Plants

"Mom, can I have a garden?" Judy stood in the back yard of the new house, looking at the wonderful space that stretched out before her.

"I don't see why not," her mom said. "As long as you do all the work. Deal?"

"Deal," Judy said. "Can I put it there?" she asked, pointing to a sunny spot at the far left corner of the back yard, next to a small bird feeder.

"Sure."

Judy got right to work. She dug up the grass, raked the soil, and got rid of all the stones. She'd learned about gardening from helping her neighbor in their old apartment in the city. Mr. Calderone had made a small garden in the tiny bit of available space at the back of the building between the parking lot and the fence. But this would be her very own garden.

The next day, Judy bough seeds for carrots, beans, and lettuce. She was glad they'd moved into the new house at just the right time for planting. Judy enjoyed working outdoors, and spent most of each day in the back yard. Her room was nice, but it smelled a little strange. The odor reminded her of a hamster cage. Judy kept the windows open as much as possible, and eventually the smell went away.

Tending the garden helped keep Judy busy during those first weeks before she made any friends. Even after she'd met Ruth and Katie and the other girls in the neighborhood, Judy didn't talk about her garden. It was sort of a secret -- something special she didn't want to share just yet. The other girls were nice enough, but Judy still felt like an outsider. She knew they'd accept her in time, as long as she didn't give them a reason to dislike her.

But the garden grew well -- it grew beyond her wildest hopes, and the time came when she was ready to share. She was proud of her success.

"Can you come for lunch tomorrow?" she asked her new friends. "I've got a special treat for us."

"What is it?" Katie asked.

"You'll see." Judy smiled as she imagined her new friends enjoying a meal at her house.

"I can come," Ruth said.

"Me, too," Katie told her.

Judy got up early the next morning. She took her basket -- a gift from her mother -- and went out to the wonderful garden by the bird feeder. She picked carrots and lettuce and beans, choosing the most perfect samples she could find. By lunch time, she'd made carrot sticks, and a salad. Her mom had helped her cook the beans, and Judy had put out small dishes of creamy dip for the carrots and bottles of three different dressings for the lettuce.

"Wow," Ruth said. "This looks great."

"Thanks." Judy sat down at the table with her friends. She felt that she had passed a test. She was one of them now.

"This is a lot nicer than when creepy little Billy Mumpswagon lived here," Ruth said.

"A boy lived here before me?" Judy asked.

Katie nodded. "Yeah. He was weird. Had all kinds of pets. He had tons of fish. And you know what?"

"What?" Judy asked.

Ruth's face broke into a look of disgust. "When the fish died, he didn't flush them. He always buried them out back. Can you imagine that? He had this whole section dug up. It was filled with fish and hamsters and birds. Snakes and lizards, too. The kid was really weird. He had little tombstones all over the place. His mom made him take them down before they sold the house."

Judy paused, her fork just a tenth of an inch from impaling a piece of lettuce, and thought about the smooth, white rocks she'd cleared from the garden. "Out back?"

"Yeah, out in the corner. I think there's a bird feeder or something there." Katie picked up a carrot stick. It seemed to wriggle slightly in her hand.

Judy looked at the lettuce. It rippled at the edges, fluttering like the fins of a tropical fish.

Crunch...

She looked up and saw Katie chewing on the carrot stick. "Wow -- this is really juicy," Katie said after she'd finished chewing. "And very fresh."

"Yum, fabulous beans," Ruth said. She lifted a forkful. The ends waved slightly. "It's so nice of you to share this with us. I'm glad you moved here. We're going to be such good friends."

"Aren't you going to eat?" Katie asked. "There's nothing wrong, is there?" She glanced down at her plate, and a frown dangled across her lips.

"No," Judy said, quickly. "Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all." She plunged the lettuce into a puddle of dressing, covering the leaf completely, then lifted the food to her mouth.

"Let's do this again tomorrow," Ruth said. She dabbed at the corner of her lip with her napkin.

Judy took a deep breath, then swallowed the lettuce whole. She wasn't sure, but it seemed to wriggle as it went down her throat. She shuddered, but at least she was pretty sure that, with the help of lots of dressing, she could get through this one lunch. Then it would all be over. She clamped her teeth shut tightly as a wave of nausea shot through her stomach. You can make it, she told herself.

"Let's do this lots," Katie said as she stabbed a forkful of beans. They let out a squeaky little scream as the pointed metal pierced them. "I could eat fresh vegetables like this every day. They're wonderful. Can we come back tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Ruth said, snapping a carrot stick in half. A spray of juice splattered across the table. "Is tomorrow okay?"

Judy nodded, not trusting herself to open her mouth.

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