by Greg Fowler
‘Nothing’s g…gonna happen to me. You’ll s…see.’ Then, for good order, ‘We’re gonna b…be friends forever…remember?’
‘Yeah, I know.’ It was obvious Reagan’s mind was caught somewhere between this conversation and two or three galaxies away. ‘It’s just that……’
‘What?’
‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing…nothing at all really.’
‘If it’s n…no big deal, then y…you can tell me.’
She flashed him a false smile. ‘You’re getting too smart for your own good. It’s just…silly, that’s all.’
‘N…nothing’s silly if it’s w…worrying you Reagan. And when you w…worry so d…do I. So tell me….please.’
‘You promise you won’t laugh?’
‘One hundred and f…fifty two percent.’
Reagan looked him straight in the eye, then glanced out the side window, then back at him again. ‘I need you Eddy. There, I said it.’ Her cheeks took on an instant shade of pink and Eddy felt bad for her.
‘I l…like being n…needed. I don’t think any…anyone has ever needed m…me before.’
There was that false smile again.
‘It’s my Dad.’ Just hearing her talk about him in this sombre tone made Eddy’s heart skip a beat. ‘No…he hasn’t hit me again and he said he wouldn’t. But I don’t know sometimes. He’s different than he used to be. It’s like he’s not my Dad anymore and you know what?’
‘What?’
‘That scares me.’
‘W…why?’
‘Because he’s my Dad. And at the same time he’s not.’ Eddy watched as she took a deep, deep breath, setting up a barricade against the tears. ‘I wish the world would just go back and be the same again. Where Dad was happy and Mum was happy…and I was happy too.’ Reagan put the joke book down and Eddy had to agree, it just didn’t fit in here right now. ‘Don’t ever go away Eddy. Don’t ever leave me…okay?’
Eddy didn’t have to consider his answer. It was already lying there at the tip of his tongue.
‘One b…billion percent.’
And if he knew there was a number higher than that…well, he would’ve said that too.
42. LOVE IN THROUGH THE WINDOW
Eddy had a conundrum. He didn’t want to go back to feeling the same way he did before he went to hospital, but at the same time, what did he do about Mr Tree? He’d invested too much energy to throw it all away now.
As soon as he felt up to it (and in reality he probably wasn’t) he took his right hand out from under the blankets and held it just an inch or so above the corrugated bark of the closest branch.
Nothing. Not even a shimmer.
He dropped his hand a little closer.
Still nothing….
…hold on a minute…
Yes, yes there was something there. But it was really low.
Eddy placed his hand gently against the wounded tree itself. That familiar hum was definitely there now, tingling through the tips of his fingers and tickling up his palm.
Up? It’s going back up!
Eddy held his breath. He needed to concentrate. He needed to be certain of this.
‘Eddy. Eddy are you there?’
Instinctively he pulled his hand away. It would have to wait.
Levering himself into a sitting position, he swivelled around and placed his feet on the floor. He was going to have to be careful here. If he stood up too fast he was bound to have a dizzy spell and fall flat on his face. That would really work Grandma Daisy into a lather. So much so, she’d likely pick him up by the scruff of the neck and staple him between the sheets.
Taking it ever so slowly, he rose to a standing position and waited for the ocean inside his head to stop sloshing about before risking that first step. Then two steps, three, then four. Resting his whole weight against the front window ledge he looked out and saw dear old Mrs Elsdon, waiting patiently to see if her favourite boy would show himself. And when he did, she smiled like a brand new day.
‘Eddy! It’s so good to see you. How are you feeling?’
‘F…fine Mrs Elsdon.’
‘You’re not a very good liar Eddy Sullivan. But I’ll forgive you because that’s a good trait in a man.’ She did that familiar switch with the walking cane. ‘You had us worried. I saw the ambulance arrive and at first I thought it was your grandmother. I nearly fell over when Reagan came over and told me it was you.’
‘She thinks a lot of you that girl, you know.’ It wasn’t quite a question but Eddy nodded anyway. It felt mighty good to hear Mrs Elsdon say that. She’d never say that about ‘Richard Duggan’.
‘Did you get my card?’
What card?
‘Y…yes.’
Mrs Elsdon gave him one of those searching, measuring looks and then seemed to let it go.
‘Well, the important thing is that you’re on the mend so don’t overdo it…okay?’
‘I p..promise.’
‘Good boy. Who else am I supposed to come and annoy every second day.’
‘You d…don’t annoy me Mrs Elsdon.’
‘You’re an old soul, a very old soul and the world’s a better place for it. Now I know boy’s your age don’t necessarily like to hear things like this but I love you Eddy Sullivan. I love you like the son I never had and you’ve been a blessing to me. So there you go…I said it.’
Eddy didn’t know what to say. How often had someone said they loved him. The answer to that one was easy. Never. Not once. He wasn’t even really sure what ‘love’ meant. Maybe, he considered, ‘love’ was that feeling he got when he was with Reagan… but maybe it was something else altogether.
Or could it be that love is like a vibration, an energy that flows, an energy that binds, an energy that overcomes.
‘I didn’t mean to put you on the spot there Sweetie,’ continued Mrs Elsdon, obviously noting his loss for words. ‘It’s just that you’ve taught me a few things recently and one of those is to leave nothing on the table. Sometimes you don’t get second chances to say the things you should have, so you have to take all the first chances instead. Take each and every one of them like that’s all you’re going to get.’
Both she and Eddy caught sight of the new arrivals at the same time. Walking along the footpath toward her were two boys, one older, one younger and Eddy recognised them immediately.
‘Hey Eddy. How’s it going dude?’
‘G…good Nathan.’
‘Good to hear….Hi Mrs Elsdon.’
‘Hello…Nathan is it?’
‘Yep and this is Dion, my little brother.’
‘Well, hello Dion.’ Mrs Elsdon leaned over and patted Dion on the head, something, Eddy noticed, he didn’t entirely appreciate.
‘Hi,’ responded Dion, obeying time honoured instructions to respect one’s elders or wear a clip around the ear. ‘What’s it like inside an ambulance Eddy?’
‘I c..can’t remember. I was asleep.’
‘Oh. There’s supposed to be heaps of machines like the inside of a spaceship or something.’
‘S…sorry Dion,’ apologised Eddy, ‘I d…didn’t see any of that.’
‘So you boys know Eddy then?’ asked Mrs Elsdon.
‘Yep,’ confirmed Nathan. ‘We’re from number seventeen.’
‘Oh, you’re Gina’s boys.’ Mrs Elsdon said this with the distinctive tone of prior knowledge. Knowledge of two boys with quite the reputation in the neighbourhood.
‘Yep, Gina’s my mum’s name,’ spouted Dion.
‘And these boys are your friends Eddy?’
That’s a tough one Mrs Elsdon. I don’t rightly know.
‘Um…I, um g..guess so.’ If it didn’t sound at all convincing, Eddy couldn’t help it. Were they his friends? He had no way of knowing. Dion hadn’t picked on him for ages now. Since that leaf thing…that’s right. But Nathan? His brand of bruising language was still relatively fresh. Yep, he’d come up and thanked him for that Battle of Borodino thing but maybe there was a
difference between saying thank you and still hating someone’s guts. If Eddy had learned one thing about human nature it was that you could never take anything for granted. If you did, soon enough someone would come in and tear your tree down.
‘We haven’t been best of friends actually Mrs Elsdon,’ confessed Nathan, placing a brotherly hand on Dion’s shoulder. ‘But that’s our fault, not Eddy’s.’
Dion suddenly looked very sheepish beside his big brother. A world away from the brazen package of energy that used to comprise the smaller of the Bert and Ernie gang. ‘Eddy helped me.’
‘Really,’ said Mrs Elsdon, obviously wanting to hear a bit more about this.
‘Yep. He gave me a special leaf that stopped my bad dreams. I haven’t had one since.’
Nathan looked quizzically down at his little brother. ‘You didn’t tell me that.’
‘You didn’t ask.’
‘How long ago was that?’
‘Years ago. I was still in Mrs Beach’s class.’
‘Is that true Eddy?’ asked Mrs Elsdon.
Eddy didn’t quite know where to go with this one so he afforded her a brief nod but kept his mouth firmly shut. Mrs Elsdon was a lovely, lovely lady but if she ever mentioned anything about this to Grandma Daisy then all hell would let loose. Correction, hell would come and pay a very personal visit.
‘You never fail to surprise me young man,’ said Mrs Elsdon, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Is there anyone you haven’t affected in this neighbourhood?’
‘L…lot’s.’
‘Well Eddy, from what I can tell it’s all just a matter of time. We have our own little miracle worker here boys,’ she said, turning her attention to the two boys standing beside her.
‘I know,’ replied Nathan, realising he too had a story to tell.
And when Nathan had finished telling his story, one thing had definitely changed. Eddy didn’t have to think twice now about whether these boys were his friends, because the answer was obvious.
43. GETTING THE MESSAGE
By the time Nathan, Dion and Mrs Elsdon had wandered off in their respective directions, Eddy was a remarkable mixture of four steps closer to the moon and four steps too far from his bed.
What a morning it had been. Even now, after it had only just happened, he still had to give himself a mental pinch just to make sure he hadn’t been imagining it. After all, it was entirely possible he had imagined it. With his head the way it was and with everything going on with Mr Tree he sometimes didn’t know what was going on.
But deep inside, buried beneath the physical exhaustion of his ordeal, was a glittering jewel of joy. Mrs Elsdon had told him she loved him. Nathan and Dion had been really nice to him and said great things about him. Dion had even nodded his head when Mrs Elsdon had expressed again how ‘special’ Eddy was. It just didn’t get any better than that and Eddy couldn’t wait to fall into the vastness of sleep so that when he woke up on the other side with a clear head, he could think upon this wonderful conversation again and this time savour it.
And so it was that he fell asleep in his bed, his right hand resting upon the equally tortured soul that was Mr Tree. He floated along in a dreamlike journey, where life was good and everywhere you looked there were friends…F, for friends. Where people were always nice and mother’s loved their children too. Mothers and fathers.
When Eddy awoke it was less like waking from a slumber than it was climbing out of the depths of the universe. Once he’d wiped the sleep out of his eyes he realised that, for the first time in way too long, he was actually feeling rejuvenated.
Based on the way the shadows in the room were leaning across the carpet, Eddy reckoned he’d been sleeping for quite some time. It was definitely afternoon but exactly how late he didn’t quite know.
Thinking that maybe it was even time for Reagan to be home from school, Eddy whipped back the sheets and scrambled to the end of the bed where he knew he’d be able to check through the window. As he did so (as he always did so) he ran his palm along the length of Mr Tree’s closest and first ever branch in his bedroom. Every contour was familiar to him now, even the ravaged and cratered contour post Grandma Daisy’s explosion. And then he stopped…
…??…
Something bumped against the leading edge of his hand, something that hadn’t been there before. Eddy forgot the window immediately and, looking down, made a discovery that made his whole body tingle like pins and needles on steroids. There, pregnant across the surface of Mr Tree’s bark, were the tell tale dots of brand new buds. Still nothing more than little green to gold bumps, Eddy realised they had no other reason to be there other than to give birth to new life. These were the cocoons for fresh, succulent leaves and as Eddy ran his finger gently across the rippled surface he could already picture the vibrant green of nature’s wonder splashing through his bedroom once more.
I knew it would work! I just knew it.
Putting aside all the trials and tribulations his body had been through, Eddy got up and literally jogged in circles around his bedroom, such was his excitement. They’d done this together. He and Mr Tree, they were a team and no matter what Grandma Daisy did, she couldn’t take that away from them.
‘What are you doing, you weirdo?’
Eddy stopped mid stride and saw Reagan looking over at him from her bedroom.
‘C…come over quick,’ he cried, waving his arms as if that would get her there faster. ‘H…have a look at this.’
Reagan didn’t need to be asked twice and she was across the tree and in his bedroom in a flash, all wide eyed, smiling and wondering why all the commotion.
‘Look!’ Eddy pointed at the branch above his bed.
‘What?’
‘Look.’ This time Eddy couldn’t carry the weight of his impatience and he walked over and tapped Mr Tree, right beside one of those magical, wondrous buds. ‘See.’
‘What are they?’ Eddy’s buzzing enthusiasm was getting infectious but before she was ready to get all in on it Reagan needed to know for sure.
‘They’re b…beds. Beds for b…baby leaves.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yep.’
‘So Grandma Daisy didn’t kill the tree after all?’
‘Nope.’
‘Eddy, that’s brilliant.’ Her body language reflected his own joy. And just as she said it, and even though it was no more than a wisp, there was a definite green tinge around Reagan. Nothing he could reach out and physically touch…no, this was much more real than that.
His connection, his incredible, wonderful, amazing connection was returning and as this mind bending piece of information came home to roost, Eddy let out a laugh the likes that Reagan had never heard from him before. It was a laugh without memory, a laugh devoid of grudge bearing Grandmothers and angry fathers. It was a laugh without past or future because it was all, absolutely and completely, about ‘now’.
44. FIRST TIME EVER
Eddy found it interesting how Grandma Daisy could be so quick to pick up on something out of place in his bedroom but over the course of the next week never once appeared to notice the changes with Mr Tree. At least if she did, she was good at covering it up.
It was nerve racking though. Every time she came into the room for one reason or another he’d literally hold his breath, waiting and praying that she’d just get her business done and walk straight back out without so much as a second glance. It would be just like her to let him get his hopes up before hacking them off just to spite him. Yep, she’d take real pleasure in that.
She did cotton on to his quick recovery though and she was just as fast on the draw to stop with his medicine too. Not that that caused Eddy any misgivings. As far as he was concerned he’d never need another pill again. If he had wings he could fly. He did have to tone it down three times a day, every day though. Couldn’t have Grandma Daisy thinking we were too happy, could we? She’d have to find a way to spoil that.
The seasons also seemed to feed off Eddy’s new foun
d health and happiness because they too shifted into a brighter mood. It appeared that spring was arriving early this year and the pattern of the sunlight took longer and longer to snail through his room. What made that extra good was the fact the life giving warmth rested upon Mr Tree so much longer. It seemed that all the stars were aligning, literally.
Oh yes, and the longer days also meant more time and opportunity for the Jam Sandwich committee. Eddy had to be careful though. Grandma Daisy may have decided he’d finished his dose of medicine but if she caught him out on the tree he’d be in for a mighty session of that temper of hers.
He and Reagan had it all worked out though. She’d pop downstairs and check Grandma Daisy out through her kitchen window. From there, not only could Reagan see if Grandma Daisy was lodged in front of the TV but she could also tell what she was watching. If it was a game show or (as Reagan put it) one of those boring ‘soaps’ then they had time to play with. If not, then it was all a bit too risky.
Today however was Tuesday and on Tuesday’s, according to Reagan, you could watch ‘soaps’ all the way up to the evening news. That at least explained one thing for Eddy. Grandma Daisy was always late with dinner on a Tuesday. But he had a remedy for that…and it had something to do with four very big pieces of bread and two mother lode helpings of raspberry jam.
‘You sure you’re not too cold out here Eddy?’
‘N…nope. It’s nice.’
It would be nice out here even if it was snowing.
‘Okay, but let me know if it gets too much for you.’
‘I’ll b..be fine.’ And he was fine. The day’s still weren’t anywhere near as long as those endless midsummer’s days but that only meant the sunsets came that much sooner. If Grandma Daisy did her usual and planted herself in front of the TV right up until the news then they’d get to see a good chunk of it too. As it was, the sun was already leaning heavily towards the horizon and Eddy savoured the tickle of warmth on his cheeks as the light came directly through the branches.
As he looked across, it was obvious Reagan was soaking in the rays too. She sat there, facing directly into the oncoming orange/yellow light, eyes closed and chomping away on the sandwich du jour. This, Eddy now knew without a shadow of a doubt, was when she was at her most beautiful. With those hues playing across her delicate features like that, she could actually be that movie star she so often dreamed of being. He hadn’t seen all that many girls in his compressed view of the world but as far as he could tell, there was no competition whatsoever. Reagan came in first and no-one else bothered to show up. It just wasn’t worth it.
