Thoughts of the future money tree got her excited so she was ready to run to the garden.
"How was school today? Can you be a dear and pull out your wet swimsuit and towel so Mamma can wash them?"
"Okay. Pizza was to die for! And George got in trouble with Mrs. Bagley for dunking me under water. I don't like to get my face wet."
"That wasn't very nice of him. I'm sure he smartened up after he got talked to. But you know you do have to learn to get used to going under water. It's important to know how to swim. What if you were somewhere and you had an accident? If you know how to swim your chances of drowning are less. Did you know if you can learn to float on your back that you can swim for hours on your back?"
"No. That's cool. But I'm afraid I will go under water when I do that."
"You won't usually. If you learn how, you won't go under the surface."
"I'm going outside to check on my money tree." Sally opened the door and ran out to the garden. She didn't realize that the door slammed harder than it should and Mamma was inside getting angry.
All she knew was that those brownies baking in the oven smelled wonderful and she was eager to have one when she was done outside. Mamma always put cream cheese in it along with some chocolate chips and peppermint flavoring. Deliche.
She darted past the tall purple and blue hollyhocks with the bumblebees swarming around for the sweet nectar of the day. She missed the little toad that jumped from where it was before she invaded its space. And the little white and black butterfly fluttered around her as if it was curious of what she was ready to explore.
She knelt down near the spot where the money tree had been planted. The late afternoon sun shined its glorious rays upon her as she started to investigate. Disappointment engulfed her as she could see no sign of any sort of plant growing yet and she really wanted something to grow today. Now would most definitely be a good thing to top of her day of swimming and eating the absolutely bestest pizza in the world. Well, besides Mamma's pizza because Sally knew that deep down in her gut nothing was ever going to top that because she always knew that her Mamma was the best cook in the whole wide world according to Sally Driscoll.
She looked around herself with the pain of knowing that nothing was there. Shouldn't there be something? How come the sugar snap pea seas could sprout just like nothing and her money tree couldn't do a thing? The more she thought about it, they only just planted it yesterday so maybe she just had to wait and give it time. But she didn't feel that she had the time. She and all her friends wanted the stuff that was going to grow from it. And Sally wanted money for something she wanted really badly.
She had been asking Mamma for it for a long time and Mamma and Pappa would say, "We'll think about it. I don't know. That's a mighty big thing. Takes a lot of work."
Sally dreamed of having a puppy. She wanted one in the worst way possible. She had asked Santa for one last year and he didn't bring it. She always thought that Santa brings anything she wants. And the puppy was at the top of her list with ten stars next to it and he still didn't deliver. She wanted Paisley to be a member of the family so she could love her to death and play with her any time she desired. Paisley would be her best friend for life. Well, besides Heather.
Glancing over at Mamma's tiger lilies getting taller by each coming day, she got jealous thaat they could spread so fast. She had helped Mamma plant them last year and already there were more of them this year. She wondered how Mother Nature could manage to create all these new plants from something so little. What did she do? Was Mother Nature coming down late at night and digging holes in the ground and putting in more plants? Sally knew that she must have this huge garden at her house that was filled with plants and trees.
Where did Mother Nature live anyway? Sally knew that she must live in this big mansion surrounded by vines and flowers and the most beautiful trees ever. She could drink tea any time she wanted to and she had an abundance of plants to give to the rest of the world. Sally was imagining Mother Nature riding in on a cheetah. She had to be fast to plant all the plants every where. Or maybe she had one of those time portals that she could walk through and be somewhere in just a few minutes.
Sally figured that Mother Nature was really pretty, but not as beautiful as Mamma. In Sally's mind, nobody was more beautiful than Mamma because after all, Mamma was the fairest in the land. Anyhow, Mother Nature had to have some very exquisite roses in her hair with delicate green leaves floating down. She probably would look like one of those Pre Raphaelite women. Sally knew that because Aunt Ellie had once shown her a book of the Pre Raphaelite pictures and she had told Sally all about them. Sally's favorite was the Ophelia picture of the woman floating in the water.
That's another thing that Sally had wanted and Santa didn't deliver. She wrote down time portal and he didn't bring it. That year, she had told Pappa that she wanted to write Santa a letter to let him know what she thought about him and Pappa convinced her that she shouldn't do that because Santa might get mad and not bring her anything next year. Well, that put that thought straight out of her mind as she wanted Santa to keep bringing all the cool toys that she wanted. He did give her nice things and she could tell that little Betsy was happy too. She knew better than to mess with Santa.
As Sally looked at the garden, she wondered how many little hearts were buried in the garden for all these flowers growing all over the place. Her first thought was to dig them up to see what they looked like because she wanted to know if they looked exactly like Mrs. Lacey's. Thinking of it longer, she figured that she shouldn't ever do that because she didn't want to really tamper with the love that got planted with the seeds or the plants and she knew she didn't ever want to be responsible for killing something.
Except for a spider or a bug inside the house. She hated to see those. And some were so big that she had to scream to Mamma to come kill them for her. She didn't like it when they touched her. She also had a memory of an awful dream she had about spiders. She was sleeping in her bed and her eyes opened really wide at the sight of this huge cobweb above her and this six inch spider was fastly approaching her and was ready to land on her nose. She woke up that night and Mamma had come in and assured her that there was absolutely no spider in her bed.
Sally sat in the dirt and started to pick these tiny blue and white flowers next to her. They grew all over the yard and Pappa usually mowed them down. But Sally really liked them and sometimes liked to pick them for Mamma. She wondered if the flowers cried when they got mowed. She liked to think to herself that flowers have feelings too. Just like her thoughts about her toys coming alive at night while she was sleeping. She figured that's what they did and she wondered what they talked about while she was sleeping. She wondered if they talked about her kicking them sometimes and maybe they had a venting session about Sally while she was sleeping. But they had to know that she loved them as Sally loved all her toys and was very good to them most of the time.
Sally watched the Monarch butterfly flying in to greet her. Suddenly she thought about Flavia and was missing her badly. She wanted to know how she had helped that girl in China and wanted to know if she was alright.
"Flavia? Are you here? Where are you?" Sally looked around to see if she could see any daisies as she remembered what Mr. Ed had told her what she and Heather needed to do. As she looked around for a little bit, she finally saw one tiny daisy hiding under a big weed. She was lucky to find it as it was still early for the daisies to grow. Reaching over, she gently plucked it from its root. She remembered Mamma telling her to be careful not to pull up the roots or else the flowers and plants won't grow next year.
She was happy that she was now holding the daisy in her hand and now Flavia could help her pray for the money tree to grow. She looked at the little rocks around the money tree and thought that maybe later on before supper she would come out and draw on them. Maybe her creativity would also help the tree grow.
"Flavia? Why won't you answer me? I want to talk to you! Desiree? Are you here too? Can someone tell me why my money tree hasn't grown yet?"
No answer. The more Sally thought about her, maybe they are busy right now and will only come to see her at night so she decided that she would wait for them to come visit. She wanted to see her favorite fairy again and her patience evaporated like yesterday.
Sally went inside and devoured her brownie fresh from the oven. Mamma was now making Shepard's pie and the kitchen was hot. Sally always would here Pappa say, "Nothing like baking on a hot day!" Sally really didn't like Shepard's pie and Mamma and Pappa didn't like it that Sally would leave a little hamburg ring around her plate. She didn't mind the creamed corn but she didn't like hamburg. Except for a hamburger with a thick gob of cheese on top, now that was good and add a few pickles and ketchup and she was all set.
"Mamma, my tree hasn't grown yet. How come?"
"It's growing, dear. The roots are underneath and it's just taking time. Remember what I said about having a little patience?"
"Yes." Sally finished her brownie and grabbed her markers. "I'm going to go draw on my rocks around the money tree."
"Okay. Wash your hands when you come in from playing in the garden."
"I almost forgot to put this daisy in water. Can I have a glass to put it in? Maybe a pretty one? Flavia likes pretty things."
Lara handed her a clear plastic glass with a yellow flower on it.
"This is her home. Isn't it the most beautiful thing in the world?"
"It sure is. I bet she has a nice comfy bed in there to sleep on. It always amazes me how tiny fairies are. I love fairies and I always loved Flavia."
Sally went outside with her bucket of markers and sat down next to the money tree that was silently underground growing. She wondered what the roots would look like. Sally began to draw pretty flowers on the rocks and little stick figures. On one rock she drew a picture of her next to a beautiful tree.
Suddenly Sally looked up and her eyes were wide open as she saw two cars collide with each other in the street. One had been driving way too fast and crashed into the dark green car and all Sally could see was red and green smashing into each other. She quickly stood up and watched for a minute. She saw no driver coming out of one of the cars but a man opened his door from the green car and got out to look at the damage. He appeared to look like he wasn't hurt, but it bothered her that nobody was coming out of the red car.
Quickly, she ran inside to get Mamma to call 911.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted August 20, 2012
Flowers for Mamma
Paisley is waiting for Sally
Flavia's home
