Sally thought about Flavia. She was so hoping that she would see her again. She thought about what Mr. Ed had said. She completely forgot that she needed to get that daisy so Flavia could help her pray. Oh fiddlesticks!
Suddenly, Sally almost flew out of her seat and she knew that Mrs. Lacey had hit that big bump. She should have known it was coming as it happened every day. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at school and piled out of the bus. She was glad that tomorrow was going to be the last day of school. And then she could have a fun filled summer. She had recently picked out her new bathing suit. It was stars and stripes and she was going to look really cute on Fourth of July.
She was walking along the hallway towards class when suddenly someone from behind put their hands on her back and shoved her hard enough to make her fall. At first she was stunned and then her crying began. Upon turning around to see the culprit, she realized it was Tristan Hines, the bully who was one year older.
He looked down at her and said, "I'm going to come dig up your money tree and plant it in my yard so I can have all the dough instead of you guys!"
"No. You're not. You don't even know where we planted it." She knew that for a fact but she was still afraid of him coming and digging up her precious money tree. With hidden fear in her eyes, she looked beyond him hoping for some help.
"Tristan, I saw you push her down. I think you owe her an apology and then you need to go talk to the principal in his office." said Mrs. MacKennet. She had wavy red hair and was a little plump. She was wearing a peach blouse with pretty white pearls and her skirt was black. She had the room next to Sally's teacher.
Tristan gave her a scowl for a second and ran his fingers through his wicked orange hair and then put his hands down to his side. "Sorry," he said with a little sarcasm.
"Nicer apology, Tristan."
"Sorry, Sally," he said with a smile this time and he offered a hand to help her up.
"Much better, now down to the principal's office with you." she said in a stern voice.
He reluctantly turned and headed in that direction.
"He said he was going to dig up my money tree." Sally said to Mrs. MacKennet.
"Sally, he's all talk. He wouldn't actually do that. He just wanted to get a reaction from you. Just ignore him. So you have planted a money tree? How interesting." Mrs. MacKennet smiled at her.
"Yes, with coins from all my friends. We planted the coins near Mamma's tiger lilies yesterday."
"It sounds lovely. Make sure you feed it a glass of water from your kitchen. You can add a spoonful of sugar to make it really sweet. Every tree loves a little bit of sweetness. You figure that we love chocolate, right? Well, plants love a little sugar and a whole lot of compost. Ask your mom to teach you about composting. It helps your garden grow and it's a great way to recycle your foods. Things like eggshells, coffee grounds, leftover vegetables, etc.. In fact, I think your teacher plans to talk to you about all that fun stuff pretty soon. Well, you better get into your classroom before she marks you tardy. I think Mrs. Bagley has something special planned for today."
Sally entered the classroom and sat down in her seat. Ronny leaned over and asked, "Is it growing yet?"
"No. Mamma said it takes some time."
"Do you think we'll have to wait all summer?"
"I hope not." Sally knew that she wouldn't be able to wait that long. She just didn't have enough patience in her. Her Mamma was always reciting that famous saying, Patience is a virtue. It was always the worst when she had to go to the bathroom really bad and they were in the car. Mamma would tell her to put a thumb on it. It sometimes worked, but then there was an occasional moment when she couldn't wait. That was no fun.
"Quiet, kids. I need everyone to be good and later we're going swimming and will eat pizza."
Sally turned around in her seat and was as quiet as she could be. Swimming and pizza were simply the complete awesomeness.
Meanwhile back at the homefront, Lara was sitting at her diningroom table with Heather's mom. They had the scrabble game out and were waiting for Mary and Susan to show up. Lara was busy for a minute adding something to her grocery list. She figured she would go get the groceries after her friends left. She needed to add eggs to the list. They were out and she wanted to make brownies for the girls and was craving some scrambled eggs with green peppers and onions in them. Deliche.
"So, what secret are you harboring, Lara?"
"Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell you. I don't know."
"You can trust me. I'm your best friend. You know that you can tell me anything and I will keep it hush hush. Promise."
"I know, but it's something I'm just not sure I'm ready to share with anyone." Lara tried to think if there was anything else she needed for groceries. She was drawing a blank. She set down the black Bic pen for a minute and looked at her friend, deciding if she should blurt it out. She was on the edge of her decision and she knew once she told her, it would no longer be contained in her private bottle.
"You and Patrick aren't getting a divorce are you?"
"Oh no. That's not it. We're in a good place. But you never know. Marriage is supposed to be forever, but nothing is really set in stone you know." Patrick was Steddy Eddie, but any man could stray at any given time. She always felt that she had to be prepared for that if indeed it ever came. But she took her marriage vows quite seriously and knew in heart that he would always be her only one. Yet, every woman sometimes has some doubts once in a while.
"Jacob and I could learn a lesson or two from you and Patrick. You just seem to have it all. Seriously, when you are ready, do tell. You can lean on me. It isn't anything to do with your sister is it?"
Lara could see that she wasn't going to stop guessing. It was just her nature to try and find out all the little secrets in life.
"No. She's fine. I suppose it could affect her though."
"Hmmm.... is it money problems?"
"No. You're going to keep hounding me until I tell you. Alright, darn it!"
"Well....break the silence and spill it, firecracker." she said while laughing.
"Here goes. Brace yourself. I'm pregnant."
"OMG! No freakin way!!!"
"I am. I missed my period and I took a test. Sure enough, I'm very, very pregnant. I tested positive. I'm only eight weeks along. Patrick doesn't know yet."
"Why haven't you told him? He should know. Now I feel bad I found out before him! When is your due date?"
"It's going to be sometime in January, but the actual date isn't pinpointed yet."
The doorbell started ringing and the women knew that Mary and Susan were here. "Don't say a word as I don't want everyone knowing just yet. When I get bigger, they will of course find out, but I don't want it spreading like wildfire just yet."
"I'll be quiet. I told you I'm very good at keeping a promise."
Lara went to get the door for them and invited them in. Now was the time for trivial talk, gossip and catching up on all the latest.
And a good old fashioned game of Scrabble was just what was the best medicine today. Who has time for Words With Friends when there's a good Scrabble game in the midst. That's one thing Lara hated about this modern world they lived in, because all the old board games were getting tossed in the trash, sent to Goodwill or seen in a pile at a yard sale as nobody wanted to ever play them anymore when there was all these video games and modern toys out there.
She wasn't about to let her children grow up without knowing what a board game was. That's why she was waiting to get Sally a laptop. She didn't want her girls wasting away in front of a laptop playing online games and who knows what else all day. She was glad that they were discovering things like Go Fish, Boggle and Barbie Clue.
She quietly thought to herself if she should have kept the pregnancy to herself. What is done is done. It's in the past and now she had to leave her secret behind her. That invisible bottle was smashed now with no broom insight to put it all back in and seal it with a cork.
She was going to be showing at some point anyway. She sighed. One bottle gone, but another one was still contained. She just wasn't ready for the world to know that one. She hoped she would never have to tell.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted August 19, 2012