by Greg Fowler
Reaching over to pull his chair in close (the same chair which, a week ago, had been the scene of his troubles) he sat down at the window to have a good look at this strange new visitor. How wonderfully weird this was. Eddy let go and touched it again. Sure enough, that same quivering sensation raced through his hand and up his arm. It was there alright. No tricks here.
Now he put both hands on the baby branch, ever so gently so he wouldn’t hurt it, and let this funny new energy settle into his bones. It was such a relaxing sensation that Eddy soon found it very hard to keep his eyes open. In the end he simply gave in and rested his heavy head in the crook of his arm. Deeper and deeper he unwound but at no time did he let go of the budding branch. His train of thought derailed altogether and soon his mind was drifting to places unknown. Something was about to happen. Something amazing. He was beginning to realise there was much more to this incredible, stubborn tree than met the eye.
And he was right.
The darkness hiding behind his eyes began to change. In the void ahead of him came at first a bright light. The kind that happened when he stared at the lamp for too long. After a little while though, the bright spot began to change from one beautiful shade of colour to another. There were greens folding into blues, blues into purples, purples into pinks and reds, then yellows and back to greens. As these amazing kaleidoscopes cycled and recycled in his mind, Eddy became aware that he was experiencing these colours as so much more than visions. Each seemed to have a flavour of its own.
The greens were fresh and vibrant. The blues burst with life. The purples, pinks and reds beat with a living pulse and the yellows breathed with warmth. They were colours expressed in a way that absolutely mesmerized Eddy. He had seen some cool things from his front window but this was out of this world and he let this wondrous experience overwhelm him completely.
6. SECRETS IN AND OUT
Eddy awoke the next morning in exactly the same position he’d gone to sleep, crooked up against the side window. Somewhere in the night his hands had fallen from the new branch to his lap. It certainly wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep and Eddy figured he had a right to feel pretty tired and cramped, but to the contrary, he felt entirely rested. In fact he felt great. He felt like Superman.
Coming to terms with his unusual position, Eddy’s next chain of thought linked back to the previous evening.
Colours. Lots and lots of magic colours.
Eddy checked. Yes, the baby branch, as he was coming to know it, was still there. It hadn’t been just a silly dream. If anything, it was already longer than he remembered from last night. Yep, it definitely was. Maybe by another good three or four inches. And to add to the mystery, there was a tiny leaf of brand new green getting ready to unfurl halfway along its length.
It’s growing inside my room!
Reaching out timidly, Eddy tickled the edge of the fledgling leaf with his finger. It had to be one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. Then tracing it back to the baby branch it had sprouted from, he was reassured to feel those wondrous vibrations coursing once more.
This time yanking the chair aside, Eddy poked his upper body out the gap in the window and reached as far down the broadest branch he could get. Those vibrations were still there alright. Not quite as strong as those in his branch but there all the same. He looked all the way down to where the tree met the ground, to where the roots held on tight for dignity and for life. There wasn’t anything he could see that explained the vibrations. It was just grass and dirt, then tree.
‘Are you magic Mr Tree?’ he whispered against the solid bark.
No voice came back and for a moment Eddy was actually a little disappointed. What he could hear from out the window however was Grandma Daisy puttering around in the kitchen below. She was getting breakfast prepared.
Favouring the tree with one last pat, he ducked back in the window and got himself ready for Grandma Daisy’s entrance.
Sunday mornings were good. All Grandma Daisy did was drop his weetbix in and then she’d head off for church. He wouldn’t see her again until she got back and if she was in a good mood, she’d be loaded with a plate of leftovers. Sometimes there’d even be chocolate biscuits. Just the prospect would have his mouth watering for the best part of an hour before her old car cruised back in the driveway.
Slipping quickly out of his clothes, he folded them just the way Grandma Daisy had taught him to, and placed them on the desk. Next he threw on his pyjamas and ruffled his bed sheets in such a way that it looked as though he’d slept in his bed and had tried to make it. Eddy was pretty pleased with himself for thinking of that. The ritual was the same every morning. Folding clothes was one thing but making a whole bed was something else altogether. So when Grandma Daisy paid her morning visit she’d invariably look at his bed, sigh that heavy sigh, and straighten out the bedclothes so that you could run a ruler by it. It was just her way and he saw no sense throwing more chaos into an already odd day.
In the few minutes it took to get himself organised, Eddy must have glanced across at the branch a thousand times. If he wasn’t in such a rush to get things in order before Grandma Daisy climbed the stairs, he’d be over there, checking to see if it hadn’t really been a dream. Lucky too. He’d only just finished crumpling the blankets when the door swung open and she strode in, tray in hand, new set of clothes tucked under arm.
‘M…morning Grandma Daisy.’
‘Good morning Eddy.’ Sticking to the routine, she placed the tray on the desk, plopped the new clothes beside it and gave the room a once over. There was one, simple rule. If Eddy wasn’t using something it had to be put away in its rightful place. No exceptions.
This morning was easy. Since sitting down at the window yesterday evening he hadn’t used anything. The big books were on the big book shelf. The little books were on the little book shelf. The pencils and crayons were all back in their packs, all ranked in colour coded order. The jigsaw boxes were stacked the right way up, biggest box to smallest, and his fire engine, his one and only toy, sat upon them, facing into the centre of the room at just the right angle.
Grandma Daisy pursed her lips and gave that curt nod of hers, designating a pass mark. She wasn’t finished though. Yep, there it was. That sigh, the shrug of the shoulders and the martial art swipes that straightened the bed sheets table top flat.
‘Okay, I’m off,’ she stated. ‘Don’t go talking to those fool kids while I’m away. You hear me?’
‘Yes Grandma Daisy.’
Picking Eddy’s old clothes off the desk, she made to leave the room but stopped mid stride.
‘What’s that?’ Grandma Daisy gestured over Eddy’s shoulder, towards the side window behind him. His heart sank immediately. She didn’t miss a beat, not one.
‘It’s n…nothing Grandma Daisy. It’s just a little tree come to visit me.’ Eddy put on his happy face. ‘See.’ He stepped over to the window and proudly cradled the budding twig in the palm of his hand.
‘That damned tree.’ Grandma Daisy’s frown spoke of nasty thoughts within.
‘Please Grandma Daisy. It’s just a friendly tree.’ Eddy’s entire body twitched with his absolute desire to have Grandma Daisy let him have this one thing. She could take his books, even the jigsaw puzzles but he had to have his tree. ‘I p…p…promise.’
‘It’s ruining the house Eddy,’ she said, standing tall and looking him in the eye. ‘I should’ve had the silly thing cut back months ago.’
‘Please, please, pleeeeeease.’ Eddy felt salty tears well up in his eyes and wished he could make them go away. Grandma Daisy hated it when he cried. She said it made him a sissy. But they seemed to come up all by themselves, from a place right down deep inside where things really mattered. So when the first wet track slipped down his cheek he was caught in a dilemma. ‘Grandma Daisy,’ he said, mustering all the inner strength he had just to stare back at her stern face, ‘This is m…m…my tree.’ He took the hand that wasn’t still patting the lively
twig and tapped it against his chest. ‘It is, and I want to l…look after it.’
Eddy knew his Grandma Daisy even better than he knew himself and so when he saw her expression change from one of single mindedness to one that meant she was thinking things over, his heart pitter patted with hope. Whether he liked it or not, it was always Grandma Daisy’s way. Just like you had to always find the edge pieces of jigsaws first, it was always going to be Grandma Daisy’s way.
‘I p…promise Grandma Daisy. I honestly promise.’
‘You’re a waste of space sometimes Eddy. A waste of space.’ Then to Eddy’s triumphant delight, she turned on her heels and started out the door. ‘But I’ll tell you one thing,’ she continued as she closed the door behind her, ‘if that stupid tree annoys me one more time it gets the axe. No if’s, what’s and maybe’s.’
‘We did it Mister Tree! We can be friends!’
7. THE LADY WHO VISITS
Eddy nearly jumped out of his skin when Grandma Daisy rapped on his door.
‘Eddy,’ she said through the wall, ‘get yourself ready for a shower.’
‘B…but it’s not shower day Grandma Daisy.’
‘Don’t talk back to me,’ she scolded. ‘Just do as I say. I’ll be back in two minutes.’
A shower and not on shower day. What was going on?
I don’t think I’ve done anything new to be in trouble. No…I’ve been a good boy for Grandma Daisy, I have. No messes. Not one.
Just to be sure, once he’d stripped down to his birthday suit he scanned the room for anything even slightly out of kilter. He had time to quickly straighten a couple of books in his bookshelf when Grandma Daisy came blustering in.
‘Okay,’ she said, giving him the once over, ‘Now get yourself into the shower and be quick about it.’
Something was definitely going on. Eddy could feel it in the air and it made him all jumpy like he knew he was in trouble but couldn’t remember why. Grandma Daisy didn’t even have to say anything for him to feel that way. When she was moody she carried it like a great big coat. The sort you put on to keep the cold out. Today that coat was heavy and Eddy felt the temperature drop like a stone. He thought about asking her what was going on but hardly needed to second guess himself before slipping on past her and into the bathroom. It wasn’t even worth slowing to glimpse down the stairs today.
When he got back to his room he had his first hint waiting for him. On his bed, as per usual, was his change of clothes. But these weren’t normal clothes, these were his good clothes. And Grandma Daisy never, ever, ever put out his good clothes unless….
Someone’s coming to visit!
If Eddy had been any more excited he would’ve wet himself but that most assuredly was not what he wanted to do these days.
Someone’s coming to see me!
Eddy clapped his hands and did a little jig, careful not to take too long but unable to contain his joy. Then he pulled on his clothes. Socks first. Socks always first on. Socks always last off.
As if she could see through walls (and Eddy reckoned she could), Grandma Daisy piled on in with the finishing touch in her hands; his shiny black shoes. He never got to wear them very often and they were beginning to get a little too tight on his growing feet but he agreed with Grandma when she said they had a lot of wearing in them yet. They were way to cool to throw away. If you looked close enough you could actually see yourself in them.
Shoe laces were hard so Eddy did as he usually did and sat back on his bed, poking his feet out so Grandma Daisy could slip them on and tie the knots. As she eased herself down on one knee and fiddled the shoes past his cramped heels, she gave him the rules. The same rules he had heard before.
‘Mrs Stanton’s coming over,’ she said matter of factly as she pulled the laces tight. ‘So what do you have to do?’
‘Be nice.’
‘And what else?’
‘Smile.’
‘And what else?’
‘Only talk when she asks me a q…q…question.’
‘Exactly. And when she asks you about home school?’
‘I say ‘I like it and I l…learn lots’.’
‘Good boy.’ Grandma Daisy propped herself back up. ‘Now stand up and let me have a look at you.’ Eddy got to his feet and felt his toes scrunch up at the front of each shoe. For the first time since Grandma Daisy had brought them home from the shop, he found himself looking forward to taking them off. She grabbed each side of his shirt collar with a big, bony hand and tugged so hard he almost toppled over. ‘Stand still boy, for goodness sake. Now remember, we have to tell Mrs Stanton what she wants to hear…or what will happen?’
‘Sh…she’ll take me away to a mean place.’
‘And what happens at the mean place Eddy?’
‘They h…hit you until you bleed….every day, they do…that’s right, they do. Don’t they Grandma?’
‘Yes they do and you don’t even get a room. They make you sit in a corner and they throw food at you.’
‘And we don’t w…want that.’
‘No Eddy, we don’t want that.’
Grandma Daisy was just about to say something else when the doorbell rang. It was a sound of delight for Eddy but it made her nearly jump out of her comfy slippers. ‘Jiminy Crickets, she’s early. I swear that woman can’t tell time.’ She turned tail and sped out of the bedroom, leaving a curt instruction for him to sit and wait at his desk. In just about the time it took for Eddy to get comfortable she was back with an arm load of school books which she dumped on the desk in front him. ‘Open one,’ she demanded as she once again exited the room.
The doorbell rang again and Eddy heard her footsteps on the stairs. ‘Coming, coming,’ she called out and then he heard the door open with the familiar squeal of wood on wood as the door scraped across the floor boards. ‘That’s summer for you. You can tell the seasons by this door, I swear. Come in Mrs Stanton. It’s lovely to see you. Have you lost weight?’
‘Thank you Mrs Sullivan.’ That’s Mrs Stanton, yes it is. ‘I’d like to think I’ve lost a little but I reckon the scales would make me a liar.’
‘Well you’re looking very fit and healthy then, I must say.’
Hard shoes on the floor. She’s wearing those funny shoes that make her tall.
‘I wish I had a man to tell me that.’
‘A man doesn’t know his own eyeball from the inside, let alone the outside.’ Grandma must’ve said something good because both ladies let out a little laugh.
‘How’s Eddy doing?’
‘Oh he’s just dandy. Come on upstairs, he’s waiting for you. Can I get you a drink or something to eat? I have some wonderful chocolate biscuits.’
‘No thanks, I’ve got three other appointments this morning and God only knows how I’m going to make it.’
‘Shall we then…’
Two sets of footsteps came climbing up the stairs. It was a sound that had Eddy’s heart thump, thump, thumping and when the door folded in he had a smile on as wide as the space between his ears.
‘Hello Eddy.’
‘H…H…Hello M…Mrs Sta…Stanton.’ Grandma Daisy knew Eddy stuttered a bit when he was excited but that didn’t stop her from frowning and shaking her head when he looked over Mrs Stanton’s shoulder.
Come on me. Be good. I don’t want to bleed every day.
‘How are you?’
‘Um, I’m real good.’
‘That’s good to hear. Boy, how do you keep those shoes so clean?’
Eddy felt the warm rush of blood make tracks to his cheeks. ‘Grandma Daisy…she c…cleans them for me.’ Grandma Daisy gave him a tiny nod.
I know what secrets are.
‘Well they’re very smart.’ Mrs Stanton wandered over to where Eddy sat, that big, friendly smile still shining on her face, and checked the cover of the book he had open beside him. Eddy didn’t know what it was. He hardly ever saw these books because Grandma Daisy only brought them out to show off how smart he was. But Mrs Sta
nton seemed to like it. ‘How’s your A,B,C’s Eddy?’
‘Real good. A is for apple and apples are g..good for you.’
‘That’s good.’ Mrs Stanton knelt down now and looked Eddy in the eye. Eddy looked straight back but in the lazy, hazy space at the edges of his eyes he could see Grandma Daisy begin to fidget a bit. He had to get this right because people bled every day if they got it wrong. ‘Okay then, what starts with….let me see…,’ Mrs Stanton surveyed the room, ‘…T. What starts with the letter T?’
About a million objects went through Eddy’s poor mind and for the life of him he didn’t know if any of them started with the letter T.
Come on Eddy. Not for bleeding. Eddy’s not for bleeding.
‘Are you sure I can’t get you a glass of water or something Mrs Stanton?’ Grandma Daisy was nervous too, yes she was.
‘No thank you Mrs Sullivan. Eddy, do you know something that starts with T?’
Please stop looking at me like that Mrs Stanton. I want everyone to be nice.
‘T,’ stammered Eddy, feeling like the whole wide world was staring at him, ‘B…bed. Bed starts with T.’
No one needed to say anything. Grandma Daisy’s shoulders told him all he needed to know and even Mrs Stanton’s smile turned upside down. She was thinking real hard, Eddy could tell that too.
‘Eddy’s been feeling a bit under the weather lately, haven’t you Eddy?’ Grandma Daisy came around and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her fingers squeezed in on his bones but he didn’t dare wince. He knew a warning when he felt it.
‘Y…y…yes Mrs Stanton.’ Eddy lowered his head, no longer wanting to look his visitor in the eye. ‘Bad weather. I hate b..bad weather.’
Ouch, Grandma you’re really hurting me!
‘Mrs Sullivan, could we speak in the hallway please?’ Eddy watched Mrs Stanton’s knees straighten as she stood but he wasn’t prepared to look up at her. If he did that she’d see the first tear threatening to tumble over the pained ridge of his bottom eyelid. He was in enough trouble as it was.
