The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden

by Karina Yan Glaser

  Oliver felt buoyed by the new sense of purpose. They were going to make the best garden in Harlem, and everyone was going to love it! He was so wrapped up in the dream of garden grandeur that he forgot to look before reaching for the lock.

  “Hey!”

  The Vanderbeekers spun around to see Herman Huxley running across the street, his bike next to him. Franz pulled on the leash to say hi.

  “What are you doing here?” Oliver said.

  “I wanted to give this to Hyacinth,” Herman said, patting Franz on the head. He held up a bag.

  “Thanks, Herman!” Hyacinth said, reaching for the bag.

  Oliver blocked Hyacinth from grabbing it. “You don’t know what’s in there.”

  “It’s yarn,” Herman told them.

  “Thank you so much!” Hyacinth said from behind Oliver.

  “Wait. How do you know Hyacinth loves yarn?” Oliver asked, suspicious.

  Hyacinth stepped past Oliver and took the bag. She opened it, and inside were the most beautiful, most vibrant yarns she had ever seen. They were like those exotic colors she found in the box of 120 Crayola crayons Mama and Papa had given her for her birthday: Sunset Orange, Atomic Tangerine, Sunglow, Mountain Meadow, Cornflower, Wild Blue Yonder, Purple Mountains’ Majesty, Razzle Dazzle Rose, and Mauvelous.

  “We knit together,” Hyacinth told Oliver. “Well, we knit together on Thursday. He’s really good. Oh, Herman, thank you for this! There are so many colors! Are you sure you don’t need them?”

  “Wait,” Oliver said again. “You guys are friends?”

  Jessie’s and Laney’s heads whipped back and forth as the two tried to keep up with the conversation.

  Hyacinth looked at Herman. Herman looked at Hyacinth.

  “Yup,” Hyacinth said.

  Herman looked back at Oliver, a smile creeping onto his face. “Yup.”

  “Well, it was good seeing you,” Oliver said to Herman. He looked at his wrist as if he were checking the time, but he wasn’t wearing his watch. “We’ve got to go.”

  “But what about—” Hyacinth began.

  “I thought we were going to—” Laney started.

  Oliver didn’t let them finish. “Remember, we were going to help Ms. Sandra at the church?”

  Herman’s smile disappeared. “Oh, okay.”

  “Thanks for the yarn, Herman!” Hyacinth called as Oliver dragged her and Laney by the hand to the church.

  When Herman had biked out of sight, Oliver stopped and let go of his sisters’ hands. “Oh good, he’s gone.” He spun on his heel and headed back to the garden.

  “You lied to him!” Hyacinth said, running up next to Oliver. “He could have helped with the garden.”

  “That guy?” Oliver said. “Herman knocked me over with his bike the other day!”

  “He didn’t mean to!” Hyacinth said. “Anyways, I like him.”

  Oliver located the lock and spun the combination. “I can’t believe you’re defending him. You’re not in his class. You don’t know what he’s really like. He talks about his money all the time. He’s a showoff.” He pushed the gate open.

  “He’s nice to me,” Hyacinth said, carefully setting her new stash of yarn on a soil bag. “And the next time we see him, we should invite him to help with the garden.”

  “I doubt he’d want to. He’s the kind of guy who won’t want to get his hands dirty.” Oliver waited for her to agree with him. But Hyacinth puffed out her cheeks, walked to the other side of the lot, and started yanking weeds with a vengeance.

  * * *

  Jessie had given Laney a very important job: moving bricks from the back corner of the lot to the front. The bricks were heavy, but Laney had big muscles, so it wasn’t a problem for her. She thought about how the bricks could be made into a path, just like in The Wizard of Oz. She wondered if the path would lead to a wizard’s palace, where he could grant any wish she wanted.

  She picked up a brick, thinking what she would wish for. A flying car, so they could go to that orchestra camp and bring Isa back home? Another bunny, so Paganini would have a friend? A counterspell, so Mama would bake double-chocolate pecan cookies again? Laney carried the brick slowly to the front of the lot, left it in the big pile, and went back to get another one. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize she was almost done. There was only one brick left.

  She picked it up. If I think of a wish before I drop this brick off, my wish will come true, Laney told herself. She got to the front of the lot and squeezed her eyes shut. I wish Mr. Jeet would get healthy soon so he could come here and sit in the garden with me, she wished with all her heart. Then she put the brick down by the fence where the soil was piled up. Hyacinth and Franz came over, and Hyacinth climbed up on the mountain of soil bags and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” Laney asked. Now that she was done with the bricks, she could go back to digging for rocks.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Hyacinth said, taking out her knitting. Franz collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

  “Okay,” Laney said. “Want to help me look for a blue rock?” She used her trowel to dig. She had always wanted a blue rock.

  “I don’t think there are any blue rocks here,” Hyacinth said, winding her yarn around her fingers.

  “I bet there are,” Laney said. Her trowel hit something hard, and she brushed away the dirt. It wasn’t a rock, but as she dug it out, the leaves overhead rustled as if they were saying, Hurry, Laney! There’s treasure in there, Laney! It took some work, but finally she pulled out a small wooden box. “Look!” she called to Hyacinth.

  Her sister joined her. Laney held up the box and brushed away the dirt. There was a little metal latch, and she tried to pry it open.

  “What are you looking at?” Oliver and Jessie asked, walking over to them. They had dirt streaks across their arms and faces.

  “Buried treasure!” Laney exclaimed. “But it won’t open.”

  Jessie put her hand out. “Let me try.”

  Laney passed it over, and Jessie pried the metal piece with her fingernail. The hinge rotated and released.

  “Let me open it!” Laney said, grabbing for the box.

  “Be careful,” Hyacinth warned. “It might be dangerous.”

  Laney lifted the lid and found a disintegrating folded piece of paper. And inside the lid, etched into the wood, was “Luciana.”

  “Could that be—” began Oliver.

  “No, it’s impossible,” Jessie interrupted him.

  “But it might have been . . .” Hyacinth started.

  They stared at the box.

  “It looks like it was buried a long time ago,” Jessie said, examining it.

  “Mr. Beiderman told me and Hyacinth that she liked to hide and bury things,” Laney said.

  “Wait, let me think,” Jessie said. She stared at the sky, calculating something in her head. “This used to be a preschool, and Luciana would have been the right age to go to school here before it closed down,” Jessie noted. “But that doesn’t mean this box was hers.”

  “Mr. Beiderman always has a funny reaction when we talk about the church,” Oliver said. “Remember when I mentioned it in the basement the other day and he left so fast?”

  “I’m going to give it to him,” Laney announced.

  “No!” Jessie, Oliver, and Hyacinth said.

  “What if it’s not his Luciana?” Jessie said.

  “And what if it is?” Oliver added. “That might be worse.”

  “It would give him sad memories,” Jessie finished.

  For a moment, the only sound was the wind tossing the Silver Queen’s leaves. Did Luciana collect the leaves and make crowns for her head? Did the Silver Queen remember Luciana? Hyacinth spent a moment observing the way the leaves swayed as if whispering an ancient secret.

  “I think this is Mr. Beiderman’s Luciana,” Hyacinth finally said, breaking the silence. “And look.” She reached into the box and gently removed the crumbling brown piece of paper. “These are seeds. Sh
e wants this garden as much as we do.”

  Nineteen

  That afternoon when the kids went home for lunch, they found Papa lying on the couch reading a book about a computer genius, resting his still-strained back. They scarfed down their lunch, eager to return to the garden, knowing that Orlando, Angie, and Benjamin would be waiting for them at the gate to help spread the soil.

  “Where are you off to now?” Papa asked as he watched them put on their shoes, laying his book on his chest.

  “Oh, the playground,” Jessie said vaguely.

  “Again? If you want, you can stick around here and we can play board games,” he said, his eyes hopeful.

  The Vanderbeeker kids exchanged glances.

  “We, uh, promised some kids we’d play basketball with them,” Oliver said. “I need to keep up for next season.”

  Papa’s face fell. “Okay. Have fun.” He sighed and picked up his book.

  “I love you, Papa,” Laney said, giving him a kiss.

  “If your mom were here, she’d say, ‘Be careful!’”

  “We’re always careful,” Oliver said.

  * * *

  When they arrived at the garden, Oliver let them in, and the sounds of squeaky bus brakes and wailing ambulance sirens were instantly muffled by the walls covered with ivy. A chorus of birdsong welcomed the kids, the tree leaves rustled hello, and two squirrels did a spiral race up the Silver Queen and chattered at the Vanderbeekers from a high branch.

  Laney and Oliver beelined for the bags of soil and climbed to the top.

  “Be careful!” Jessie said. Laney waved at her.

  They slid down the bags, Oliver tumbling dramatically off the pile and Laney narrowly avoiding getting her brand-new front teeth knocked out as Jessie stepped in and caught her before she face-planted on the ground.

  A slight rattle of the garden gate interrupted them. Oliver ran over and loud-whispered, “What’s the secret password?”

  “You didn’t give us one, goofball.” It was Angie’s voice, so Oliver opened the gate.

  “Whoa,” Angie said, stepping inside with Orlando and Benjamin behind her. “You guys did a lot. It looks really . . . empty in here.”

  “Is this the soil you want us to help move?” Orlando asked him.

  Benjamin rolled his head from side to side and shook out his arms. “We carry heavy things,” he said in his best Neanderthal impression.

  Orlando side-eyed him, then looked at the Vanderbeekers. “What’s the plan?”

  Jessie, Oliver, Orlando, and Benjamin got themselves organized in a human chain. The first person—Orlando—would pick up a bag of soil and hand it to Jessie, who would hand it off to Benjamin, who would hand it to Oliver. After passing it, Orlando would run past everyone to join the line after Oliver, and the others would run to the front of the line after they passed it on, so the soil would continue moving across the lot until it traveled to the opposite end. Hyacinth was in charge of cutting open the bag with the craft scissors she kept in her knitting pouch. Then she and Laney would drag the soil around, distributing it over the lot.

  The soil mountain got smaller and smaller, until there were only six bags left. They used three of those to fill the toilet and bathtub with soil, because why not? They saved the last few bags to put in and around the hole they dug for Tilia next to the Silver Queen. Orlando carefully lifted Tilia out of her pot and set her in her new home, and they packed the good soil around her root ball.

  Hyacinth and Laney cheered, and then everyone collapsed on the ground, their arms like limp noodles.

  They stared up at the rectangle of blue sky and breathed in the fresh soil smell. Hyacinth couldn’t believe she’d once thought this place was haunted. It was definitely alive, but in a good, cheerful way, with birds fluttering and chirping, squirrels scurrying and chattering. The Silver Queen was the guardian of the garden, standing proud and waving hello whenever the kids entered through the gate.

  Hyacinth looked up and up and up into the sky and wondered how far she was looking. Was it twenty miles? Less than that? More? The soil was cool against her back, and she lost herself in the pretty blue and the sounds of birds singing and leaves whispering in the breeze. The garden was alive all around them, Hyacinth thought, and soon Luciana’s seeds would be part of it.

  Off to the side, Oliver cracked a joke and the air filled with laughter. Hyacinth breathed in the happiness, her heart filling with the sounds of a hundred trumpets, a hundred celebratory horns.

  * * *

  Jessie looked out at the transformed land, then realized that there was a lot of space to fill. How were they going to make this into a garden in just two weeks? Where would they find the money?

  As her worries grew, Orlando came up and lightly punched her shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “This looks awesome.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Jessie said. Everyone gathered around. “Now that the soil is ready, what are we going to do about getting plants and flowers?”

  “My dad keeps buying plants and then not taking care of them,” Angie said. “I’ve had to take over all the watering and pruning. I’ll ask if I can bring some of them here.”

  “Can indoor plants survive outdoors?” asked Hyacinth.

  “It depends,” Orlando said.

  Jessie tapped her finger on her temple, thinking. “Would it be weird to have a collection of abandoned houseplants? That wouldn’t really fit in with the . . . ah, theme of the garden.”

  “What theme?” Oliver said to Jessie. “A garden is a garden. Plants go in a garden. Who cares what they are?”

  “Mr. Jeet will care,” Hyacinth said. “And Miss Josie. You know how careful she is about her plants. Some need light; others don’t. Some she waters every day; some only once a week.”

  “This is getting so complicated,” Oliver said, rubbing his eyes.

  Jessie sighed. “I guess we don’t really have a choice. What we get is what we get, right? We can’t be choosy; it’s not like we have unlimited money to buy all the plants at Hiba’s store and make this place look like the New York Botanical Garden.”

  “We have Luciana’s seeds,” Laney chimed in. “There are lots of ’em.”

  “Hey, y’all, I know where we could get great plants,” Orlando said, breaking the silence.

  The Vanderbeekers looked back at him and realized at once what he was talking about. Of course!

  Jessie looked up at the darkening sky. “That will be a perfect project for tomorrow,” she said. She headed to the gate, opening it an inch to check that it was safe to leave without being detected, then opened it wide to let everyone out. Oliver locked the gate behind them.

  The Vanderbeekers and Angie were saying goodbye to Benjamin and Orlando when Mr. Smiley came around the corner holding a pizza box.

  “I’ve got dinner, Angie,” he called.

  “Pizza!” Angie cried.

  Mr. Smiley smiled at everyone; then his eyes drifted to the overflowing trash can by the curb. He pointed to the labels on the empty bags of soil. “That’s the same type of soil that’s in our courtyard,” he observed.

  There was silence; then Angie spoke up.

  “Um, Dad? That is the soil that was in our courtyard.”

  The look on Mr. Smiley’s face told everyone that they were in big, big trouble.

  * * *

  The Vanderbeeker kids were huddled in Jessie and Isa’s bedroom, trying to hear what Mr. Smiley was saying to Mama and Papa.

  “There’s no yelling. That’s a good sign,” Oliver observed.

  No one answered him. Finally, they heard Mama call them downstairs. A very annoyed-looking Mr. Smiley was standing by the front door.

  “We can explain,” Oliver began, thinking it would be best to start talking first.

  Mama’s eyebrows arched. “You can explain why you stole eighty-four bags of soil from Mr. Smiley?”

  Oliver gulped. “‘Stole’ is such a strong word.”

  “Did you ask for his permission?” Papa asked.
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  Jessie, Oliver, and Hyacinth didn’t respond, so Laney said, “Nope!”

  “Did you pay him for the soil?” Mama asked as she crossed her arms.

  “Nope!” Laney answered again. “Well, I don’t think we did.” She looked at her siblings. “Did we?”

  Oliver sighed. “No, we did not. Okay, I see what you’re getting at.”

  “Unfortunately, you cannot return the soil to him,” Papa said. “Angie said you put all that soil in the park.”

  Oliver swallowed. The soil wasn’t technically in a park, but he wasn’t about to rat Angie out.

  “It was nice of you to think about making the park beautiful, but the Parks Department should be taking care of that. Thankfully, Mr. Smiley has thought up a very generous arrangement for you,” Papa continued. “He’s letting Angie work off the cost of the soil, and he thought he would let you do that too.”

  “Really?” the kids asked.

  “You will sort all his building’s recycling for the rest of the summer,” Papa informed them.

  The rest of the summer? Oliver thought. Isn’t that a bit harsh?

  “I think Mr. Smiley is being very generous,” Mama continued.

  “There’s backlog in the basement, and it needs to be sorted by Thursday before the Department of Sanitation picks it up,” Mr. Smiley said.

  The Vanderbeeker kids nodded bravely.

  Oliver cleared his throat and tried to flash his most charming smile. “Sounds great, Mr. Smiley. And we’re really sorry about taking all your soil.”

  “Angie will meet you at eight tomorrow morning,” Mr. Smiley said.

  He did not smile back.

  Twenty

  Angie was waiting for the Vanderbeekers in front of her building the next morning when they arrived for recycling duty.

  “I’m sorry I got you guys in trouble,” Angie said. “I told Dad it was all my fault, but he wouldn’t listen to me. You guys can be off the hook if you want.”