by Greg Fowler
And she is still green…she is most definitely still green.
‘Reagan. Are you there?’
The blind yanked down and then shot all the way up to reveal the girl in question.
‘What can I do for you mister?’
More recently Eddy had come to see her as ‘in between’. If pressed to explain what that meant, he would’ve said that she was in between being that girl who had arrived next door those three and a bit years ago and the beautiful woman she was going to be.
‘I n…need you to do me a sad favour.’
‘A what?’
‘A s..sad favour.’
‘What’s a sad favour?’
‘M…mrs Elsdon’s dog has died.’
‘Oh, gees.’ Reagan didn’t question Eddy’s statement at all. She’d learned not to bother because if Eddy said it was so, then it was so. ‘Poor lady.’
‘Yeah…poor lady,’ mirrored Eddy. ‘S…so I made her this card.’ He held it up so Reagan could see. ‘I um, c..can you deliver it for me?’
‘That’s real nice Eddy. Of course I’ll deliver it. She’s at number fifteen isn’t she?’
‘Yep. Number fifteen.’
Reagan climbed out of her window as nimbly as she’d done that first time in the summer sunset. This time though the sun had well and truly departed and there was the nip of a frost in the air. Despite that, she was across and taking the homemade card out of his hand in the twinkle of her eye. Then, once back in the comfort of her bedroom she snuck a peek at Eddy’s handy work. Eddy wasn’t quite sure whether he liked that. Reagan was a smart girl and from what he could tell, she was doing better than average at school. She could read and write without blinking an eye and while he had certainly improved from his Stupid Boy days, he still had to concentrate like mad with every word he put on a page. Now she was seeing every bit of that.
‘This is cool Eddy. You can really tell this picture is Mrs Eldson’s dog.’ Reagan looked up and smiled at him. ‘She’s gonna like this.’
‘Th…thanks Reagan.’
‘Don’t thank me silly. You made it.’
‘Thanks for d…delivering it for me.’
‘Eddy.’ Reagan’s voice took on an earnest tone that was foreign to Eddy’s ears. ‘You’re a special person, you know that.’
‘Yeah, wheel, wheel sthpethal.’ Eddy smirked through his purposeful lisp, knowing full well it would diffuse her trip down serious street.
‘You freak.’ Reagan laughed and Eddy breathed in her joy.
22. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
‘Eddy, you’ve got a visitor.’ The words flew in at the same time as his bedroom door.
But I don’t even have my good clothes on.
‘It’s Mrs Elsdon and she insisted on coming up here to see you.’ Grandma Daisy wasn’t happy. Not by a long shot. She threw one of her ‘I’ll see you later’ stares at him before moving aside to reveal the old lady who had become so familiar to him with her daily walk abouts. And, as with her wanderings around the street, she was leaning on her walking stick in such a heavy way that if one day it snapped she’d be bound to do herself a nasty injury. She just had that look of paper thin fragility about her.
‘Hello Eddy.’ She looked about his room with wide eyed astonishment. ‘My, what a bedroom and a half you have here. Just look at that tree! That’s incredible.’
‘Yes, well, enough said about that the better,’ chimed in Grandma Daisy.
Eddy instantly liked this old lady. How could you not like somebody with eyes that smiled like that. She was sad and she’d been crying, that was easy to see, but through the passage of emotion Eddy spied a genuine sense of gratitude.
‘H…hello Mrs Elsdon.’
‘I just wanted to come over and say a big thank you for your lovely, lovely card.’
‘That’s alright M…Mrs Elsdon.’
‘What card’s that Eddy?’ Grandma Daisy’s questions were never quite as simple as they sounded.
‘Eddy here made me a wonderful sympathy card for poor Rosco dying.’ Mrs Elsdon strained into her handbag and pulled out a piece of folded paper which Eddy recognised as his project from a couple of days ago. Grandma Daisy politely took it out of her hand, giving it the quick once over, she handed it back with a subtle but meaningful shake of her head.
‘I’m very sorry to hear about Rosco, Mrs Elsdon. He was such a lovely dog.’ Grandma Daisy placed a gentle hand on Mrs Elsdon’s shoulder. ‘He didn’t suffer I hope?’
‘No, no.’ The old lady shook her head. ‘He went the same way we’d all like to go. In his sleep.’
‘How’d you find out about it Eddy, because this is the first I’ve heard about it?’ This was the enquiry Eddy had been expecting from the moment Mrs Elsdon walked into the room, but when Grandma Daisy pulled it out of her bag of tricks he still couldn’t help but flinch.
‘Um, I….um, it m…might have b…been Reagan….but I d…don’t remember.’
‘Yes, I didn’t think you would.’
‘That’s the thing that I don’t understand how you knew.’ Mrs Elsdon spoke these words as she regarded the card in her hand. ‘I mean, Rosco had only just died and I hadn’t even been out of the house let alone had a chance to tell anyone.’ The gentle old lady’s brow furrowed. ‘At least I don’t think I did.’
‘I guess you must have, Mrs Elsdon.’ Grandma Daisy reached over and tapped the card in Mrs Elsdon’s arthritic hands. She did it in a matronly way that Eddy didn’t like whatsoever. She did it in the same way the headmistress of a certain boarding school would point out the obvious to one of her more stupid students.
‘Yes, it would seem so, doesn’t it.’
‘And Eddy is such a nosy boy.’
‘No, no, not at all Daisy.’ Mrs Elsdon gave Eddy another one of her happy/sad smiles. ‘It was just what the doctor ordered.’ With a couple of scrapes of the walking stick across the carpet, old Mrs Elsdon made her way over to where Eddy now stood. ‘Thank you Eddy. I can see this took a lot of work and I really, really appreciate it. When Ben, my husband, died, almost ten years ago now, I got more sympathy cards than I could count. But none of them are as special as this one Eddy. And do you know why?’
Eddy shook his head…and that was his honest to goodness answer.
‘I didn’t want those cards. Why would I want a whole bunch of messages telling me what I already knew? My husband, the only man I ever, truly loved and the man I’d dedicated my entire life to, was dead and gone. I hated them and as soon as the wake was over I shoved them in a box somewhere so I didn’t have to see them one second longer.’ Poor Mrs Elsdon paused to take a deep breath… and, maybe, to blink a tear away. ‘But you know what? After a while I understood what they were really about. They weren’t all doom and gloom. They were reminders though. Not reminders about the death of my husband. They were reminders about how many other people out there also cared for Ben and myself. How many people were still out there for me, and that they were thinking of me. That they were only a phone call away in my time of need. In any time of need.’ Mrs Elsdon couldn’t blink the next tear away. ‘It’s things like that that got me through. I still have rough days without Ben…but I can still smile.’ She renewed her smile to prove her point. ‘Rosco’s not Ben, but I loved him too. He was all I had and he was one of the last living connections I had with Ben. We got Rosco together. Just two years before…….’ Pulling a handkerchief from her pocket, Mrs Elsdon dabbed under each eye. ‘Any way. Your’s is the only card I got about Rosco. It’s the only card I’m likely to get as well. Life’s moved on for me Eddy, whether I like it or not. Friends and family have moved away, or they’re too busy, or they’ve gone to be with Ben, but your card…it lets me know that people still care. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. So thank you.’
‘I’m s…sorry it made you c…cry Mrs Elsdon.’
‘Eddy,’ said Mrs Elsdon beneath a wrinkled smile, ‘sometimes we all need to cry.’
‘Are y..you still going to
w..walk every d..day?’
‘I hadn’t really thought about that. But you know what, I think I will. I think the fresh air will do me good.’
‘Th…that’s good Mrs Eldson. I’d l..like that.’
After saying her kind farewells, Grandma Daisy escorted Mrs Elsdon downstairs and out the front door. It wasn’t the end of it though. Eddy could tell that by the way Grandma Daisy had left his bedroom door open. She meant to come back up and close it…and you could bet your dinner that she wouldn’t leave it at that.
23. BAD NEWS
Eddy couldn’t make out the words but it was obvious they weren’t good ones by the tone of the voices over at Reagan’s house. Something way out of the ordinary was going on and it gave Eddy a queasy stomach.
When Reagan finally skulked into her bedroom she had an expression on her face that Eddy didn’t care for in the slightest. Usually she’d come right on up to her window and give Eddy a rundown of her day but today all she could muster was a weak smile and a face plant into her bed.
‘Wh…what’s wrong?’
Reagan rolled over and lay flat on her back.
‘Dad’s lost his job.’ She said it indifferently as she stared at the ceiling but Eddy could tell she was giving this a lot of thought.
‘How?’
‘I dunno exactly. Mum and Dad are arguing about it now. Something about Dad’s work going overseas.’
‘Oh.’
Next came the first awkward silence Eddy and Reagan had had in years. Reagan was seriously stewing and Eddy didn’t quite know what to do about it. He just sat there at the window and she just lay there, staring into the wild unknown.
Finally she sat up and looked at him.
‘Mum says that maybe we have to sell the house and move away somewhere.’
‘Oh.’ Eddy was gobsmacked. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t allowed to happen. They couldn’t take Reagan away. Not his Reagan. It wasn’t fair.
Unconsciously he placed a hand on the broad bough of Mr Tree. He needed the comfort right now.
‘It’s not fair Eddy. I don’t want to leave here. I’m happy.’
‘S…so am I.’
More muffled voices echoed through the floor below as if to mock them and Eddy and Reagan exchanged desperate glances. The owners of those ranting voices held the fate of their friendship in their hands.
‘H…how was school today?’
‘It doesn’t matter anymore if it’s not gonna be my school for long.’ Eddy thought she was even prettier when she pouted like that. She wasn’t in much of a mood for talking though, so he left it at that. He didn’t leave his window however. Reagan needed him more now than ever and he meant to be there the second she called out to him.
As it was, a little while later Mrs Crowe quietly entered the room and, finding Reagan still awake on her bed, she came over and sat down next to her sullen daughter.
‘It’s alright sweetie.’ Eddy watched as Mrs Crowe gently ran her hands through Reagan’s long, black hair. ‘You’ll see.’
‘How can it be okay?’ replied Reagan as her Mum looked over and acknowledged Eddy with a faltering smile.
‘It just will. Somehow we’ll make things work.’
‘But I don’t want to leave here. It’s nice here.’
‘It is n..nice here M..mrs Crowe.’
‘I know it is Eddy and you’re a very good friend for Reagan aren’t you?’
‘Y..yes. And Reagan’s a g…good friend f..for me too.’
Mrs Crowe sighed and looked up at something that wasn’t there.
Please Mr Tree. Can you help us? I really, really need your help.
Soon enough Mrs Crowe stood back up and if Eddy caught it right, he sensed something more resolute about her. Reaching down and patting Reagan on the shoulder she said something that infused Eddy with hope. Hope that he desperately prayed wasn’t misplaced.
‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’ she said.
Soon after flashing Eddy with another smile and a wave there were more voices downstairs. Just as before, there was no way Eddy could make out what they were saying but these voices were definitely different. These weren’t blame voices. These were ideas voices.
Reagan didn’t say much for herself the rest of that evening… but Eddy was ready if she did. He was always ready for Reagan.
24. HOW’S IT GOING
‘Hi Eddy, how’s that amazing tree of yours?’
‘It’s j..just fine Mrs Elsdon.’
Eddy was sitting up at the front window, where he’d seen Mrs Elsdon click, clacking along on her walking stick all the way from her front doorstep. Now she was standing right below him and looking up at his welcoming face.
‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it.’
‘It’s m…my special tree.’
‘You’ve got that right.’
‘Are y…you going to buy a n…new dog Mrs Elsdon?’
‘No Eddy, I don’t think so. I’m not getting any younger and it wouldn’t be fair on the dog if I left it behind with no one to look after it.’
‘Oh.’ Eddy fiddled with his fingers a bit. He had something to say but didn’t know whether or how he should say it. Maybe today wasn’t the right day. ‘Rusco sure w…was a nice dog.’
‘He was a lovely dog Eddy.’ Mrs Elsdon beamed at the hidden memories. ‘He used to chew the sole out of every slipper I owned though. I must’ve bought a new pair every month.’
Now it was Eddy’s turn to smile.
‘D..do you still have my c…card?’
‘I most certainly do. That’s not going anywhere. It was truly a wonderful card.’
‘Do you st…still have the other cards?’
‘Pardon?’
‘The c…cards for your h..husband.’
‘Hmmm…you know, it’s funny you mention that.’ Mrs Elsdon swapped hands on the cane, settling in for what she had to say. ‘After our little chat the other day I went and got them out of the wardrobe. I haven’t looked at them for ages. It just seems…oh, I don’t know…like a different lifetime ago.’
‘What w…was Mr Elsdon like, Mrs Elsdon?’
‘That’s an awfully big question Eddy.’ She glanced down at the footpath for a moment and then peered back up at Eddy with a grin. ‘But a good one.’ Then, considering the best way to begin, she continued. ‘He was such a handsome man. Even when he got older. Some men just get more distinguished as they age and Ben was one of them. I always thought I was lucky to get him. Back in my day Eddy, he was regarded as a ‘good catch’.’
‘But love’s much more than about looks…as I’m sure you’ll learn for yourself one day. He made me happy…and anyone who asks for more than that in life is greedy as far as I’m concerned. Yes…he made me happy.’
‘We weren’t rich. We were never going to be.’ Mrs Elsdon shrugged her thin shoulders and swapped her hands back over on the walking stick. ‘But he made me feel like I never missed out on a thing. Not a single thing. You see Eddy, the funny thing about money is I’d give a million dollars for just one more hug. Just to feel his arms around me one more time. That was the sort of man he was.’
Eddy watched on as the beautiful old lady below him twisted the wedding ring on her finger without even knowing she was doing it.
‘I’m probably boring you to death up there,’ she said, shifting away from her melancholy. ‘You’ve got much more interesting things to think about than an old lady and her dearly departed.’
‘I…um…no.’
‘You’re a good boy and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Especially that Grandmother of yours.’ One more swap of hands on that ancient walking stick of hers. ‘Now I have to get moving before my hip seizes for good but it’s been good chatting to you Eddy.’ Yes,’ she said, nodding more to herself than to him, ‘yes, it has been.’
Mrs Elsdon was heading back the way she’d come when Eddy figured it was now or never.
‘Mrs Elsdon?’
‘Yes Eddy?’ S
he turned and looked back up at him.
‘Maybe you should l…look under the g…green stone.’
The change in Mrs Elsdon’s expression was instantaneous. It went from neutral to fifth gear and she regarded him with deep fathoms of caution.
‘How do you know about…you can’t possibly know about the green stone.’
‘I’m s..sorry Mrs Elsdon. I can be s…silly sometimes.’ With that Eddy slipped out of her sight. She wasn’t out of his though and he watched her as she tried to shake some sense into what had just happened. Failing miserably, she then ambled quietly away from the scene of sudden questions and confusion. A couple of times she looked back but, finding nothing resembling an answer there, she carried on, eventually disappearing into her front door.
You’ve gone and done it now Eddy.
25. PROBLEM SOLVED
‘Eddy, Eddy…you there?’
‘Wh…where else would I be?’
Reagan poked her tongue at him, so Eddy repaid her in kind.
‘Guess what?’
‘Y…you’ve got r…rabies.’
‘I honestly don’t know about you sometimes. No, seriously, guess what?’
‘Okay…what?’
‘It looks like we’re not going to move.’
‘You serious?’
‘Sure am. Jam sandwiches?’
‘S..sounds good t..to me.’
By the time Reagan was back with the sandwiches, Eddy was plonked on his spot of the tree. This time it was his turn to pat the branch in a hurry up sort of way. Jam sandwiches and good news! What a day.
Scurrying across beside him, Regan handed him his two sandwiches before she eased onto her spot.
‘Thanks.’
‘I reckon you owe me about a thousand sandwiches by now.’
‘P..put it on my tab.’ Eddy’s response had to be short because a huge jam sandwich filled the rest. Reagan followed suit and for a while at least they savoured their little rendezvous knowing too well that the best was yet to come.