and marvelled at something so precious. He remembered the beautiful sunset from the night before, the wonderful company and the delicious jam sandwiches. All of these things, delivered to him thanks to Mr Tree.
‘Thank you Mr Tree. I think you are my friend too. F is for friend. F…R…I…E…N…D.’
He made certain he was up and ready before Grandma Daisy came in. He couldn’t get dressed of course because she hadn’t been up to lay his clothes out last night. So up and ready in pyjamas it was. Eddy also hoped she would be in a better mood today. It was asking a lot, he knew, but he desperately hoped she wouldn’t ruin what was turning into an awesome day.
By the time she thrust his bedroom door open, he was sitting at his desk with a learning book open (a math one to boot) and one eye on his new flowery guest. Grandma Daisy was going to spot it, no doubt about that. What he didn’t know was what her reaction would be.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
For what seemed like forever in Eddy’s mind, she just stood there staring at it and chewing against the inside of her cheek, the way she sometimes did when she was thinking real hard. Then, without saying a word, she stepped over to the side window and surveyed the rest of the tree. Eddy had already done that and knew exactly what she’d find. His was the only blossom there was. Of every other branch and every other twig on this tree, his was the only one sharing this little wonder of nature.
‘This all just happened since yesterday?’
‘Yes Gr…Grandma Daisy.’
She turned and surveyed him as hard as she’d done the tree and Eddy felt she could see right down to his bones.
‘This is getting beyond a joke.’ Reaching across his bed (which he had attempted to make this morning just to keep her happy) she plucked the blossom coldly from the branch like she was plucking the wings from a butterfly. Everything inside Eddy, his heart, his lungs, even his intestines, seemed to wrench and twist. His wonderful, beautiful blossom, gone just like that. He wanted to scream, he wanted to shout and, for the first time in his life, he wanted to get up and pound his fists against Grandma Daisy’s chest…but he couldn’t and he wouldn’t. If he did, that would be the end of Mr Tree altogether.
I’m so sorry Mr Tree. I’m so, so sorry.
‘I hope you’re not getting over attached to this tree Eddy. Of all people in this world, I would think you would understand that…with your damned mother and all.’ She paused for moment, waiting to see what reaction she’d get from the Stupid Boy. Eddy just sat there, stewing in the agony of his loss but determined not to fall into her trap. ‘Here’s your clothes.’ She tossed them onto the bed. ‘And remember, as soon as I get in touch with Beth Melling, this thing’s coming down.’
One slammed door…two creaky steps.
17. BANG!
The very next morning, Monday morning, Eddy and Reagan were back in the same old routine. She was procrastinating going downstairs and Eddy was doing his very best to help her out on that front.
She was especially late this morning but she said that was okay. Her Daddy was going away on a big business trip and she was allowed to leave for school late so she could kiss him goodbye. Mummy had said so.
‘Wh…where’s he going?’
‘To China. On a really big plane that takes hundreds of people.’
‘China.’ Eddy had never heard of a place called China before but it sounded really good to say it.
‘Yep. And he says he gets a special seat. His seat can turn into a bed.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yep.’
After a brief silence (and there were no awkward silences between Eddy and Reagan anymore) Eddy said what was on his mind.
‘Th…there was a fl…flower in my room y…yesterday.’
‘Cool, can I see it?’
‘Grandma D..daisy came and t..took it away.’
‘Oh,….what sort of flower was it?’
‘It was p…pink. It was growing on m…my tree.’
‘The one growing in your room?’
‘Yep. Grandma Daisy, sh..she picked it.’
‘Well then, she must’ve thought it was real pretty. She’s probably got it in a vase downstairs.’
Eddy didn’t really think so. Monday was also rubbish collection day and he had good reason to believe his blossom would be making that particular trip today. No fancy airplane ride to China for his flower.
‘So, do you want to do Jam Sandwiches again soon?’
‘Yep.’ Eddy felt the first touch of warmth inside since Grandma Daisy’s decapitation of Mr Tree yesterday. Reagan always knew just what to say to make him feel better.
And she was just about to say something else to
o when her attention was grabbed by something beyond Eddy’s view.
‘Go up to your front window…quick!’
‘Wh..why?’
‘Just do it…trust me.’
Eddy trusted Reagan more than anyone else in the whole wide world, so he did exactly as he was told. Not that he particularly appreciated what he saw when he got there. It was Bert…
Nathan…
…and he was on his own this time. No Ernie…
Dion…
…and no hangers on either. Bert must’ve caught the movement out of his eye (the one that wasn’t still heavily bruised from his last encounter in this part of the street) because he looked up just as Eddy settled in against the window. And if looks of malice came at ten cents a shot, Eddy became an instant millionaire. For a second Eddy thought that was all it was going to come to. Just a nasty stare, no ‘Pissy Pants’, no ‘Kissy, Pissy Girlfriend’ jokes either. But in the end, it was all a little too much to ask for. As Bert came right beneath Eddy’s front window he turned his head up and mouthed a word that, to Eddy at least, made no sense. Who would say ‘truck you’? Then he put out his right hand and stuck his middle finger out, all the while keeping a very close eye on Reagan’s front door step.
And then…..
‘BANG!!!’
Eddy fair jumped out of his skin but that was nothing compared to what Bert did. He hit the ground like his legs had fallen off.
‘BANG!!!’ ‘BANG!!!’
Now Bert was crawling like a madman along the ground until he disappeared around the back of a parked car. Next thing, his head poked around behind the rear of the car and then he was off like a shot, sprinting down the street as if a T-Rex was right on his tail. Arms all waving and legs struggling to keep up.