Birdie's Book - Andrea Burden [12]
I leaned against a small tree beside the long table, then looked up as its bark caught at my shirt. Its bark was scarlet and peeling, and its brilliant green leaves were shaped like clubs and hearts on playing cards. “Gumbo-limbo,” I said automatically. “Bursera simaruba.”
Mo nodded. “A miracle healer when made into tea,” she said, picking up a handful of the leaves and tossing them into one of her contraptions. “By the way,” she added, packing the gumbo-limbo leaves down with her thumb, “that letter the fairies left will probably help explain some of this.”
“Oh, the envelope!” I exclaimed. I put down the Singing Stone (how easily I had accepted the name!) and dug in my pocket. But just as I pulled out the envelope, a flatbed truck pulled up, its brakes making an earsplitting screech.
“Hold that thought,” said Mo, giving my shoulder a squeeze as she dashed to the door. “It’s my delivery guys.”
She waved to two burly men dressed in thick woolen hats and jackets, their complexions rosy. They lumbered inside to greet her with hearty hugs. I pushed the envelope back into my pocket.
“Travis, I want you to meet my granddaughter, Birdie,” Mo announced proudly.
The guy named Travis shook hands with me. “Hey, Birdie, so glad to meet you,” he said. His big hand swallowed mine as cold air poured off his woolly clothes. “Your grandmother is one of our favorite people in all of Colts Ridge. This here’s Hank.”
“Kind of a chip off the old block, ain’t she?” said Hank, speaking to Mo. “She’s got your eyes and hair.” Then he turned to me and vigorously shook my hand as well. “You got her green thumb, too?”
“I guess so,” I said. I tried to act friendly, but I didn’t know what to say, and I certainly wasn’t going to smile enough for my braces to show.
“Hank and Travis will be helping me for a few hours, so it’s fine to wander off and explore,” said Mo.
“I promised your grandma we’d help out if she’d let me take her out tonight for New Year’s Eve,” Hank announced, grinning at me. I actually saw a blush come over my grandmother’s face.
The guys started hauling bags of soil over their shoulders and heaving them onto the floor of the entryway.
Mo pulled me aside before she went to join them. “You might want to take a stroll up to the waterfall,” she whispered.
Cold air was blasting in through the door, so Mo went over and pulled a big sheet of plastic down at the end of the entry. “Meet me at the house for a cup of tea around four o’clock, Birdie,” she called, counting the bags. “How’s that sound?”
“Okay,” I said, feeling anything but okay. “See you at four.” What could I do? I bundled back up, wrapping the long, long scarf around my neck. I slipped the stone into one of the pockets of my jeans and headed out into the frosty air, Willowby on my heels.
“See ya soon, Birdie!” called Hank.
“And, Birdie?” called Mo.
I turned around in the open doorway.
“Open that letter while you’re in the gardens. I think you were meant to,” said Mo. “Good luck!”
“And stay out of trouble, now, you hear?” Travis joked. “Your grandmother causes plenty of trouble for all of us already!”
I believe you’re right about that, I thought. I crunched along the gravel path, forgetting both the stone and the envelope for a while as I took in the gardens.
There was the weedy butterfly garden and then the edge of the ravine, where I had the same tingly feeling in my hands and feet as I viewed the Ha-Ha Valley, the maze, and the Glimmer Tree. There, the path forked. I could cross the bridge down to the valley or I could head toward the waterfall Granny Mo had pointed out yesterday.
Willowby circled my boots once and then headed over the bridge, glancing back at me as if to see where I was headed. The sun was high in the sky, so I knew I had lots of time. I decided to look for the waterfall as Mo had suggested.
I passed a pond, which was frozen solid, and saw the apple orchard by the